Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress an Orlando Golf Essential

Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress New Course

Orlando offers a surprising number of good golf experiences, but one not to be missed is the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress.  Multiple Jack Nicklaus signature courses, one of the top 25 golf academies in America, and a simply exemplary level of service make Grand Cypress a golf destination in a class by itself.

The original heart of the golf operation are three mix-and-match nine hole courses (North, South, and East) designed by Nicklaus in 1984-86.  Each nine is distinctive, although the East course is a bit more forgiving, with wider fairways, fewer bunkers, and more options for getting your ball onto the green.  The North and South are tighter and more demanding of accuracy, featuring slightly elevated fairways with unforgiving edges and plateau greens all-too-frequently surrounded by sand and/or water. Tackling all three nines in a day will give you a feeling of accomplishment regardless of your score.

The headline course at Grand Cypress is the confusingly-named New Course, which opened in 1988.  Nicklaus designed it as a tribute to the Old Course at St. Andrews (now do you get the name?) complete with a links feel, replica holes, devastating pot bunkers (bring a ladder) and even double greens and fairways.  Bring your bump and run game--it will feel right at home.

Orlando is home to numerous top-name golf schools, but you won't put a finer point on your game anywhere than at the Grand Cypress Academy of Golf.  It's been recognized since 1999 as one of the top 25 golf schools in America by Golf Digest and every resident instructor at the Academy is listed among the top 50 instructors in Florida.  Whether you're a beginner or a tour pro, the level of instruction, the teaching tools, technology, and facility will help you lop strokes off your scores.  The 21-acre practice facility not only has state-of-the-art computer and video-aided instruction, but three regulation practice holes designed by Jack Nicklaus.

Not to be overlooked is the Greens of Lake Windsong Par Three course at Grand Cypress.  It's a nine-hole pitch-and-putt with holes ranging from 37 to 90 yards.  Best of all, the hotel will supply the clubs, tees, and even a golf ball when you stop by for a little family fun--or to work on your short game.

If by any chance you need a break from golf, the list of other activities at Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress is almost too long to include here. Suffice it to say there's everything you (or your other family members) could want in the way of water sports at 21-acre Lake Windsong or around the half-acre pool with 12 waterfalls and a water jet splash zone, the Marilyn Monroe Spa, and seven on-premises bars and restaurants.  And did I mention the accommodations?  The 815 rooms were recently refurbished and have every sophisticated amenity you could possibly want.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Make Room on Your Bucket List for Streamsong

Streamsong Red #16

Streamsong has risen to near the top of most golfers' bucket lists, and with good reason. The two courses (soon to be three) are spectacular examples of how the land, not the builder, ultimately creates the golf experience. That's not to take anything away from architects Coore & Crenshaw and Tom Doaks, only to emphasize that they couldn't have created these masterpieces without the bones of fine golf geoforms in the landscape.

As everyone knows by now, the courses were built atop an abandoned phosphate mining property abandoned years ago when the supply of the money-making fertilizer ingredient in the ground was exhausted.  Corporate owners Mosaic Company decided to take a page from the Bandon Dunes playbook and build a top-drawer golf resort in the middle of nowhere in the belief that if they created it, golfers would find it.  With the help of a substantive public relations effort, that assumption was proven correct.

Today, Streamsong Resort is home to a 216-room lodge with all the usual amenities (spa, pool, fine dining) as well as bass fishing and skeet and trap shooting to help fill your hours when not on the golf course.  The lodge is an ultra-modern edifice with overtones of its corporate owner's industrial roots.  Rooms are large and well-designed for comfort, with multiple big-screen TVs, spacious baths, and thoughtful service.  Wood, polished granite, and finished concrete dominate the decorative theme.

What brings the customers to Streamsong, though, is the golf.  Two walking-only courses were built with the discriminating resort golfer in mind.  The Red course was designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw while the Blue course is the product of Tom Doaks' creative mind.  The two tracks differ somewhat, but both offer excellent links golf minus the ocean.  Gil Hanse has been tapped to design a third course (to be known as the Black course) adjacent to the existing duo on slightly flatter topography but with the same turf-friendly sandy soil.  The opening of the new course is scheduled for late 2017.

