The Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate is located just 20 minutes from Orlando International Airport and six miles from Walt Disney World — and just far enough from the “do-it-all and see-it-all” vacation mentality. The four-diamond golf resort boasts everything you desire in one great location, is family-friendly, and is situated close to great shopping with the likes of Nieman Marcus and Tiffany & Company.
Once you pass through the entrance gate of ChampionsGate, you really never have to leave. This is an all-inclusive golf resort featuring 36 holes of Greg Norman-designed championship golf. It is also the world headquarters of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy and home to the Champions 9, a par-three course designed with family and kids in mind. Within the hotel, guests have access to a 10,000-square-foot, full-service European-style spa and a range of restaurants. David’s Club, an upscale sports bar, offers an excellent selection of single malt scotches and fine steaks. The Cigar Terrace is a fine place to light up and enjoy a Remy Martin XO after your meal. Fantastic Pan-Asian gourmet fare is served at Zen, and, in the morning, you must indulge yourself with the Tuscan Frittatas at Trevi’s Mediterranean restaurant.
For guests with children in tow, a complimentary sack of surprises—the Omni Kids Bag—a backpack survival kit stuffed with puzzles, books, cards and video games, awaits their arrival. Additionally, the Omni Kids Camp is available for youths from 3 to 14 years of age. Included in the Omni’s design is an 850-foot-long lazy river that winds its way through a waterfall. Shooting cannons and dungeons will amuse and refresh the kids and the kid in all of us. The bright tubes used to travel the river move at speeds ranging from two to eight mph. There is also a zero-entry family pool that allows guests to submerge slowly into the pool. Children will also have a blast in the nearby liquid playground with its 125-foot corkscrew waterslide.
For adults, the “adult” pool complex lies next to the lazy river and is complete with private luxury poolside cabanas, where guests are pampered on private chaise lounges set beneath swirling fans.
The Champions 9 was designed with the whole family in mind. This nine-hole par 3 course, also lit for nighttime play, is a terrific place to play with your kids while working on your short game. Here players use professional Callaway golf clubs and balls, and beginners can learn and play in a relaxed, fun arena.
The David Leadbetter Golf Academy boasts a four-acre double-sided driving range, a two-acre short game practice facility and nearly 30,000 square feet of chipping and putting green surfaces. I highly recommend that anyone coming to ChampionsGate schedule at least one session with a Leadbetter instructor. The reason is simple: it will help you prepare for the challenges of the two championship golf courses situated among 1,200 acres of rolling hills—The International and The National. Each course has its own unique character, though the International course is more famous for the annual Father/Son Challenge aired by NBC Sports each December.
On my visit I had the opportunity to take a short lesson at the Leadbetter Academy. In just a few minutes the instructor asked me to grip the club in my fingers, to use a light grip and to take my stance. From here he would examine my swing plane and posture. He suggested two things that I needed to do to make a better move into the ball. I tried both and got immediate positive feedback. I have now incorporated his tip into my practice routine with excellent results.
Excitedly I looked forward to playing the two great championship venues. Nowhere else in the Orlando area, and maybe in all of Florida, will you find a true links style golf course such as the International course at ChampionsGate.
This course is rugged and beautiful with many outstanding holes. It will challenge the best your game has to offer, no matter the tees selected (and proper tee selection is a must because the course measures 7,363 yards/143 slope from the tips to a more playable 6,239 yards/132 slope from the white tees). If the wind is blowing, hit from the white tees or stow some aspirin and extra balls in your bag.
The International is noted for its series of difficult par 4 holes, starting with the sixth hole, a long par 4 measuring 462 yards from the blue tees. The playbook indicates that the second shot will be easier if you place your tee shot right center. Oh great! Now all you have left is a 200-yard shot over the corner of the wetlands to a green guarded by a pot bunker. Yeah, right, that’s easy. Made four, however.
My punishment for that par was a double bogey six on the next hole. “There is no good place to miss this fairway,” says the playbook. No kidding. The second shot did me in as my ball found the water on the left side of the fairway. This hole, measuring 447 yards with water everywhere, should be named “perfection required.”
Heavy breathing accompanied me to the next tee box. Ah, I breathe easier, a par 5 for a change. Standing on the tee, I see that water runs down the entire right side and that there are pot bunkers all along the left side. My heart rate accelerates as my breathing turns to pants. The fairway looks about 15 yards wide. Somehow I hit the fairway, and my second shot finds the landing area short of the elevated green. I wedge it on, two-putt and leave with a par. Again the playbook taunts with this advice. “Don’t miss the green left, right or long, making the center of the green the prudent target.” Prudent? It’s mandatory!
The par-4 10th is a really fine hole. It fits the eye beautifully and requires the tee ball to be right center, avoiding the pot bunkers on the left. My second shot was from the left side pot bunker 170 yards from the green and, thus, my bogey five.
