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THINK of Florida and it's odds-on that your next thought will be of Orlando, the entry point for thousands of visitors who call the State their favourite long haul destination.
Think of Orlando and it's also odds-on that your next thought will be of Disney World, the Mouse House as the locals have it, the 47 square mile entertainment empire that dominates the city.
Think of Orlando and unless you're au fait with the situation you could be unaware that this is also the capital city of Golf State USA. Forget Disney for a moment: this is the Magic Kingdom of Golf.
The State had 1,300 courses at last count and 126 of those were in Orlando or close by in Polk County, just to the south, the geographical focal point of Central Florida. So without driving for more than 40 minutes you could play golf every day for four months and not see the same course twice!
What's more, many of them are first class and more than a few are world class. Sure enough, there's a swathe of flat, verdant, lake-strewn parkland courses that look as though they're the product of plans bought in a supermarket. But there's an equal number at the other end of the architectural spectrum, courses bulging with flair, variety and muscular challenge.
The aforementioned Disney World, for instance, now has five courses spread over 775 acres. Three of them play host when the US Tour caravan pulls in each year for the Disney Oldsmobile Classic and there are some who opine that the two newest courses, Osprey Ridge and Eagle Pines, are superior to the those that stage the Tour event.
Next door is Grand Cypress where 45 holes laid out by Jack Nicklaus are only one of the attractions of a resort whose standards transcend the superlative that is the norm in this neck of the woods. None of the above comes cheaply but to experience such courses is to know true quality.
It's all the high profile stuff of golfing dreams but if it's cerebral golf you're after, in idyllic surroundings away from the bustle of the city, there's oodles of that, too.
You'd wax poetic about the five star Mission Inn and its two courses, El Campeon and Las Colinas. The first, designed in 1926 by Charles Clark of Troon, enhances a golf-perfect site that maybe unique in Florida.
The land rises and falls up to 85 feet in places, heavily wooded and with acres of natural lakes and streams. It provides the ultimate challenge, demands every shot in the locker with every club in the bag with an emphasis on sound course management. And that's only from the middle tees! Take it on from the back and it's heroic.
The Las Colinas course, built in 1991 by former Tour player Gary Koch, is more gently rolling but of comparable quality, in design and condition.
Nominated as Best New Resort Course by Golf Digest, it requires precise shot placement but is somewhat more subtle in its demands in all but one respect: on El Campeon water awaits on 12 holes; on Las Colinas it lurks on all but two.
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