From the Panhandle in the northwest to the Florida Keys in the south you will find an abundance of great golf throughout the state of Florida.

And not only is the golf great there but the courses feature a great variety of wildlife, including alligators, as well as some spectacular flora and fauna.

Many of the world’s top golf course architects, including Donald Ross and all of the modern designers, have laid out courses in the state that has become the winter destination for so many Canadians, many of whom own homes and trailers there.

There’s also no shortage of courses that are part of luxurious resorts.

Here’s a sampler of what you can find in Florida.

(1) Doral Golf Resort and Spa

In 1959 construction started on the resort and golf facility on swamp land in west Miami. Three years later the first of what is now five courses and the hotel opened. Canadians have been staying and playing there ever since.

While there are five courses at Doral it’s best known for the Blue course, affectionately known as the Blue Monster which has been home to a PGA Tour event for 45 years. The World Golf Championship-CA event is currently played on the Blue Course which was designed by Dick Wilson who also laid out Royal Montreal.

(2) Innisbrook Resort @ Golf Club

The four golf courses and resort complex sit on 900 acres of Gulf coast property in Palm Harbor, just north of Tampa.

Each of the four courses, Copperhead, Island, North and South were designed by Lawrence Packard but each has its own unique style.

The Copperhead is by far the best known since for the past nine years it has been the host each spring to the PGA Tour’s Transitions Championship. Prior to that, the J.C. Penney Championship which featured teams from both the PGA and LPGA Tours was held there.

The resort is also only minutes from the west coast’s famed white sand beaches.

(3) PGA National Resort and Spa

Located at Palm Beach Gardens in West Palm Beach PGA National has five unique golf courses that have hosted such prestigious events as the 1983 Ryder Cup, the 1987 PGA Championship and the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic.

The courses include The Champion, a Jack Nicklaus design, The Palmer, named after its designer Arnold Palmer as well as The Estate, The Squire and The Haig.

The Haig features rose bushes as the 150-yard markers, a tribute to legendary golfer Walter Hagen who was often quoted as saying that you should stop and smell the roses along the way.

(4) PGA Village

A 430-acre wildlife sanctuary in Port St. Lucie on Florida’s Treasure Coast is home to the PGA Golf Club and three golf courses designed by Tom Fazio and Pete Dye.

The Ryder Course, Wanamaker Course and Dye courses will test golfers of any skill level and the 35 acre PGA Learning Centre and six-hole short game training course can help improve every player’s game.

The Perfect Drive Golf Villas are located nearby as is the PGA Historical Museum.

The whole complex is adjacent to I-95 with 21 miles of white sandy beaches nearby.

(5) TPC Sawgrass Marriott Resort and Spa

Located in northeast Florida between Jacksonville and historic St. Augustine TPC Sawgrass has 36 holes but one of them may be the best known par three in golf.

The 17th hole at the Players Stadium Course, designed by Pete Dye, is the famous or infamous island-green hole that has given mid to high handicappers as well as PGA Tour stars nightmares for years.

Guests staying at the resort usually want to warm up on the Dye’s Valley Course before tackling The Players Stadium Course which is host annually to the PGA Tour’s Players tournament.

(6) LPGA International

Since 1994 LPGA International in Daytona Beach has been the home of the LPGA Tour.

Rees Jones designed the Champions Course, a links-style layout which opened in 1994. That was followed in 1997 by the Legends Course designed by Arthur Hills.

Very different from the Champions course, Hills’ design features plenty of wetlands, with holes carving through pines and water.

LPGA International is just a short hop from hotels and beaches and the Daytona International Speedway, home of the Daytona 500, is practically just a drive and a wedge away.

(7) Hammock Beach Golf Resort

The word ‘beach’ is appropriate because the resort and golf courses are literally right on the Atlantic Ocean.

In fact six holes of the Jack Nicklaus designed Ocean Course are adjacent to the ocean providing stunning vistas.

The Conservatory Course designed by Tom Watson features 76 acres of man-made lakes, two streams, a waterfall and 140 bunkers filled with coquina shells and white sand.

The resort, which is located between Jacksonville and Daytona on Florida’s east coast, also features luxurious accommodation, a spa, tennis courts and a waterpark.

(8) Celebration Golf Club

Celebration is the last collaboration between legendary golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Senior, who died in 2004, and his son Robert Trent Jones Junior.

The dynamic duo built a course with old world charm, complete with ancient live oaks draped with Spanish Moss right in the middle of Orlando’s resort and attractions area.

The course is just minutes from Disney World, Sea World and Universal Studios.

Accuracy is the key at Celebration with water coming into play on 17 of 18 holes.

Golf Digest gave Celebration four and half stars in its ‘best places to play’ list.

(9) Reunion Resort

Located literally just minutes from the front gate at Disney World, the Reunion Resort offers a myriad of activities including some of the best golf in central Florida.

Three of the biggest names in golf, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson have each designed courses at Reunion and each course is remarkably different from the others.

