Photo courtesy of and © 2005 Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club & Lodge

Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill in Orlando is no Mickey-Mouse course.

Arnold Palmer made a second career out of lending his name and likeness to many, many products, but he never lent it to just any products. Whether it was grass seed or gold watches, quality was always in common.

So, it should come as no surprise that the resort he chose to purchase, stamp with his name, and make his winter home is nothing short of spectacular. Located just a stone’s throw from Walt Disney World, the Bay Hill Club & Lodge includes the best Orlando-area golf course you can play on a Florida golf vacation.

Even though it lacks distinctive landforms (like so many other Orlando golf courses,) the Championship course here (there’s also a nine-hole Charger course) immediately exudes an aura of formidability due to the King connection and its annual hosting of the PGA Tour’s Bay Hill Invitational.

It starts with a bear of an opening hole, a dogleg left par-4 with sand traps to the right and out-of-bounds threatening players whose take the seemingly shorter and safer route to the left. The large green, like so many at Bay Hill, is surrounded by bunkers.

Bay Hill also demands numerous shots over or around water, perhaps none more notorious than on 17 and 18, which, for sheer terror and excitement, almost rival the island green and the 18th hole at the Player’s Championship, held just two-and-half hours to the north.

Seventeen is a long, par-3 over water (which wraps stealthily around the right and rear of the green) and 18 is a fabulous pressure-cooker par-4 that demands a well-struck drive, then a long or mid-iron over or around a lake to a narrow green.

While these two holes enjoy the spotlight of national television and recognition among all Orlando golf courses, many of the course’s lesser-known holes also present and inspire us to pull off heroic shots, one mark of a truly great golf course.

For example, on the horseshoe-shaped 6th, gamblers can gain enormous distance by soaring across the lake around which it wraps. Only three players have ever driven the green from the tips and John Daly, in true Tin Cup fashion, once carded an 18 on this formidable hole during the tournament.

Yes, courage is definitely required at Bay Hill, as is a room at the Lodge, because only members and guests can make tee times.

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