Streamsong Red #6

The Red course offers wide fairways, firm and fast turf, and ego-crushing green complexes.  Nearly every green is protected by massive bunkers and/or chocolate-drop (or elephant dropping) mounds. If you have an unobstructed approach, expect to be forced to navigate a false front or a green that slopes away from you.  Pin positions on the edges can be murderous.  Unless you're a regular at the course, it's highly advised to hire one of the well-versed caddies to suggest the best lines off the tee and warn you about some of the hidden monsters around the greens.

From the tips, the Red course measures 7,148 yards. Most players will wisely attack nothing longer than the black tees, however, which are a more manageable 6,584.  Given the elevation changes and ever-present wind, there's nothing wrong with playing it forward to the silver tees, a more-challenging-than-you-think 6,094.

Regardless of your choice of tee, the Red course has a fascinating mix of holes.  From the black tees, half of the par fours measure less than 400 yards while the par threes range from 119 to 184. The par fives are all basically birdie opportunities at just over 500 yards, but each one plays differently into the wind.  It's a great temptation to try to overpower the short par fours, but if you're even slightly off-line from the tee, you'll wish you'd played more conservatively.

Your short game is more important than anything else on every course, but that's especially true on the Red.  Chipping from the firm, tight fairways is not for the faint of heart and well over half the greens have runoffs to deep collection areas.  Elephants, donkeys, and even a couple of prehistoric megalodons (prehistoric giant sharks endemic to the sea that once covered the site) are buried in the enormous greens.  The putting surfaces gets top dressed every week, which makes them lightning fast by resort standards, so you're probably better off spending more time on the practice green than the range before you tee off.

One of the most challenging holes is the 184-yard sixteenth, a Biarritz that's nearly seventy yards deep.  Your tee shot is all carry over water and a punishing bunker.  Let the wind (or your slice) carry your ball right and it's in two-foot-tall undergrowth. Go the other way with an over-cooked draw and your ball will kick down some thirty feet to a collection area--or maybe into a bunker.  Even if you're on the green in regulation, four-putts aren't unheard of.

Steamsong Blue #7

Tom Doaks Blue course is different from the Red--not harder, not better, just a markedly different golf course that requires a slightly different approach to par.  It's a little longer, playing 7,176 from the tips and 6,698 from the black tees, but the first difference you'll see is in the topography, which has fewer tall dunes but a bit more water.  The Blue course also has less mounding to squeeze approaches to the greens.

At first glance, you'll be delighted by the sweepingly wide fairways. But, like the National Golf Links, you'll soon discover two things: 1.) you need that width to play the wind and 2.) if you're in the wrong place, even on the short grass, you're in trouble.  There are also many more fairway bunkers (including cross bunkers) in play on the Blue course, so it's essential that you choose and hit the right line off the tee.  These are serious bunkers, too, deep and expansive, so recovery isn't assured.

The greens on the Blue course are smaller and even more contoured than on the Red.  The tight turf makes chip shots less than easy and probably eliminates flop shots by anyone except Phil Mickelson--and I'm not sure about him.

If there is a signature hole on the Blue, it's number 7, a geographic neighbor to the Red's sixteenth hole.  The seventh on the Blue plays 188 yards from the black tee, all carry over water.  Even though it's downhill, the hole pretty much plays the distance and under-clubbing leads to nothing but disaster.  The green is small and guarded by an ugly bunker on the front left.  It's also surrounded by hills covered with impossible vegetation.

All told, Streamsong should be on every golfer's must-play list.  Common wisdom says it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's no more difficult to reach than Whistling Straits and much easier than Bandon.  Streamsong is about an hour from Tampa and ninety minutes from Orlando, so you've got easy travel options.  Take advantage of them at your first opportunity.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Tough, Fair, Family-friendly Mayacoo Lakes

Can your first be your best? Plenty of golfers think Mayacoo Lakes is the best golf course Jack Nicklaus ever designed—even though it was his very first. The par 71, 6,906-yard layout is tough but fair, challenging but enjoyable, and definitely a course you could play every day. Kipp Schulties refreshed the course in 2007. Head pro Cary McGaughey says he’s worked with three generations of members in some families. Purchase, NY, Old Oaks CC head pro Bobby Heins and his protégé, PGA tour winner Johnson Wagner, can often be found on the course during the winter months.