The Annika Academy is located at Reunion where you can get lessons from Annika Sorenstam’s personal coach, Henry Reis.

The resort offers luxury villas and homes, and other activities include a spa, tennis and a water park.

(10) TPC Tampa Bay

Designed by Bobby Weed with Chi Chi Rodriguez as a player consultant, TPC Tampa Bay is a must play for golfers who also enjoy wildlife.

It’s built through natural wetlands and features cypress heads as well as a number of ponds and lagoons.

Alligators, deer, foxes, otters, and armadillos abound on the property and many species of birds, including bald eagles, make their home there.

TPC Tampa Bay has been designated an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.

Golf World magazine named TPC Tampa Bay 18th in its top 50 public courses list.

(11) World Golf Village

The World Golf Hall of Fame is the centrepiece for a World Golf Village that includes hotels, resorts and two great golf courses.

The Hall of Fame, which is a must-see for anyone who plays the game, is worth the trip to World Golf Village.

The complex also features two very unique golf courses.

The King and the Bear course is named after and co-designed by Hall of Famers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

It’s carved through loblolly pines and 200 year old live oaks.

The Slammer and the Squire course is a tribute to Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen and both served as advisors to designer Bobby Weed.

(12) Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Club and Lodge

You must be a member or be staying in the lodge to play Bay Hill in Orlando but how often do you get a chance to tee it up at the home course of one of the greatest names in golf.

Palmer didn’t build Bay Hill. In fact it was built back in the early 1960s. The King bought it in 1976 after falling in love with central Florida and he’s made it his winter home ever since.

Bay Hill, which hosts a PGA Tour event every spring, has 27 holes which run along the Butler chain of Lakes.

It’s also home to the Arnold Palmer Golf Academy.

(13) World Woods Golf Club

Tom Fazio designed both the Pine Barrens and Rolling Oaks at World Woods and he has confided to some that he considers them among his best work.

Both are on most magazine lists of the best courses you can play in Florida.

World Woods, which is located in Brooksville, Florida north of Tampa, also has a nine-hole short course and a practice facility that some have called the best in the world.

It features a circular 23-acre range and a 36-hole, two-acre putting course.

World Woods also features a vacation villa with stay and play packages.

(14) Harmony Golf Preserve

The Harmony Golf Preserve combines a championship golf course in an unspoiled setting – Florida at its natural best.

Johnny Miller designed the course which runs through a 260-acre wildlife preserve featuring old-growth woodland where you can see deer, otters, sandhill cranes, bobcats, foxes, ospreys and owls. It’s an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary that is also home to a rare type of orchid.

It’s located in the town of Harmony, about 26 miles south of the Orlando International Airport.

Golf Digest gives Harmony Golf Reserve four and a half stars out of five.

(15) The Gasparilla Inn & Club

The Gasparilla Inn can trace its roots back to 1913 and is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Located in Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island, the Inn is 90 minutes from Fort Myers and Sarasota on Florida’s southwest coast.

The spectacular Pete Dye designed golf course stretches 6,900 yards right on Charlotte Harbour with spectacular views of the water.

The course features numerous man made ponds and has fairways dotted with palm trees.

Après golf activities at the Gasparilla Inn can include tennis, boating, sport fishing, lying on the beach and even croquet.

(16) Walt Disney World Resort Golf

Magic Kingdom, Epcot – theme parks and themed resort hotels are what first come to mind when you’re thinking Disney. But Walt Disney World Resort has five different championship golf courses.

Lake Buena Vista has hosted both PGA Tour and LPGA tour events. The Magnolia is named for the abundance of flowering magnolia trees which line the fairways.

Osprey Ridge, designed by Tom Fazio is a certified Audubon Cooperative Wildlife Sanctuary. The Palm is cut through woodlands and around lakes.

And Oak Trail is a nine-hole walking course designed by Ron Garl.

(17) Biltmore Coral Gables

Famed golf course architect Donald Ross completed the 18-hole golf course in 1925 as part of the then new hotel complex near Miami.

The course, which has been meticulously restored, features many of Ross’s design features including bunkers which create false fronts at the greens.

The Biltmore Hotel, adjacent to the golf course was completed in 1926 and its Mediterranean revival style with pink façade and Moorish Giralda Tower dominates the skyline.

The hotel, which is a National Historic Landmark, has also been restored to its former glory and features the largest swimming pool in the continental United States.

(18) Shingle Creek Golf Club

Designed by David Harman the club is named after the creek that cuts through the property.

Shingle Creek is the headwater of the Florida Everglades, the famous ‘river of grass’ that dominates much of south Florida.

Shingle Creek has fairways that wind around man-made lakes and are dotted with oaks, pines and palm trees, not to mention a myriad of white sand traps.

The 1,500 room Shingle Creek Rosen Resort looms over the golf course.

The pastoral setting belies the fact that the whole complex is in the middle of Orlando just blocks from the busy shopping district on International Drive.

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