Best Golf Courses In Orlando

Best Golf Courses In Orlando

The best golf courses in Orlando, in central Florida, include ones that many tour pros have decided to base themselves at, attracted by the year-round climate for playing and practising golf and the quality of the local golf offering. Orlando is one of the most visited cities in the world thanks in part to Walt Disney and Universal. 

Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge (Champion & Challenger) 

• Location: Bay Hill
• Designed by: Dick Wilson; Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay
• Par: 72
• Yardage: 7,381 yards
• Green fee: Private
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Arnold Palmer liked the course so much that he bought it in the mid-1970s and it became his winter home. He made some redesigns to the course, in particular bringing the greens closer to the lakesides. Those staying at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge can pay the course; otherwise its members only. There are three nine-hole layouts here with the Champion and Challenger nines those that the PGA Tour plays the Arnold Palmer Invitational on every year.

Falcon's Fire Golf Club

• Location: Kissimmee
• Designed by: Rees Jones
• Par: 72
• Yardage: 7,006 yards
• Green fee: $30-159
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Water comes into play on half the holes, and holes 13 to 17 are curved around two lakes, with 16 having a lake on either side of its fairway. Thirteen will definitely be unlucky for some – it has water all along the inside of the rightward-curving fairway, and 18 bunkers lining the left side of the fairway.

Four Seasons Orlando

• Location: Lake Buena Vista
• Designed by: Tom Fazio
• Par: 71
• Yardage: 6,901 yards
• Green fee: $295
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The typical hole on the Tranquilo course at Four Seasons Orlando runs alongside water and is bordered by huge ribbon bunkers. However it is only late on in the round that the water is played over, rather than beside, and even then there are bail-out options. Only one of the par 3s features water, the 18th.

Isleworth

• Location: Windermere
• Designed by: Arnold Palmer; Steve Smyers
• Par: 72
• Yardage: 7,544 Yards
• Green fee: Private
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This course opened in 1986 with an Arnold Palmer design. Then in 2004, Steve Smyers was called in to make some changes which toughened up the course, and he introduced a risk-reward element to some of the holes. The club is famed for its immaculate conditioning and the A list golfing figures who have lived there – and still do in many cases.

Lake Nona Golf and Country Club

• Location: Orlando
• Designed by: Tom Fazio
• Par: 72
• Yardage: 7,215 Yards
• Green fee: Private
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The majority of the holes hug water, though often this is more of a decorative feature to catch the way-off-line shot than as a strategic challenge. This gated community is home to many Tour pros and hosted the inaugural Solheim Cup in 1990 and has been used for US Open qualifying for both men and women.

Orange County National (Panther Lake)

• Location: Winter Garden
• Designed by: Phil Ritson, Isao Aoki and David Harman
• Par: 72
• Yardage: 7,261 yards
• Green fee: Dynamic pricing
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The course was designed to provide variety to the holes. But common features to many holes are gently sloping fairways and approach shots to elevated, well-guarded, large and undulating greens. The course presents several risk-reward options, and quite a few holes require water to be flown over, either off tee or on the approach.

The Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes Golf Club

• Location: Grande Lakes
• Designed by: Greg Norman
• Par: 72
• Yardage: 7,122 yards
• Green fee: From $305
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Water features on 16 of the holes and sand is also a frequent companion to a round here both in the enthusiastic use of bunkering and in the sprawling sandy waste areas. There are some forced carries from the tee to find the typically well-manicured fairways.

Waldorf Astoria Orlando

• Location: Lake Buena Vista
• Designed by: Rees Jones
• Par: 70
• Yardage: 6,526 yards
• Green fee: Various packages
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Rees Jones has sculpted a tribute to the Golden Age in his design of such holes as the 7th named Biarritz because, well you’ve probably got there before me, it has a Biarritz green. Water abounds on this layout. Early in the round it merely an accompaniment to the action, but mid round it is brought into the action the par-5 8th requires a drive over water, as does the par-3 13th (above) from three of the five tees, and 14 and 16 doglegs around water.