Orange County National has once again been recognized by the ZAGAT SURVEY as one of America’s Top Golf Courses. ZAGAT recently released the 6th edition of “The Ultimate Golfer’s Guide” that includes ratings and reviews for more than 1,100 of the country’s foremost public, semi-private and resort courses.
The ratings score each facility in four categories on a 30 point scale; the categories scored include COURSE, FACILITY, SERVICE and VALUE. Orange County National has been in the upper echelon in each of the past six editions and once again has been identified as having the two top rated public golf courses in Central Florida. Both courses at Orange County National, Panther Lake and Crooked Cat, had scores of 26 in the COURSE rating. This puts them in the “Extraordinary to Perfection” level In addition to holding the top two slots in Central Florida, their scores allow Panther Lake and Crooked Cat to tie for 2nd among all public facilities in the state of Florida.
The survey also rated Orange County National very high in the FACILITIES and SERVICE categories falling in the “Very Good to Excellent” tier. VALUE offered had a score of 25 which put Orange County National in the top 3% of all courses that were evaluated. Director of Marketing, Jimmy Bell, explained “Perhaps the most important category is VALUE. For those of us that sell Orange County National every day, we understand the tremendous value of what we are selling, but seeing it formally recognized affirms our position as the leader in the market”
In addition to the four categories that are scored numerically, the survey lists special accolades where courses are mentioned for their excellence. Orange County National was cited in the following categories: Instruction, 19th Holes, Practice Facilities, Pro Shops, Putting courses and Pace of Play.
“It is always a thrill to see the hard work and dedication of our team recognized through ratings such as this. ZAGAT is known worldwide for their excellence and their list validates our team’s efforts to offer a unique and memorable golf experience to each and every guest” stated General Manager Bruce Gerlander. He added, “What makes this type of award so meaningful is that the ratings are derived from guests that have paid their own money to play here and are not part of some elite panel of experts”
Comments from players who rated Orange County National included: “Super course”, “excellent service”, “amazing value”, “one of the best golf havens in the world”, “fabulous maintenance, design and value”, “its no wonder this place hosts the PGA TOUR Qualifying School”, “substantial challenge from the back tees”, “playable from the middle tees for the weekend golfer”, “staff could not be nicer”, “the twin sisters of Orange County are by far the best bang for the buck”, “playing both is hard to beat”.
Orange County National Golf center and Lodge is a 45 hole public golf course that is also home to an award winning practice facility that is the largest in the country and a 48 room golfer’s lodge. Orange County national has hosted the PGA TOUR Q-School Finals in 2003 – 2005 – 2007 and is scheduled to host it again in 2010. Many prestigious awards have been bestowed upon Orange County National since it opened in 1997, including Golf Digest’s Best Places to Play 4 ½ star rating and the recent Golf World reader’s awards listed Orange County National as the #1 Public Golf facility in Florida and #8 in the entire country.
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