Golf Course Review “Indian River Preserve” Mims, Florida
By Jeff Stolowitz
On a foggy morning in December, we headed out to test the course once named Walkabout now called Indian River Preserve. This 18-hole championship golf course is a golfer’s paradise. It is called a preserve because it essentially is rich with natural features. The amount of wildlife is astonishing especially the Raptors that fly around the course looking for their next meal.
We could see lots of work being done to fix the course as a community is being built around a fantastic new Clubhouse. Andrei’s in the clubhouse features a beautiful dining room and a full-service restaurant and catering ability run by food and beverage Director Jeremy Brun.
The course features some long fairways that wind around the preserve with native flora and waterways that adorn the play. The greens are small and undulating and of course the pin placements sometimes must be made difficult, but I did Birdie a par 3 off the white tees and while only one among us played under 100 it was in fact the only birdie of the day. A little hint… if you never played a professional golf course before it would be best served if you didn’t play in the fog though it added a touch much like when I played at Stokes Park in England.
The course even features a bonus 19th green par 3 shaped like the continent of Australia.
Challenging but fun this course has a little bit of everything Behind the Space Coast and is a short drive from Daytona or Orlando when vacationing.
The community like many others popping up all around Florida is betting on the 1,000 plus people a day moving into the state. The 3-bedroom homes starting in the low three hundreds and its closeness to Cocoa Beach and the Canaveral Seashore, make this an extremely attractive Golf Course to revisit.
Overall we give this course a big thumbs up and can’t wait to test it again in the spring.
COURSE DETAILS
- Black yards 7146, rating 74.5, slope 143
- Gold yards 6671, rating 72.4, slope 135
- Blue yards 6174, rating 70.3, slope 129
- White yards 5593, rating 68.1/73.2, slope 118/142
- Red yards 4873, rating 67.4, slope 116