I really enjoyed my round at Southern Dunes Golf & Country Club first time playing it here on vacation. This course is challenging but fair, with a true links-style feel that’s different from most Florida tracks. The elevation changes, tricky fairways, and deep bunkers keep every shot interesting and reward smart course management. The greens were in great shape—fast and true—and the layout makes you think on every hole. You can’t just grip it and rip it here; placement matters. The views from the higher holes are a nice bonus, and the overall course conditioning was excellent. Staff were friendly and professional, and pace of play was solid. Whether you’re a serious golfer looking for a test or just want a memorable round, Southern Dunes delivers. I’d absolutely play here again and highly recommend it to anyone in the area. Highly recommend

1/3/27 - course was amazing condition, 3hr 45min round! Greens where fast and true, fairways was very green and lovely to hit from! Could not tell you about the ruff as i was dialed!

Incredible golf experience! Great layout, course in great condition. Staff incredible - from start to finish, pace of play and The Barn practice facility. Top Notch! premium golf venue - a must play. Only disappointment was not offering junior rates - understanding it was Saturday morning and “prime time”, but some times it’s the only time you can bring your kid.

Other than the unrealistic pace of play, especially on a day with 30 mph wind gusts this is a really great place to play.

2 stars for a beautiful course with some big problems. I was excited to drive the 90 minutes over from Brevard County to play Southern Dunes this past Saturday. I was back and forth about playing at 10am for $165 or 2pm for $95, but I figured the course was nice enough that 4 hours before sunset would be enough time to get through or at least get close. I arrived to find a course that was in really great shape. Going between several of the holes involves driving through part of the surrounding neighborhood, which is a pretty cool feature. The fairways were in great shape and the greens were the perfect speed. This review would have been much higher if not for three issues. The first and smallest issue was range balls not being included in the price. They were actually fairly expensive (I think I paid $15 for 60 balls) and they were pretty mediocre range balls. If you are going to be a high-level course, you either include the balls in the greens fee or invest in higher quality range balls. The driving range was pretty cool though with some unique targets that I saw lit up at night. That actually gets to my second and bigger issue that is standard at a lot of public courses, which was pace of play. We were unable to complete our round and played hole 17 in the dark. This wouldn't have been an issue if there had been any ranger/marshal out there moving groups along (we had 4 on 1 hole at one point) and tee times spaced a little farther apart. Like the range balls, this type of issue strikes me as management getting greedy. The first two issues could be forgiven as that is just public golf nowadays. The third and biggest issue cannot. That issue was the noise. Apparently Haines City was having some event nearby, but the music from that event was absolutely deafening to the point that I felt like I was in a nightclub on the 10th and 11th holes. This extremely loud music went during the entire round. I understand that it involved an outside source that may have been beyond the course's control, but there was no acknowledgment of the issue and apparently this course, which has been a focal point of Haines City for decades, couldn't do anything to at least get the cops to have the volume of the music (which was often unedited and involved very aggressive music) at least somewhat reduced. It was mentioned to me that a similar issue had come up with a preacher on Sundays who yells for multiple hours. I get that this was probably a pretty rare occurrence, but how on Earth could I ever come back to this course and bring my wife or friends or clients and risk the round being absolutely ruined? I'm sure there were plenty of people who traveled from far distances to play this amazing course, and many of them left disappointed and will never return. The short-term lack of acknowledgment or taking action will cost this course a lot of money in the long run. Overall, Southern Dunes generally delivers on its reputation as a top Florida public course and others who go will likely have a good time. However, the pace of play and crazy surrounding atmosphere I experienced shows a venue with management that could care less about its clients. With so many other high-level options in Central Florida, I will not be taking the chance that such a horrible experience happens again.