Thirteen holes feature water and melaleuca, pine, and palm trees line most of the fairways, so shot placement is essential. The greens are perfectly matched to the challenges of each hole, with tiny ones where accuracy provides par protection and larger, more undulating greens to accept shots on longer holes. Six sets of tees allow the course to be played from as short as 4,973.

One of the biggest attractions for golfers at Mayacoo is the variety of challenges faced throughout the course. The first par 5, the fifth hole, is an easy par at 517 yards but a tough birdie if an aggressive approach finds one of the four bunkers surrounding the green. The sixth hole, a 370-yard par four, actually has two greens, both difficult, and both fronted by water and wicked bunkers. The eighth, at 359 yards, is a tough little bunker fest while the ninth hole, a short but fair par five at 505 yards, offers a birdie to those brave enough to challenge the water on the right front of the green.

Before you begin the back nine, sharpen up your aiming skills and make sure your driver is on board with your game plan. You’ll need both when you get to the eleventh (371 yards) and twelfth (386 yards) holes, both of which play over water off the tee, one tougher than the other depending on the wind. The fifteenth hole, a 422-yard par four, calls for two good shots to get your ball on the elevated green in regulation. The 333-yard sixteenth hole plays twice over water, which really isn’t a problem unless it gets into your head, which happens all too easily. The eighteenth hole makes for a great finish. It plays 402 yards, but the water in front of the green has drowned more than one player's hopes whose match came tied into the hole.

Members at Mayacoo also enjoy a pool, tennis courts, dining and grill room, as well as newly-renovated locker rooms and card rooms for both men and women with picturesque views. It’s a family-style club that puts golf front and center.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Emerald Dunes Refreshed And Exceptional

A just-completed multi-million dollar renovation makes Emerald Dunes an excellent membership choice for those second-home owners who don’t live in a dedicated golf community in Florida. Tom Fazio supervised the renovation of the course he originally designed, resulting in a challenging but perfectly playable course where there’s plenty of risk-and-reward to go with the refined landscaping and sense of isolation that comes from the 2,000 trees recently planted along the club’s perimeter.

Emerald Dunes opens with a pair of enjoyable birdie opportunities, a 503-yard par five and a 397-yard par four, but the teeth come out on the first par three, 167 yards over water and a major bunker with a small bail-out area to the left. A delightful rock-ledge waterfall frames the green back right. That’s followed by a double-dog leg 571-yard par five with water all the way to the green on the left and bunkers lining the fairway on the right. The front side wraps up with a brutish 439-yard par four that dog legs right around a lake. If your drive is under 300 yards, you’ll have to carry the water to reach the green in regulation.

The back nine offers some birdie opportunities as long as you’re not risk-averse. The eleventh hole, a 486-yard par five, is one of them, especially for the long drivers in the group. The par four fifteenth, 394 yards, is a fine Cape hole that will yield a short approach to the brave player who challenges the water. The eighteenth hole, a 426-yard par four, has a big, inviting fairway but a long approach to an elevated green.

Fazio also designed a new short game practice area with multiple target and chipping greens, sand and grass bunkers (including a shallow-face fairway bunker), and a huge putting green to go with a double-ended range, learning center with two teaching bays, and a club-fitting area. Members also enjoy a unique yearly dues arrangement, which includes absolutely everything—even all food and beverages. The club has an excellent caddie program as well.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Beautiful, Challenging Golf At Trump Palm Beach

Trump International Golf Club is one of the most visually stunning and competitively challenging courses in Florida. Members of the Palm Beach club enjoy a true championship course that has hosted nine LPGA tour events with winners like Annika Sorenstam, Karri Webb, and Lorena Ochoa, another nine holes with a daring island green, and a practice facility where many PGA, LPGA, and Champions tour regulars work on their game. Lexi Thompson was working on her short game when I was there recently.

