Disney World - The Online Guide - Disney's Magnolia Course

Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2003
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Disney's Magnolia Course

Long. Very long!

When a golfer is asked to describe the Magnolia course at Walt Disney World Resort, this is normally the answer for this layout that is 7,190 yards from the back (pro) tees.

Like "sister courses" Palm and Lake Buena Vista, the Magnolia was designed by Floridian Joe Lee. Opened on the same morning as the Magic Kingdom in 1971, the Magnolia sports a second description: a classic Florida golf course.

Every year since 1971, the Magnolia has been host to the final round of the Walt Disney World Golf Classic. The course has entertained many of the world's finest golfers, including Jack Nicklaus, who earned victories in the first three Disney tournaments. Tiger Woods capped his rookie season with victory here in 1996 and won again in 1999.

The course, aptly named for its more than 1,500 magnolia trees, winds through 175 acres of thick Florida wetlands. It features 97 bunkers including the world famous "Mouse Trap" fronting the par 3 No. 6. Water comes into play on 11 holes. Six stately bridges carry players across the many creeks that cross the course.

In Robert McCord's The 479 Best Courses to Play in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, it is concluded, "The combination of water hazards, sand traps, length, challenging greens and well-designed golf holes make the Magnolia Course a beautiful and memorable test of golf."

In 1993, 23 years after opening, the Magnolia received a refreshing facelift. Course architect Lee returned to redesign all 18 greens and the main putting green.

The putting surfaces, which had lost their shape through years of routine maintenance, were restored to their original condition.

"The main thing we changed on the golf course was the elevation of the back of the greens," Lee said. "We have created 'spectator mounds' on most holes for better viewing during golf tournaments."

The original Tifgreen/328 grass was replaced with Tifdwarf, a grass that Lee describes as "superior and faster."

Aside from the greens, Lee had teeing areas realigned to their original form. He also changed many of the tees used by women. With women making up such a large portion of the world's golfers, he said he is "trying to do a much better job with ladies' tees."

"I think the guy who said this is one of the greatest golf complexes in the world would have to be right," Lee said. "I think what we have done here with reconstruction may be better than when it was originally done."

Facts and Figures about the Magnolia Course:

Course opened in 1971

Par is 72

Course record: 61 (Payne Stewart)

Length ranges from 7,190 (pro yardage) to 5,232 (forward tees); men's yardage: 6,642

Course rating from the men's tees is 72.3

Slope index from the men's tees is 130

Water figures in the design of 11 holes

Greens are Tifdwarf

Fairways are Tifway 419

Magnolia is one of three Walt Disney World Resort courses designed by Joe Lee; others: Lake Buena Vista and Palm

The Magnolia course shares clubhouse facilities -- including a pro shop and locker rooms -- with the Palm course

Among the prestigious events that have called the course "home": the PGA TOUR Walt Disney World Golf Classic (1971- ), the Bryant Gumbel/Walt Disney World Celebrity Tournament benefiting the United Negro College Fund (1989-91) and the AJGA/Polo Golf Junior Classic (1995- )

Magnolia is part of a 99-hole Walt Disney World golf resort complex honored as one of America's Silver Medal Resorts by Golf Magazine (1998 biennial survey)

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