nedmstaffMission Resort + Club Features Two Uniquely Challenging Championship Golf Courses Close to Orlando and Tampa
If you are a golfer who would like to play at a venue in Central Florida that is unique, unexpected and beautiful, then look no further than Mission Resort + Club in the tucked-away Lake County town of Howey-in-the-Hills.
A luxury destination resort that is just a 35-minute drive northwest of Orlando or an 80-minute drive northeast of Tampa, Mission Resort + Club is home to two championship golf courses which are wonderfully complementary.
El Campeón (The Champion) layout, built in 1917 by George O’Neil, is one of the oldest courses in the South with a classic design featuring unusually sharp elevation changes in the typically flat Florida terrain. It has played host to multiple high school, college and professional tournaments.
El Campeón
In contrast, Las Colinas (The Hills) was created in 1992 by former PGA TOUR winner Gary Koch, and it lives up to its name with wide fairways rolling over gentle rises. Both courses at Mission Resort + Club feature undulating greens surrounded by tropical vegetation and incorporate large water hazards on many holes.
Las Colinas
For Bryan Mulry, who was appointed PGA Director of Golf in March 2023, the uniqueness and beauty of the facility make it a “must-play” golfing destination.
“There are not too many places where you can play two different courses at the same facility in one day and they are unique because they are two very different layouts,” said Mulry, who oversees golf operations for both El Campeón and Las Colinas. “So, on the same property, you have one course that is played on undulating landscape with water on a lot of strategic holes and then you have Las Colinas designed through the residences and the tree lines which gives you a very different look and character.
“It’s a unique place because when you drive here, you don’t feel the hustle and bustle. Once you arrive in Howey-in-the-Hills and our resort, it is very quiet and secluded like a ‘kept secret’ in a way. It’s a very special place.”
Mulry, a certified Class ‘A’ PGA of America member for 25 consecutive years who has golf industry experience spanning more than three decades, has been repeatedly told by golfing guests that the beauty far outweighs the difficulty of the two courses.
“I always expect them to say it was a really hard golf course, but they don’t,” Mulry smiled. “What they really say is that it is beautiful. It is landscape that they don’t typically see in Central Florida. Many have said, ‘I had an amazing experience, I had an awesome time. Wow! The golf course was so beautiful.’
“Better-than-average players like the challenge of golf, and they don’t see the beauty. They just see the challenge, yet many love the scenery here. If you go to La Hacienda restaurant and sit on the back patio as the sun sets, I will put that up against a lot of other views, even an ocean view, because you are looking over the lake, the golf course, the 18th, the first hole and the clubhouse. It’s very picturesque. And if you go out to hole No. 7 late in the evening and watch the sunset from there, it’s incredible.”
Mulry feels a level of excitement every day that he works at Mission Resort + Club.
“You’ve got 36 holes of golf here that you don’t have anywhere else,” he said. “It’s in the middle of an area that has terrain that’s unnoticeable until you actually go see it. Playing here is an experience that everyone is going to have a different feel for.
Mission Resort + Club
Nestled among the rolling hills of Lake County, Mission Resort + Club is an MMI Hotel Group property that also offers an abundance of attractions for romantic couples, vacationers, hikers, cyclists, racquet sports enthusiasts, eco-tourists, boaters and anglers.
The resort features four restaurants, a marina and a spa.
The resort, recently inducted into Historic Hotels of America®, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has distinct Spanish Colonial architecture.
It offers 176 hotel guest rooms, 131 deluxe rooms, 38 club suites, four one-bedroom suites, two two-bedroom suites and one penthouse suite with three bedrooms. Mission Resort + Club is widely known for its more than 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor mee
To learn more, visit missionresortandclub.com.
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