The course was designed by Jim Fazio (with ample and expert advice from the man whose name is over the door) and opened to well-deserved acclaim in 1999. Two lakes and elevations as high as 58-feet above sea level dominate the geography, while tasteful landscaping provides colorful accents throughout.  Fazio moved over three million cubic yards of earth (dredging the lakes to 80-feet depths in the process) to sculpt the course out of what was originally flat scrub land.  The course is par 72 with six sets of tees ranging from 5,314 to 7,326 yards. Check the course rating and slope before you choose a tee box--this course punishes testosterone-fueled foolishness.

The opening hole, par four at 417 yards, is relatively benign as long as you avoid the creek that meanders along the right side of the fairway, but don't rush to the second tee box until you pause to see the entrance to President John Kennedy's former bomb shelter along the way. The third hole, a 500-yard par five, presents a birdie opportunity as long as you watch your club selection into the water-protected green. The sixth is the hardest easy hole you'll ever play. It's only 335 yards, but the fairway bends around the lake at a right angle so a bigger-than-normal fade (aka a slice) will put you in the soup. Check the pin position, too, since the green has a Biarritz-like swale cutting across it. The last two holes on the front are stand-up holes. The eighth is a 430-yard par four with a big, elevated, well-bunkered green with a false front while the ninth is simply breath-taking, a 513-yard par five with water left and bunkers right.

The back nine opens with an echo of the sixth hole, only the tenth requires a longer approach assuming you kept your drive out of the water, which is just as wet as it is on the front.  The thirteenth, a 414-yard par four, has more bunkers than mortal man (or woman) should ever face on one hole. When you reach the tee box on the 491-yard par five fifteenth hole, stop and think before your aim your drive. The fairway is split by a creek and a long line of bunkers that you'll have to cross twice to reach the green. The signature hole on the course is the par three seventeenth, where the $3.2 million waterfall and amazing tropical foliage can easily distract you from your 190-yard tee shot over the lake in front of the green. Quite frankly, the 420-yard par four eighteenth hole is just as spectacular with its elevated tee, water, huge bunkers, and magnificent clubhouse in the background.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

It's Old Palm For The Good Golf Life

The neighbors you meet at Old Palm Golf Club fully live the golf life so many of us can only dream about. The ultra-luxurious gated community in Palm Beach Gardens has drawn top PGA stars like Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, and Charl Schwartzel with a combination of custom homes ranging from $1.2 to $15 million, amenities like a full fitness center, spa, and concierge service, and a fine golf course coupled with one of the best practice facilities anywhere.

"Living at Old Palm has been a wonderful experience and not just because of its exceptional golf facilities," says 2011 Masters Champion Schwartzel. "Old Palm makes for a relaxing lifestyle. It allows for privacy when we want it, and when we’re in the Club the members have welcomed us like old friends."

Another neighbor is four-time major winner and Ryder Cup champion Raymond Floyd, who not only designed the Old Palm golf course but lives there as well. He's a regular in the fitness center and at the club's ultra-casual "pub night" in the elegant but relaxed clubhouse lounge. He's a bit more laid back now than he was in his tournament days, although there's still an intense flash in his eyes that match the Leroy Neiman portrait that hangs in the clubhouse.

The golf course Floyd designed takes full advantage of the property's native foliage and rolling topography. Six sets of tees make it playable from 5,218 to 7,401 yards, giving every golfer a challenge suitable to their skills. Fairway landing areas are generous but reward the strategic player who can position the ball off the tee. Greens were rebuilt in 2012 using TifEagle Bermuda grass, which yields a fast and true putting surface.

The front nine is routed through wetlands and savannah while the back, which features tighter fairways and less water, winds through indigenous palm and pine trees. On the front, the 379-yard seventh hole presents excellent risk-and-reward options off the tee. It's a slight dog leg right that can be cut with a 230-yard carry over the bunkers in the curve or played conservatively on the center line. The green on the eleventh hole, a 170-yard par three, has echoes of the sixteenth at Augusta National while the fifteenth, a 150-yard one-shotter, has a VW micro-bus buried in the green to make for some interesting putts.

Home sites are set well back from the playing areas, yet afford fine views of the course--not to mention the lakes and lagoons that wind through the 650-acre property.  Old Palm’s Mediterranean-style clubhouse pampers you with fine and casual dining, resort-style pool, and a luxurious spa and fitness facility. Just steps from the pool and clubhouse, Old Palm’s Casitas are the perfect guest-entertainment venue with charming tropical décor and well-appointed suites.

