Scenic Hills Country Club

Scenic Hills Country Club: The only Florida golf course to have staged a U.S. Open Championship to date (see Did You Know section below), Scenic Hills is still capable of giving your game a thorough workout. Although some of its grandeur may have waned over time, you'll find more elevation change here than on most courses in the Sunshine State.

Three tricky and relatively tight holes start your round. A straight, downhill par-4 leads the way, with a testing and doglegging short par-5 to follow. The gently climbing, straight par-4 3rd is squeezed by housing on your rightside.

On this scenic and pleasantly undulating, though not excessively hilly layout, the green surrounds are nicely mounded and home to solid bunker defences. Although bunkering is limited along the uncontoured fairways, it's a different matter when you arrive at the small and subtly sloping putting greens.

Water plays a limited part in proceedings, although has its moments courtesy of Thompson Bayou, which meanders north-south through the course. The creek dangerously slices across the fairway on the par-4 6th and par-5 11th, and will need to be crossed from the tee at the 2nd, and par-4 13th and 15th.

The pick of the par-3s is the good-length 16th, a deep bunker awaiting anything hit slightly left of target. The course threads its way through a mix of housing and occasional stretches of woodland, with several sharply doglegging holes on the front-nine and arguably the most attractive holes saved for the close of the back-nine.