The eighth green of Doral's Blue Monster.

Thanks to being an annual PGA Tour stop for more than 40 years, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Doral Golf Resort & Spa. But let’s say you were given a free pass to take a Florida golf vacation there; would you know which of its five golf courses is the must play? Or, which is the must-avoid?

The must play is easy. That’s the Blue Monster, where the pros are teeing it up this week in the CA Championship, one of the events in the World Golf Championships series.

As you’ll see on TV if you watch the tournament (Golf Channel today; NBC on Saturday and Sunday) the course’s signature characteristics are, of course, water (the “blue” in Blue Monster), length and numerous deep, sharply cut bunkers, especially in front of and around the greens.

The routing features numerous exciting, strategic options, such as on No. 8, a par five with water threatening the second and approach shots, and No. 11, a short, split-fairway par four with a massive waste area down the middle. Keep an eye on the 18th hole, too. It’s a 443-yard par four that was once the hardest hole on the PGA Tour.

The must-avoid, in our opinion, is the Silver Course, located off-site but accessible via a complimentary shuttle. On our last visit to Doral, we came away thinking not only that it was the worst course at the resort, but it was one of the worst resort layouts we had ever seen.

For starters, it’s set in a very heavily developed condo community, with fairways flanked by buildings, power lines and featuring numerous dangerous road crossings. We were also disappointed in what seemed like a total lack of maintenance and attention to hospitality basics. In fact, it was treated like it wasn’t even part of the resort, and you know what? If you go to Doral on a Florida golf vacation, you should treat it that way, too.

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