Lost Key Golf Club

Lost Key Golf Club: This challenging Arnold Palmer layout, located on the Spanish named Perdido Key (in English, Lost Key), weaves its way through a flattish landscape of wetlands and small coastal pines.

The destructive hurricanes of the mid-2000s took out many thousands of pine trees that once lined the fairways, leaving a more open golf course than was initially intended. Open maybe, but with most holes flanked by wetland areas, small reed-lined ponds and expansive sandy waste areas, you'll still need to keep things straight off the tee, and precise on your approach play.

The opening hole sets the scene for the golfing challenges ahead. This long par-5 provides a sample of the nicely mounded, but not overly wide fairways, and hopefully not too close a look at the flanking wetlands. Stylish white-sand bunkering extravagantly defends this and many more of the slightly elevated, large and seriously sloping greens.

The front-nine has a more natural feel, with three towering condo blocks somewhat dominating the view on the arguably more challenging back-nine. Although the Gulf of Mexico is only a few hundred yards away, there are no direct views onto it. The back-nine does offer one or two glimpses of the neighbouring inland lagoon, through which the Florida-Alabama border runs.

With its array of wetlands, wealth of bunkering and Palmer's always thoughtful crafting, Lost Key lays down an excellent challenge, and chance to come and explore the lagoons and keys on Florida's most westerly edge.