The 33-acre practice area includes a double-ended range, short-game area, and a golf studio with covered hitting bays and all the electronics anyone could want or use. Three regulation practice holes, a par 3, 4, and 5, wrap around a lake next to the range, making Old Palm the perfect place to hone to game.

Old Palm is close to shopping, dining, entertainment, and beaches. Palm Beach International Airport and North County General Aviation Airport (for private jets) are only minutes away. Old Palm is being developed by Clarion Partners, a leading real estate investment firm with over $25 billion in assets under management.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf

Tampa Treat

Anyone who says Florida golf is flat and water-bound hasn’t played at Innisbrook, home of four fine courses on the Gulf Coast near Tampa. Both the Copperhead, the 7,340-yard (from the tips) home of the PGA Tour’s PODS Championship, and the newly-renovated Island Course, with a tight 7,310 yards, have elevation changes as dramatic as any you’ll find at your favorite course—-and there’s nary a palm tree in sight. Instead, fairways are sharply and picturesquely defined with cedars and pines with plenty of Spanish moss to give them a Carolinas feel.

Both courses, as well as the North and South Highland tracks, have lots of water and sand, though, which keep them honest and make you earn your pars. The Island Course has all new greens and several new tees, the result of a $1.7 million renovation that started the day after resort owner Sheila Johnson closed on her purchase of the property in 2007. With tighter fairways, water on nine holes, and some dramatic doglegs, it’s actually a tougher course than the Copperhead, as reflected in the 73.5 rating/140 slope from the back (Green) tees.

The renovation of the Island Course is the first step in Johnson’s plans to revitalize the property. The resort’s first full-service 12,000-square-foot spa is scheduled to open in 2008 along with a state-of-the-art fitness area. There is no central hotel-style lodging facility at Innisbrook—-you stay in roomy, comfortable low-rise condos scattered around the 900-acre resort—-and a remarkably responsive shuttle takes you anywhere you want to go on the property. There are four restaurants, 11 Har-tru tennis courts, a nature preserve, and six pools, including the water-park-style Loch Ness Pool.

Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club
Tampa
(800) 456-2000
www.innisbrookgolfresort.com
Nearest airport: Tampa (30 minutes)
Golf package: $299 per person per night includes room and breakfast, one round of golf, daily golf clinic, and other amenities.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

Island Dreams at Sawgrass

You know you’re at TPC Sawgrass when you look out your hotel room window and see the miniature island green in the lagoon. It’s not the real thing, but it might as well be, since you have just about as much chance of landing your ball there as you do on the real one at the Players Stadium Course, one of five courses at the Sawgrass Marriott Resort totaling 99 holes of fine golf in Ponte Vedre, Florida.

There are 18 holes on the Players Stadium Course, home of the Players Championship since 1982, but the 17th hole generates 99% of the excitement. It’s only 128 yards—the pros play about the same distance but from a slightly different angle—but the tee shot is like trying to land a ball on half of a tennis court. When the swirling winds come up, it’s more like trying to hit a ping pong table at the other end of a football field. Players lose 120,000 balls in the lake surrounding the green every year. Maybe that’s why it’s known as the most frightening hole in golf.

The Marriott Sawgrass Resort provides all the amenities a tired, hungry golfer could want. There are five restaurants on the property, including the Augustine Grille, where you can treat your homesick palate to a serving of Hudson Valley foie gras before tearing into a fine steak. The 25,000 square-foot spa is the place to go after your round for a soak in the whirlpool or the Sawgrass Grand Slam, which includes a hydro and color therapy bath, a deep cleansing and exfoliation, and, for the grand finale, a full body massage.

