To me, Florida golf usually means holes restricted by housing & water on a flat piece of land. I know that's not true everywhere. Certainly Calusa Pines is a notable exception that I've played.
Just after Christmas I was fortunate enough to be Mike Sweeney's guest for a round at Mountain Lake in Lake Wales. If not for GCA, I might never have heard of Mountain Lake at all. It's pretty short by today's standards, just over 6600 yards. It's hidden away in the small central Florida town of Lake Wales. And it's also the kind of course I would love to play every day if I could.
For anyone who isn't familiar, Mountain Lake was designed by Seth Raynor and opened for play around 1920. The course underwent a lot of changes and was beautifully restored by Brian Silva in 2002. Mike's profile of the course is well worth a read.
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/mountainlake2.htmlThis part of Florida isn't flat and the rolling terrain gives the course a lot of its character. Raynor used the land to create a course that is both fun and challenging. It also plays a lot longer than the yardage on the scorecard would indicate. The fairways are huge, so an unsuspecting player can try to bomb away off the tee on every hole. This can be enjoyable since you don't need to worry about hitting out of bounds or losing balls in hazards. But you quickly discover that there is a right way to approach most of these greens.
Mike's profile describes the routing and holes better than I could so I'll just stick with some of the things I found notable. First, the width off the tee. On most every hole, the player has a great chance of being in the fairway. The third hole is a good example. The bunker on the right can be carried fairly easily and that seems like the best side to approach from. But you can't see your landing area, so it is a little harder to commit to hitting it there.
While there is plenty of room off the tee, that doesn't mean the tee shots are boring. In a wonderful sequence of holes 12-14, Raynor requires a blind tee shot (hole called "Blind")
A "Fade"
And a "Draw"
On most holes there is a favored angle of approach. For example, on the par 5 fourth, there is quite a bit more room on the right side of the fairway, but being further left makes for a more comfortable approach.
The sloping fairway on the eighth makes it difficult to be far enough left to avoid hitting over the huge bunker.
The par three holes are definitely Raynor. Beginning with a Biarritz seen from the back of the green.
Then a Short. The player in the photo is future Dixie Cup star Dylan Sweeney, Mike's son.
Then a beautiful Redan, probably my favorite hole on the course. That is an imposing bunker on the left. I could hit tee shots there all day.
The same green viewed from just outside the left bunker.
The final par three is an Eden.
Here are the Eden's side & rear bunkers. I really loved the harsh, penal look of the bunkering all over the course.
One of my other favorite holes was the punchbowl 15th. Here's the green from the rear.
And looking back from the 16th tee. Note the short walk from green to tee. Mountain Lake is definitely a walkable course.
My round didn't end quite the way I hoped. On the 18th I ended up too far right off the tee on the wide, wide fairway. I proceeded to dump my approach shot in the bunker short & right of the green. All I could think about standing over my sand shot is how much the windows in the spectacular Colony House must cost. Needless to say, I had trouble blasting out of the bunker. But a fantastic day anyway.
Here is the Colony House viewed from the 18th fairway.
Finally, the green at 18 is just as tricky as all the rest.
Mountain Lake is a treasure.