Latest Golfer's Guide News and Features

Think about golf legends and who comes to mind? Well, you are definitely going to think about Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Go back in time to an earlier era and Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen may come to mind. And, how about the chance to play the Official Courses of the World Golf Hall of Fame? The golf courses at World Golf Village have it all.

The first course, Slammer and Squire opened in 1998. It was designed by Bobby Weed with Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen as consultants. The King and Bear golf course, named for its co-designers, is the first and only collaborative design by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

With a dramatic setting in the foothills on the edge of Phoenix’s West Valley, first-class amenities and stark visual appeal, Trilogy Golf Club at Vistancia offers a unique and engaging golf challenge that is hard to equal even in Arizona’s hotbed of desert golf.

Now rolling into its fifth full season, Trilogy at Vistancia has matured to become one of architect Gary Panks’ best designs; an impressive achievement considering his list of courses includes such celebrated layouts as Chaparral Pines, Grayhawk’s Talon Course and Raven South Mountain.

Some renovations simply alter or spruce up a golf course. Other ones, however, can drastically change the personality, playability and challenge of a single layout much for the better. Five years removed from a renovation by Steve Smyers, Grande Pines Golf Club is most certainly far more the latter than the former.

Located in the shadow of Sea World in the heart of Orlando just off International Drive, Grande Pines was already one of the better regarded layouts in Central Florida before the renovation began. Following Smyers’ redesign, this 18-hole Marriott Golf facility is in the discussion as one of the finest courses in the area; a significant statement given the world-class golf that is found throughout the Orlando region.