Winding around 200 acres and three sides of Florida’s largest resort and convention center, The Orlando World Center Marriott (which, while topographically ominous, never intrudes on the golf course), Hawk’s Landing Golf Club offers a thoroughly enjoyable, elegant and energizing golf experience.The course was recently re-sculpted not only by the dictates of Mother Nature but, more significantly, by the demands of a nurturing team of dedicated golf aficionados. Following the re-design by Robert E. Cupp II of the 1986 Joe Lee layout—the new Hawk’s Landing provides challenges for all levels of golfers. The landscape enhancements and natural details of this new course are both impressive and ubiquitous: aquatic vegetation, tailored teeboxes, native grasses, multifarious trees (Chinese tallow, palms, oak, pine), manicured fairways, and “water, water everywhere…”. At 6,625 yards from the back of four sets of tees (Championship), the par-72 golf course features water in play on 15 holes, large Diamond Zoysia grass greens, fairways without elevation but with ample undulation, and enough wind to keep it interesting.The 353-yard short par-4 8th hole is an early introduction to the excitement. This hole requires strategy and accuracy. From the tee box you look out at a groomed fairway (tight early in, then expansive toward the green), three fairway bunkers on the left (easily within range of a hooked tee shot), and a narrow green bordering plenty of water on the right. The long green, as you approach, is 46 yards from front-to-back, and if you hit it in low (despite the wind, trees, bunkers and jitters), you still have a formidable (probably long) putt. The 422-yard 14th hole is the longest par-4 on the course. Wide, brawny, handsome, and deceptive (wait till you see the “false front” bunkers just before the green), this hole must be played with subtlety and precision. The drive is safe shot, but the approach must carry water and that diabolical bunker protecting the small green.A staff of PGA professionals provides instruction on the practice facilities, which include a driving range and putting green, and now the host site for the Jack Nicklaus Academy of Golf, their only in the United States.
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