The megalopolis of Central Florida, Orlando is the city that refuses to stop expanding mostly due to its unofficial mascot “Mickey Mouse”. Dozens of PGA tour pros, including Tiger Woods, make Orlando their home alone among the Sun Belt cities. Orland has continued to expand to stretch its boundaries as a golf destination, not that it didn't have any good public-access golf until recently. Grand Cypress and Bay Hill along with Disney's 99 holes are landmark mainstays. However, Orland's most recent golf course additions have enhanced the alternatives in the nation's family entertainment capital. Of a matter of fact, nearly 150 golf courses can be located within one hour's drive of downtown Orlando, a number that exceeds the amount of venues accessible in Myrtle Beach, America' self-proclaimed capital of golf.



There are a few top golf course newcomers built since the mid-1990. A sleepy quaint little town 35 miles north of Orlando, Deland is a short drive from Daytona Beach. Known as a prime launch site for boaters who wish to explore the beauty of the St, Johns River, Deland can boast the Victoria Hills Golf, a golf course every bit as celebratory as the north-flowing river. A splendid daily-free golf course by Florida Native Ron Gorl, the Victoria Hills Golf Club fits the budding golf community at Victoria Park Seamlessly.

Victoria Hills boasts on 80-foot elevation change and is framed by tall pines and burly oaks wit h sandy waste areas and pristine lakes in play. The 6,989 – yard layout is a shot-makers, walker – friendly track that calls for sound course management in return for par. This especially true on and around the large, swift greens, where skill and creativity are required to get the ball into the hole.

The fifth, a 221-yard par three, crosses a sandy preserve to a vast, oak-framed green staked out by bunkers and close-cropped swales that appear airlifted from Pinehurst No. 2. The signal feature at the downhill par-four 10th is a Pine Valley - Style waste bunker that must be prevented at all cost, while the renowned Cypress Point is represented at the par-15th hole, where the green is slightly hidden from view by a number of mounds and grassy hollows. Water comes into play on only three holes although the slope and golf course are a clear indication of the resistance to scoring posed by sidehill lies, difficult greens and well-placed bunkers.

Opened in the late 1990s, two fine golf courses were responsible for putting Orange County National on the golf map of Central Florida. Panther Lake, Orange County's first golf course, has a diversity of vegetation and a hodgepodge of landscapes with scenic visuals and architectural features inspired by great worldwide golf courses. Several of the holes skirt creeks and lakes from the back tees at 7,295 yards, though every hole is quite manageable for middle handicappers at 6,298 yards.

The second golf course, crooked cat, lacks the lovely natural features of the popular Panther Lake, which is notable for mature trees and rolling hills. This 7,277-yard layout showcases a unique link style flavor in its flowing, open design. Open to the seasonal winds that sweep Central Florida, the treeless crooked cat's wide, terraced fairways are framed by rolling man-made berms. The course has a Scottish look due to its redtop grass in the rough.