Unlike other golf Web sites that give you reviews that you "hope" are true, I have lived and played golf in the Central Florida area since 1988. I am an avid golfer and currently play to a 9 handicap. I have played a majority of the courses in the area and all of the courses that I recommend on this site. I want to present you with the CentralFloridaGolf.com Favorite 5 golf courses. Enjoy your golf in Central Florida and play the best courses for your time and money. There a plenty of good courses in the Central Florida area. In optimal conditions, these 5 courses will be some of the best you will play. I have selected a variety of both style of course and price point. You will not be disappointed.

Grand Cypress
New Course

Orange County National

(Panther & Crooked Cat)

Southern Dunes
Golf Club

Victoria Hills
Golf Club

Waldorf Astoria
Resort

The New Course is Jack Nicklaus’ tribute and homage to the famed Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland. This Scottish links masterpiece is complete with double greens, stone bridges and walls, gorse mounds, burns and 150 pot bunkers as deep as 12 feet—all in the spirit of the true Scottish original. Very little water comes into play on the New Course, but when it does it will challenge you.

Like a lot of links style courses, there is a lot of room on almost every fairway. No uncommon to play a whole from another fairway, but that is what makes "links golf" great. As much as the fairways giveth, the greens taketh away. You'll need to bring your "A" short game as the greens are fast and undulating. With a mixture of elevated and flat greens, you will have plenty of variety for your approach shots. Always in great shape, it is truly a great course and it's just a great golf experience – certainly a worthy candidate for my FAV 5.

Orange County National (OCN) has it all, two eighteen hole courses as well as a superb 9-hole executive course, The Tooth. The largest practice facility in the area gives you plenty of room to get warmed up, or even seek some tips from the world class instructors at the Phil Ritson golf academy. OCN is the ultimate golfing destination in the area. You could not have a "must play list" without including OCN and that's why it's on my FAV 5.

Panther Lake is everything you could want in a golf course. Playing over rolling meadows, through native pines, around and over wetlands, lakes, and up and down elevation changes of up to 60 feet, it is first and foremost a visual delight, reminding you that natural beauty is one of the main reasons you play golf and a major factor in deciding which course to play. Selecting the correct tee for you ability is essential on Panther Lake. Check your ego at the starters cart or you might be in for a long day.

Crooked Cat, like Panther Lake, features significant elevation changes, rolling fairways and large, contoured greens, but with fewer trees and wider landing areas, Native heather and creative mounding frame the fairways. Crooked Cat presents golfers more of a links-style look. The course's open feel encourages golfers to grip it and rip it off the tee, and there is certainly more room for error and multiple options for playing a hole both off the tee and into the greens.

Of all the great Orlando golf courses in the Central Florida area, Steve Smyer's creation at Southern Dunes may be the most unique. Central Florida has an abundance of courses that typify the style generally found in the state. However, not very often can locals and tourists find a course in Florida that has such unique topography to it. This dramatic hillside layout stretches to over 7,200 yards and features 100 ft. of elevation change, large undulating greens, massive high lipped bunkers, dunes that are covered with high grasses and ornamentals, which form borders that tumble with the terrain.

Southern Dunes G&CC has become the place well known to locals as a tough and challenging design, and a course that is fair and fun to play time and time again. It's a layout that penalizes poorly executed shots and one that rewards sound golf. Five sets of tees welcome golfers of all skill levels to enjoy risk/reward opportunities through extensive mounding and strategically placed bunkers.

If you have the time to fit this one in on your schedule, Southern Dunes will not disappoint. I have not played "The Dunes" in a while. Just writing about it has me ready to schedule a tee time. I hope you will enjoy The Dunes as much as I have. It's a definite FAV 5.

Victoria Hills Golf Club is located in the quaint college town of DeLand, Florida.  The Ron Garl designed golf course at Victoria Park preserves the natural flow of the area's rolling hills and foliage while providing golfers with challenges as well. It's hard to imagine a more serene environment to play your best golf.

This beautiful 18-hole, par 72 golf course is surrounded by hundreds of oak hammocks and Augusta pines, carved meticulously from a sandy terrain and buffered by pristine lakes and flowering greens. The views that a golfer experiences at Victoria Hills Golf Club are stunning. The challenging tests a golfer's skills throughout its eighteen holes.

Summer Florida showers? No problem. I don't think there is a better draining course in the area. I played in a steady rain for 2 hours and there was not a puddle of water in the fairways and the greens continued to roll true. My golfing partner and I were both amazed.

The home of the Stetson University Golf team, this is a well designed, and well maintained course that is worth the drive and worth your time. I admit it has been a while since I have played this course, but it is a course that I will be visiting soon and hope you will too.

Amidst the Bonnet Creek nature preserve is Golf Magazine’s prestigious, “Top Courses You Can Play,” and “2016-17 Gold Medal Premier Resort” – The Waldorf Astoria Golf Club.

Using the land’s natural contours as a canvas and a fertile imagination as a palette, this meticulously designed course was created by acclaimed golf course architect Rees Jones. Our 18-hole masterpiece pulls in elements from several of the world’s classic courses – some designed a century ago. The layout ingeniously blends its traditional character with endless subtleties for a challenging experience. Mindful of the natural elements and in homage to the game’s storied history, Jones created a golf course of great integrity and environmental consciousness that seamlessly folds into the terrain, so it appears to have been here forever.

 Visually stunning and immensely playable, our Par 72 golf course is enhanced by natural elements like majestic cypress trees lining the fairways and features a five-tee system to accommodate golfers of every caliber. The Waldorf Astoria Golf Club measures an impressive 7,108 yards from the Professional Tees and maintains a course rating of 74.6 and slope of 139.