The final round for my friend and I at World Woods was on the Pine Barrens Course. And, we saved the best for last! Like Rolling Oaks, I played Pine Barrens about 15 years ago when I lived in Central Florida. I was impressed with the course back then and have been meaning to get back to play it again.

At one time Pine Barrens was among the top 100 public courses, but it has mostly fallen off the lists in recent years. That drop is partially due to the facility showing its age and also because of all the other good courses being built (e.g.: Streamsong). However, I still think Pine Barrens is worthy of a visit on a Tampa/Orlando golf trip. It is one of my personal favorite courses in Florida.

World Woods opened in 1993 and while Tom Fazio is shown as the architect, my understanding is that Mike Strantz (Fazio’s lead shaper at the time) was responsible for much of the work at Pine Barrens. Rolling Oaks reminded me some of Tot Hill Farm while Pine Barrens had me drawing parallels to Tobacco Road, thanks to all the waste areas throughout the course. For those that may not know, Tot Hill Farm and Tobacco Road are solo Strantz designs in North Carolina.

From what I’ve read Pine Barrens is supposed to resemble Pine Valley (the private course in New Jersey). I haven’t played Pine Valley so I’m not sure how the looks of the courses compare, but the look of Pine Barrens is one of its best qualities. The piece of property is great for golf! There aren’t any homes and the course feels like it was dropped perfectly into the sandy Florida soil with all the waste areas. Beautiful pines and oaks line the holes and there is a good amount of separation between the holes.

The design is another thing that stands out about Pine Barrens – there aren’t any weak holes and there are multiple ways to play the course. Each nine has some solid strategy holes, including the 3rd and 4th on the front nine and the 14th and 15th on the back nine. For reference we mostly played the black tees which are 72.5/131/6817 (par-71). I think the biggest difficulty here will be trying to avoid the wild, deep bunkering and putting the contoured greens. Unfortunately, I ended up with a couple ugly lies in the sand where I could not advance the ball more than 50 yards.

The 3rd is one of the few holes at World Woods with water. It is a 157 yard par-3 that doesn’t look all that difficult. However, the miss is to the right (to avoid the water) and that leaves a difficult downhill chip towards the water. The 4th is a reachable par-5 that gives you all sorts of lines off the tee thanks to a waste area which cuts across the fairway.

On the back nine the 14th is another par-5 where picking a line is important, this time on the layup. The tee shot is straight forward but the layup needs to negotiate a large oak tree and a sandy pit that divides the fairway. Then, the 15th (339 yards) is a potentially driveable par-4 with all sorts of options from the tee.

We paid $179 to play Pine Barrens and Rolling Oaks which I think is acceptable for this time of year in Florida. The conditions were good, but not top 100 worthy. The tees, fairways and greens were overseeded and contrasted against the dormant rough. Lies were tight, but playable. The greens were smooth and a medium pace.

Overall, I think Pine Barrens is still a great Florida course. It is one that encourages strategy and creativity. It also is quite photogenic with its sandy look. I’d highly recommend a round on Pine Barrens, even if the course and the facility aren’t on the level they were years ago. I know I’d like to get back again to try to figure out the greens since I putted awful the day I played!

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):