Florida's Quirky 18 has it all -- literally

NAPLES, Fla. -- They are tough and strange and weird and downright odd. They are Florida's quirky golf holes. There's a tee box that doubles as a helicopter pad, a green that practically begs golfers to walk the plank, and a sand bunker that proves that it's a small world after all. Grab your clubs and your healthy golf curiosity as we visit Florida's Quirky 18.

Lansbrook Golf Club, Palm Harbor

No. 11, par 3, 186 yards

A little bit of Augusta National in central Florida. This hole - designed by Lane Marshall in 1975 and updated by Ron Garl in 1991 - is a replica of the famed 16th hole at the home of The Masters.

Boca Raton Resort & Club, Resort Course, Boca Raton

No. 18, par 4, 380 yards

To take a swing from the back tees, you'll have to trek across an access road and then blast your drive over the top of that street. It may be the only hole that requires golfers to stop in the middle of their backswings to allow a Rolls Royce to drive by.

Palm Beach Polo & Country Club, Cypress Course, Wellington

No. 17, par 5, 641 yards

After you've finally found the hole on this fascinating layout - brought to you by father-son architectural team of Pete and P.B. Dye - make a left turn and head for the plank that leads off the green and into the water, left there for golfers to walk after succumbing to the hole's difficulties.

Old Marsh Golf Club, Palm Beach Gardens

No. 5, par 4, 362 yards

After putting out, ring the bell behind the green to signal foursomes that it's safe to approach the blind putting surface. Designer Pete Dye's green includes a sign: "Ring the bell for my dad, Paul F. Dye, who loved his family and everything about the game of golf."

Aberdeen Golf & Country Club, Boynton Beach

No. 4, par 5, 608 yards

Pick just about any hole on this nutty, crazy, wild, fun, frustrating and difficult Desmond Muirhead-designed golf course. There are holes laid out in the shapes of dragons and mermaids. And then there is this hole, nicknamed "Beauty and the Beast," which includes an island landing area in the water at the dogleg right.

Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach

No. 2, par 4, 417 yards

Even Donald Trump's best engineers couldn't move a small shed at this course -- and for good reason: the shed was a nuclear fallout hideaway, constructed by John F. Kennedy in the event of an emergency during his trips to Palm Beach. Trump just built the second tee right on top of the structure. A gold sign now marks "The Bomb Shelter."

Naples Grande Golf Club, Naples

No. 17, par 3, 176 yards

Stand on the back tees and you may notice that "X" marks the spot: The perfectly round tee box overlooking a huge lake doubles as a helicopter pad, sometimes even serving as the landing area for course owner Wayne Huizenga. A sign at the tee warns golfers to be on the lookout - as if the shot to the well-bunkered green wasn't enough to worry about.

Walt Disney World, Magnolia Course, Lake Buena Vista

No. 6, par 3, 195 yards

Perhaps the most famous sand bunker in all of Florida is the giant "Mousetrap" in front of this sloping putting surface. The Mickey Mouse-shaped sand trap is not the only evidence of the corporate symbol in Disney golf: The putting greens at the Osprey Ridge and Eagle Pines courses also are carved in the familiar shape of the cartoon mouse.

Doral Golf Resort & Spa, Great White Course, Miami

No. 11, par 3, 203 yards

A river -- of Astroturf, this is -- runs through it. This Greg Norman design boasts a W-shaped triple green shared by this hole, No. 13 and No. 17. The only triple green in South Florida measures 25,000-square feet and has a cart path of artificial grass cutting across it. The National Golf Foundation rated this course as the best new course of 2000.

East Lake Woodlands Country Club, North Course, Oldsmar

No. 5, par 4, 335 yards

You've seen plenty of alligators - but how about mommies and their nests? A sign at this tee warns, "Beware of Mama Gator." The gator lays eggs each year in an adjacent swamp. ELW members have been known to get their good-natured revenge: One member reportedly bounced an errant shot off a gator and onto the green at the par-5 third hole.

Fisher Island Club, Miami

No. 1, par 4, 330 yards

Even before the tee shot at this mega-private getaway for the rich and famous is "The Plaque" - a sign recognizing the victor in the annual International Cup. This is no regular member-member: A Ryder Cup format pits Fortune 500 CEOs and celebrities against each other, complete with bagpipers, flag ceremonies and champagne.

Black Diamond Ranch, Quarry Course, Lecanto

No. 17, par 3, 217 yards

Rock and roll: This wild par 3 seems like it was practically cut out of the middle of a giant slab of granite. The tee shot down into a quarry and leads to a green that is guarded behind by 30-foot high limestone cliffs. Yikes!

Grand Cypress Golf Club, New Course

No. 17, par 5, 485 yards

A taste of The Old Course at the New Course: Jack Nicklaus has done a nice job of echoing St. Andrews here, with (watch your step!) deep pot bunkers and a stone wall along this hole, reminiscent of The Road Hole at the Scottish course's 17th.

Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, Oceanside

No. 6, par 3, 178 yards

Bring your sunscreen and a beach blanket: The path from the 5th green to the back tee at No. 6 - both of which are played right smack alongside the Atlantic Ocean coastline - offers a fork in the road. Go right to the tee box or go left down a boardwalk straight down to the white sandy beach. Ah, the tempting choice that Florida golf gives us all.

Diamond Players Club, Clermont

No. 2, par 3, 250 yards

This is Florida? Standing atop the tee at this 6,911-yard Terry Lagree design, a player is 180 feet - that's 18 stories - higher than the green. "With the wind at your back, you can hit a mid-iron, but with the wind in the face, you're hitting driver huge," says general manager Gregg Gagliardi. "Honest, there's nothing like this in Florida."

Key West Golf Club, Key West

No. 14, par 4, 361 yards

From sea to shining sea: Standing on the back tee at this straightaway par 4 puts you at the southernmost golf spot in the continental United States. That leaves you with just 3,719 miles away from this Rees Jones design to the 7th hole at Dungeness Golf and Country Club in Sequin, Wash., the northwesternmost golf point in the continental U.S.

Old Palm Golf Club, Palm Beach Gardens

No. 19, par 3, 100 yards

Yes, that's hole No. 19. The added hole at the Ray Floyd design is used to settle outstanding wagers or just to get that one extra swing in before heading to the clubhouse. "It's one of the really neat features of the course," says Floyd.

Bushwood Country Club, Davie "Caddyshack" Clubhouse

OK, so our 18th is really a clubhouse, not a hole. And OK, it's not really Bushwood Country Club, it's Grande Oaks Golf Club. But for countless golfers, the sight of this clubhouse - made famous in the movie "Caddyshack," which was filmed almost entirely at this course - represents all that is fun about golf. And while the course itself has been recreated to barely resemble its "Caddyshack" days (even the name of the club was changed from Rolling Hills Country Club), the clubhouse remains.

May 5, 2004

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.