Orange County National (Panther Lake)

Where tour hopefuls sweat, and anyone can book a tee time.

Orange County National sits in Winter Garden, about 17 miles south-west of downtown Orlando, and it is fully public. Panther Lake was its first course, opened in 1997, and it has carried the pressure of the PGA Tour’s qualifying finals more than once. You can book it the same way you would book a local municipal round, then sleep in the lodge on the same property. For a golfer who wants a serious test near the theme parks without a resort price tag, it is the obvious first call.

Orange County National (Panther Lake) green fees and tee times.

Tee times are sold online through the club’s own booking page, a TeeItUp engine from the GolfNow group, and by the pro shop on (407) 656-2626 or proshop@ocngolf.com. Prices are dynamic, so the rate moves with day, time and demand, and Florida residents have their own lower rate and an annual Florida Elite card. Prepaid “Hot Deal” times sold on GolfNow itself are tied to one slot, and its listings say refunds generally need at least 24 hours’ notice and come back as GolfNow credit. Lodge guests book golf as part of a stay-and-play, and every lodge package seen on the club’s site includes free walking on the nine-hole Tooth course. Juniors must be at least six to play Panther Lake. Lodge rooms and stay-and-play requests go through a form on the club’s lodging page, which asks for dates, players, rounds and single or double occupancy.

The courses at Orange County National (Panther Lake).

Panther Lake

The original 18 and the one most visitors come for. At 7,350 yards from the back it has room to be long, but the tee options go down to about 6,000 yards from the whites, so mixed groups can share it. Water shapes the 4th, 7th and 9th, and the 18th is a strategic par five with a central bunker.

Crooked Cat

The second 18, by the same design team, opened at the end of the 1990s (Wikipedia gives 1999). GolfPass lists it at 7,493 yards and par 72 from the championship tees. The club says it shares Panther Lake’s elevation changes, rolling fairways and large, contoured greens.

Tooth

A walking-only nine of 1,563 yards and par 29, with a lake in play on four holes. The club lists a US$15 walking rate and says the loop takes under an hour, so it fits the evening you land.

The round, in perspective.

Phil Ritson and the late David Harman designed Panther Lake with input from the Japanese champion Isao Aoki. From the championship tees the card reads 7,350 yards and par 72, with a 76.0 rating and a slope of 139 as listed by GolfPass. The club has marketed it as a course of “18 signature holes”, and water and wetland frame much of the round. Fairways are generous, but bunkers guard many approaches and the greens are boldly contoured. The 4th, known as The Panther, is a par three played mainly over water to a tiered green. The 7th is a par five that tempts you across swamp and water, and the 9th asks for a drive with water down the right. The 18th is a par five split by a long fairway bunker.

Know before you go.

Access

Public; book online or through the pro shop

Pricing

Dynamic; lower rates for Florida residents

Tooth nine

Walking only; US$15 walking rate; juniors from age five

Juniors

Minimum age six on Panther Lake

Make the trip work.

Two days covers both 18s, and a third gives you time on the range and the Tooth. The club bills its practice ground as the largest in America: a 42-acre training facility with a lit 22,000 sq ft putting and short-game area. Plan an hour there before you tee off. The on-site academy offers lessons and playing lessons with its instructors if you want coaching built into the trip. From June onwards, take morning times to beat the heat and the afternoon storms.

Orlando International (MCO) is roughly 35 minutes away by road, using the toll roads that loop west of the city. GOLF.com puts Walt Disney World about eight miles from the gates, so it works well from a theme-park hotel. You will need a hire car; there is no useful public transport to Phil Ritson Way.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. Disney’s Palm and Magnolia Golf Courses (6 km) · 2. Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge (12 km) · 3. Waldorf Astoria Golf Club, Orlando (14 km) · 4. Celebration Golf Club (16 km) · 5. Shingle Creek Golf Club (19 km) · 6. ChampionsGate Golf Club (Omni Orlando Resort) (20 km) · Compare all Orlando tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

The Orange County National Lodge sits on the property, so you can roll out of bed and onto the range. Its stay-and-play packages bundle a room, rounds, breakfast and range balls, and they are sold through the club’s website and events team. If you would rather stay among restaurants, Winter Garden’s historic downtown on Plant Street is about 15 minutes north.

Make a trip of it.

Crooked Cat is the obvious second round on site. Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill, open to guests of its own lodge, is about 25 minutes east, and the Waldorf Astoria Golf Club at Bonnet Creek is about 20 minutes south. Off the course, the West Orange Trail runs through downtown Winter Garden and suits a morning bike ride, and Plant Street has a Saturday farmers’ market.

Find your season.

Central Florida’s dry season runs roughly November to April, and that is when rates peak and tee sheets fill. June to September is hot and humid, with storms most afternoons, and Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to the end of November. Ask about overseeding dates in autumn, when greens and fairways can be in transition.