Orange County National — Crooked Cat

Crooked Cat is the second course at Orange County National, sharing the same 900-acre facility and the same design team of Ritson, Harman, and Aoki. It is the more demanding of the two, playing 7,388 yards from the tips with a course rating of 76.0 and a slope of 139. The rating places it just behind ChampionsGate International for the highest in the Orlando area, and the course offers a stern examination for accomplished players.

Where Panther Lake channels golfers through more defined corridors, Crooked Cat opens up slightly wider playing areas with less obvious strategic direction, asking the golfer to identify the correct line without being guided toward it. The subtlety of this approach is the course's defining characteristic. First-time players may find Crooked Cat less immediately impressive than Panther Lake, but repeated play reveals a design that offers more options and more nuanced risk-reward calculations than its more popular neighbour.

The length is a factor. At nearly 7,400 yards, the course demands two solid shots on most par 4s to reach the vicinity of the green. The par 5s offer strategic variety, with some reachable in two for long hitters and others presenting a genuine three-shot challenge. The par 3s test a full range of irons, with distances and green complexes that require precise distance control.

Conditioning matches the Panther Lake standard, which is to say it is exceptional for a public facility. The same 900-acre infrastructure and dedicated golf operation that supports Panther Lake serves Crooked Cat equally well. Greens run at consistent speeds, fairways are firm without being punishing, and the bunkers are maintained to a standard that ensures a clean lie for legitimate bunker play.

At approximately $209 per round, Crooked Cat sits above Panther Lake in the pricing structure, reflecting the perception of it as the more challenging layout. Groups playing both courses on consecutive days should consider playing Panther Lake first to calibrate their game before taking on Crooked Cat's sterner demands. The combined cost of both rounds still comes in below a single round at several of Orlando's resort flagship courses, which frames the value of the Orange County National facility clearly.

Crooked Cat is the Orlando course that serious, low-handicap players should seek out. It does not offer the resort experience or the designer name recognition of the premium courses, but it provides a test of golf that is more honest and less forgiving than most.