Mission Inn (Las Colinas) - Florida - USA

The Mission Inn resort is a little way out of Orlando, about 45 minutes north-west and may not be a natural choice for holidaying visitors but I would certainly say why not? I would like to give the resort and courses a recommendation here after playing both. Las Colinas has been around since the early 90's and the one of the stand out things for me was that the course started well and remained consistent throughout and to be honest became very strong on the back nine. The opening hole is pretty straight but with water in play down the right side, means that there is some pressure on the first shot of the day. A 220+ yard (back tee) par-3 over water is the 2nd hole and from that tee is not for the faint hearted. The pick of the front nine for me is the par-5 5th hole, well within reach for many as this is only 500 yards from the very back tee dropping to around 430 on the front (Gold) tee. The big issue though is that the hole has a big left to right dog-leg and water in front of the green - risk and reward at its very best. The back nine is very strong, especially from the fantastic 12th hole; a par-5 known as Alligator Alley – with a daunting drive to a tree-lined fairway. The 14th is well worth a mention too; a great nearly 90 degree dog-leg to the left with a tricky two tiered green and just the one bunker awaiting any approach too short – a hole that you will want to play again and again. Two strong holes complete the course; the 17th a par-4 where the second shot is key with the lake eating in to the green from the left and then the final hole can stretch to 561 yards and although pretty straight is no simple par, the difficulty is underlined by the SI of 5. My advice to those who have played many of the Orlando courses and are looking for something a little different, then get out to Mission Inn, this course is good and in my opinion the old course at the resort; El Campeon is even stronger than Las Colinas.