Sawgrass Marriott Resort & Spa
Ponte Vedre Beach
800-457-4653
www.sawgrassmarriott.com
Nearest airport: Jacksonville (35 minutes)
Golf package: $469 includes room and breakfast, one round on Players Stadium Course for one golfer, forecaddie and other amenities. Note, you must be a guest at the Resort to play the Players Stadium Course.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

Golf In Mickey Mouse Land

For a family-oriented golf vaction, where else would you go but to Orlando, home of more kid-friendly attractions than anyplace on earth. You can do the whole Disney thing (and there are some fine courses in Mickey land), but a destination worth considering is one that’s sort of under the radar in Orlando—-but it shouldn’t be. It’s Championsgate, home to two world-class Greg Norman-designed courses, David Leadbetter’s Golf Academy, a magnificent Omni Resort Hotel, and just fifteen minutes away from the Magic Kingdom et al. There are multiple dining choices, too, including my favorite, David’s Club, an upscale sports bar/steakhouse.

But first things first—-golf at Championsgate. You’ll experience two completely different style courses, both of which are worth your time and attention. The International, which plays host to the Father-Son Challenge in December, carries one of the highest rating and slope of any course in Florida, a whopping 76.8/143 from the tips, which measures 7,363 yards. It’s no pushover from the blue tees, either, stretching 6,792. Norman designed a true links course, with wind-swept, treeless fairways, run-up approaches to hard, fast greens, and a plethora of pot bunkers in truly inconvenient locations.

The National is a (somewhat) kinder and gentler parkland layout. It’s a little shorter at 7,128, but much, much tighter. Spanish-moss-draped trees, thick stands of palmettos, and ball-swallowing waste areas frame nearly every hole—none of which play very straight.

Mom doesn’t have to entertain the kids while Dad plays golf at Championsgate, either. There’s the Omni Kids Club to keep them occupied while Mom joins Dad on the links or enjoys the spa. For whole-family fun, the Omni offers the 850-ft. Lazy River tube-float, a zero-entry family activity pool, lighted tennis and basketball courts, a sand volleyball court, and a really entertaining lighted nine-hole par-three golf course, with holes ranging from 55 to 85 yards. On second thought, who needs to fight the crowds at Sea World?

Championsgate
Orlando
(888) 558-9301
www.championsgategolf.com
Nearest airport: Orlando (30 minutes)
Golf package: $367 per night (for two persons double occupancy) includes room and breakfast, and as many rounds on both courses as you can play in one day. After dark, the lighted par-three course is included, too.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

Doral For The Family

Doral Golf Resort and Spa is an oasis of luxury in the South Florida sun for golfers and their families. Guest rooms and suites are in lodges arrayed near the main clubhouse, and the Spa at Doral can only be described as palatial.

There are loads of activities for the family, too, with Camp Doral offering everything from Arts & Crafts to Volleyball. It’s next to the Blue Lagoon, where the whole family can enjoy the beach-entry pool, 125-foot waterslide, and 20 poolside cabanas with amenities. There are eight restaurants on the property, ranging from the Java Zone coffee counter to Windows On The Green, which serves fresh seafood and American cuisine with South Florida and Caribbean accents. There’s also an unheralded but not to be missed sushi bar, too.

There are five courses at the resort, but the must-play track is the Blue Monster. It reminds me of a mugger in a Brooks Brothers suit--it looks harmless but it will hurt you when you least expect it. The 7,288-yard (from the tips) home of numerous PGA Tour events looks benign on paper. From the blue tees, only four of the par fours are over 400 yards and the longest is 416. The 131 slope isn’t even particularly daunting, so you stand on the first tee expecting to put some good numbers on the scorecard.

The gem of the track is the 18th hole, which played to a PGA Tour-toughest 4.625 stroke average at the 2007 WGC-CA Championship. From the mortal tees, it’s only 414 yards! But when you play it into the wind, it’s more like 474—with water on your left all the way until it cuts almost all the way across the front of the green to drown any hope you may have had of getting home in two. Your trials and tribulations aren’t over when you finally make it to the green, either—Mark Calcavecchia putted right off it into the water last year. It makes you wonder how even Tiger Woods won here three years in a row (2005-2007).