My favorite hole on this course is the par-3 14th, measuring 214 yards. The green seems to have been there forever and is reminiscent of the links courses in Ireland. Wetlands stand guard close to the left side of the green, and a lone pot bunker stands sentinel to protect the front side. The 14th is elegant in its simple beauty—disturbed only by my three-putt bogey.
The finishing hole is a long par 5 which the playbook advises to “play it down the middle.” Why didn’t I think of that? As I hit my fourth shot to the green from the left side bunker, 60 yards from the green, my thoughts shifted to the 19th hole and an adult beverage of my choice with my gracious host and fine player, Alan. Strange, but there was no score marked for the 18th.
I loved this course and I can’t wait to play it again. But this time from the right tee boxes.
My trip around the National course was most enjoyable, and my playing partner, Ryan, was easy to be with even though he eagled the par-5 third hole, hitting a long iron to about four feet. The National is a more traditional American-style course, cut through 200 acres of Southern woodlands, wetlands and orange groves. This course requires course management and accuracy more than strength. The 323-yard par 4 fifth hole is a good example. It measures only 311 yards, but club selection is essential to avoid the wetlands, bunkers and waste areas. The green is narrow and deep. Of course, Ryan made his “local knowledge” four, and I made my “tourist” six.
Settling down, I parred the next three holes and Ryan shot a one under 35 going out. Making the turn, I continued to gain confidence by parring the 10th through 14th holes as my host faltered a little with two bogeys.
The par-3 14th is a memorable hole because it is cut through trees and over wetlands. It’s all carry to a large well-bunkered green that appears miniscule from the tee. Once on, par is not a guarantee, for the green slopes in several directions.
The short par-4 15th hole is a good risk/reward hole, as is the 16th. The drive on 15 must be to the right. Water on the left grabbed my tee shot, and I made bogey while my host made four. I get that back on the 265-yard 16th as I nearly drive the green from the up-front markers, chip on and make my putt. Back to even.
On 17, I drive in the middle, while my young companion tries to make up for his one-stroke deficit and flogs his into the orchard on the right. Seizing the opportunity, I play my next shot deep but too far left, and it finds the water on the left side near the green. I should have read the playbook, as my now mute companion plays on. Bogey six from the middle of the fairway.
The National’s 18th is a 410-yard par 4 that rewards length and accuracy. Annoyed at his foolish move on 17, Ryan blasts a long drive down the dangerous right side, leaving himself a short iron into the green that he knocks close. I drive well, but pull my second shot flag high left, and my pitch runs well past the flag. I two-putt for bogey, while Ryan makes his redemptive birdie.
The Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate is a perfect destination for anyone who loves golf, great food, spa treatments, spacious rooms, impeccable service, pampering, and kid-friendly activities. I know I’ll be back.
Once you pass through the entrance gate of ChampionsGate, you really never have to leave. This is an all-inclusive golf resort featuring 36 holes of Greg Norman-designed championship golf. It is also the world headquarters of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy and home to the Champions 9, a par-three course designed with family and kids in mind. Within the hotel, guests have access to a 10,000-square-foot, full-service European-style spa and a range of restaurants. David’s Club, an upscale sports bar, offers an excellent selection of single malt scotches and fine steaks. The Cigar Terrace is a fine place to light up and enjoy a Remy Martin XO after your meal. Fantastic Pan-Asian gourmet fare is served at Zen, and, in the morning, you must indulge yourself with the Tuscan Frittatas at Trevi’s Mediterranean restaurant.
The Champions 9 was designed with the whole family in mind. This nine-hole par 3 course, also lit for nighttime play, is a terrific place to play with your kids while working on your short game. Here players use professional Callaway golf clubs and balls, and beginners can learn and play in a relaxed, fun arena. 
The International is noted for its series of difficult par 4 holes, starting with the sixth hole, a long par 4 measuring 462 yards from the blue tees. The playbook indicates that the second shot will be easier if you place your tee shot right center. Oh great! Now all you have left is a 200-yard shot over the corner of the wetlands to a green guarded by a pot bunker. Yeah, right, that’s easy. Made four, however.
My trip around the National course was most enjoyable, and my playing partner, Ryan, was easy to be with even though he eagled the par-5 third hole, hitting a long iron to about four feet. The National is a more traditional American-style course, cut through 200 acres of Southern woodlands, wetlands and orange groves. This course requires course management and accuracy more than strength. The 323-yard par 4 fifth hole is a good example. It measures only 311 yards, but club selection is essential to avoid the wetlands, bunkers and waste areas. The green is narrow and deep. Of course, Ryan made his “local knowledge” four, and I made my “tourist” six.