El Campeon at Mission Inn Resort & Club
The highly popular El Campeon Course at Mission Inn Resort consistently ranks in the top 10 of Florida's many golf courses. The course originally opened in 1917 and decades later in 1992, it was joined by a second 18-hole course, Las Colinas.
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North/South at Grand Cypress Golf Club
The North/South Course is the original layout at Grand Cypress Golf Club. In total, the club features 45 holes of Jack Nicklaus Signature golf that are divided into three nines: the North, South, and East, and the 18-hole New Course, which is a traditional Scottish links golf course.
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Championship at Bay Hill Club & Lodge
Bay Hill Club & Lodge edges along the shores of the Butler Chain of Lakes, sprawling across 270 acres of softly undulating landscape that provides more elevation changes than what can be found on most Florida golf courses but not enough to be considered hilly.
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New Course at Grand Cypress Golf Club
If the three 18-hole combinations provided by the North, South, and East nines at Grand Cypress Golf Club aren't enough, golfers can try their hand on the New Course, which is also a Jack Nicklaus Signature design. The 18-hole course stands as Nicklaus' homage to the legendary Old Course at St. Andrews, the famed birthplace of golf.
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Magnolia Course at Walt Disney World Golf Resort
Of all the Disney courses, the Magnolia supports a greater abundance of wildlife. At any given time, you're likely to see deer, osprey, alligators and turtles. A flock of wild turkeys has brought several tournaments to a standstill while they pecked along its fairways. The course features elevated tees and greens with wide and generous fairways graced by over 1,500 magnolia trees that bloom from late spring to mid-summer.
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Timacuan Golf & Country Club
Nestled in the gently rolling hills of Lake Mary Timacuan is a Ron Garl designed course. The front nine is reminiscent of a Scottish links-style course, with wide open fairways, rolling hills and deep bunkers. Watch the wind and keep it low!
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International Course at Championsgate Golf Club
Champions Gate Golf Resort, an un-matched golf facility for world-class golf, offers 36 holes designed by International golf champion Greg Norman and is the World Headquarters of David Leadbetter Golf Academy. Located just 15 minutes from Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Champions has two excellent and very different golf courses on a single site.
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Waldorf Astoria Golf Club
Orlando's Waldorf Astoria Golf Club is an outstanding 7,100-plus-yard Rees Jones design that meanders through a scenic central Florida wetland preserve; ancient cypress trees and stands of pines line the fairways. The golf course features five sets of tees to accommodate everyone from scratch golfers to high-handicap players
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Lake Buena Vista Course at Walt Disney World Resort
Styled in a classic country club setting, Disney's Lake Buena Vista Golf Course meanders through pastel villas, pine forests, palmettos, sparkling lakes and other wonders of nature. Lush fairways and well-protected greens make this course as challenging as it is beautiful. Add an island green on the 7th, and it all tots up to a great golfing experience.
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National Course at Championsgate Golf Club
The National course is a classic American-style layout that rolls through 200 acres of southern woodlands and wetlands. Unique bunkering, tree-lined fairways and intriguing green designs define shot making challenges. In particular, golfers are apt to remember the National for its testing par 3 holes and for the double green shared by holes 4 & 16.
...more»Destination: Orlando
Why do so many of the pros prefer Orlando? Well, there are 123 courses within a 45-minute drive of downtown, and many things to do off the course. Plus, the weather is always great for outdoor activities, with an average annual temperature of 72.4 degrees. In short, it's a great place to work on your game -- or forget about it altogether.
Orlando is as much a Mecca for the golf purist as the family vacationer. The area has long been legendary for courses designed by two of golf's greatest players -- Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. It also is one of the country's fastest growing golf regions, with dozens of new courses opened in the past few years, from designers like Tom Fazio, Pete Dye and Rees Jones.
You want to improve your game? Orlando is home to six golf instruction academies, headed by renowned teachers like David Leadbetter and Rick McCord. Through personalized teaching and the latest technological advantages, these schools may help you find the silver lining to your game.
In downtown Orlando you'll find a combination of skyscrapers, quiet parks and gardens, excellent museums, and the bustling shops and restaurants of Church Street Station. Nature buffs like to escape to the Ocala National Forest or the Florida Audubon Society's Center for Birds of Prey, just north of Orlando in Maitland. Art devotees head for Rollins College's Cornell Fine Arts Museum or the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. Oh, yeah, there's also that place called Disney World!
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If you want a respite from winter but don't want to play a typical Florida golf course, you might want to check out Mission Inn Resort & Club. Of its two courses, El Campeon is considered the most difficult. On the 7,001-yard course, you deal with elevation changes of more than 85 feet, which might not impress a visitor from Denver, but for Florida golf, it is certainly different.
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