Doral Golf Resort & Spa
Miami
(800) 713-6725
www.doralresort.com
Nearest airport: Miami (15 minutes)
Golf package: $594 includes room and breakfast, one round on the Blue Monster with forecaddie for one golfer, and other amenities. Also a one-hour introductory golf clinic at no additional charge.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

Putt-ing at the Ritz

It’s hard to say which is more enjoyable at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort at Tiburon in Naples—-the championship-caliber golf courses or the wonderful amenities at the posh hotel. There are two sophisticated Greg Norman-designed courses, both highly playable by golfers at all skill levels, the Rick Smith Golf Academy, and a magnificently-appointed Ritz-Carlton where guests are pampered with premium-class service at every turn as well as goose-down comforters and pillows, Frette linens, marble baths, and Bulgari toiletries in the luxurious rooms.

But golf is why I was there, and it was some of the best I've ever played in the Sunshine State (or anywhere else). The Gold Course is a 7,288-yard gem (from the tips) where they play the Merrill Lynch Shootout during golf’s silly season each December. It offers mostly wide, inviting fairways leading to generous greens, but watch out for the sprawling bunker complexes and/or water on every hole.

The Black Course at Tiburon may not host a professional golf event, but it’s the harder—-and better—-course in my book. At 7,005 yards it’s shorter, but the landing areas are considerably tighter. It’s also a more scenic course, with many holes framed beautifully by Spanish-moss-draped live oaks and stands of majestic pines. Even the ball-gobbling waste areas are picturesque in a Southern-Gothic kind of way. The number one handicap hole on the Black Course is the second hole, which looks quite tame on the scorecard at a straightaway 436 yards. Step onto the tee box, though, and you’ll see why it’s rated the hardest hole on the course: your drive has to thread a pine-lined chute the width of a single lane in a bowling alley to find the fairway.

Then there are the accommodations at the Ritz-Carlton. Actually, there are two Ritz properties to choose from in Naples. The beach hotel is a short shuttle from Tiburon so you can catch a few rays on the sand (instead of blasting out of it with a wedge) when you’re ready for a break from golf. There’s also an expansive, exquisite spa there. The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort has a small but opulent spa as well, and offers five restaurants, led by the signature dining experience, Lemonía, a Tuscan grill featuring contemporary Italian cuisine in Mediterranean surroundings and an excellent wine list. There’s also Sydney’s Pub at the golf club house, a more down-to-earth place where you can enjoy a cold one while you settle the day’s wagers.

Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort
Naples
239-593-2000
www.tiburongcnaples.com
Nearest airport: Ft. Myers (40 minutes)
Golf package: $949 per night (for two persons double occupancy) includes room and breakfast, and one round of golf for both or two rounds for one golfer.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo

Doral's Other Monster

The Great White Course at Doral - First Tee

Doral's Blue Monster, home of the WGC CA Championship, is one the great classic Florida courses you can play. But if you go, make sure you stay an extra day to check out the other monster at the resort, the Great White Course.

The Great White Course is arguably the Blue Monster’s equal although Greg Norman’s design makes it a totally different golf experience in several ways. At 6,679 yards, the Great White is about the same length as the Blue Monster although fewer of the greens are elevated, so it doesn’t play quite as long. You need a wide variety of approach shots, though—from high soft short irons over trouble to laser-guided long irons or hybrids, so it’s more entertaining that it’s more famous sibling in many ways.

The course had a reputation for undue toughness for a few years, but the Great White was made much more playable with a major remodeling in 2006, according to Golf General Manger Darrin Helfrick. They took out 125 pot bunkers and re-contoured the crowned green on the 6^th hole—although it’s still harder to hit than a flea’s butt with a BB gun at 149 yards.

The course also technically has no rough, but don’t let that fool you. The short grass runs right into fairway-defining waste areas dotted with saw grass, trees, and other ball-blocking vegetation. And, because there’s generally no long grass to stop it, an errant shot may run a long, long way on the hard coquina sand in the waste areas. They also slip quite easily into bunkers and water hazards, so you have to plan not just the direction but the distance of your shots with care.

The Great White offers an excellent mix of demanding holes. There’s the 577-yard 14^th that’s a four-shot hole for most golfers when it plays into the wind, the 161-yard island green 8^th hole, and the 374-yard 10^th, where a wide but shallow green forces you to lob a high, soft approach exactly the perfect distance—three steep bunkers guard the front while water awaits just off the back edge. The first and last holes are reachable par fives, too, depending on the wind, which makes for some interesting matches.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo