Pros:
Landscape, flora and fauna
Other Thoughts:
With prominent water, many old and sprawling live oaks, and a wide variety of other exotic palms and bushes not often found elsewhere in Florida, Lakeview Park has to be among the most distinctive courses in the state. Built on the former site of a classic Florida wildlife and water-skiing park, I'm told, the course plays around the remnants of a wide, meandering canal, with a pond at one end, and a beautiful lake at the other. Nine of the holes play over or very near this water, so the trade-off for the scenery is a high potential for lost discs. The water level in the canals does vary, however; I was there in spring, and during a drought, so the water level was low in the pond, and much of the canal was just a big, muddy ditch. So no lost discs, but less natural beauty too. Yet I could see that with a normal water level the course would be much more beautiful, and much more treacherous.
The course is relatively short, even from the long tees, so you don't need a big arm to clear the water on any hole. You will need, however, control and probably some luck too. In addition to the water, like many Florida courses, another feature of most holes at Lakeview is low ceilings and in some cases, well defined (but never really tight) fairways. Unlike many Florida courses, though, thick palmetto stands and undergrowth are not really a factor out here, as the many large old live oaks have created a large shady hammock with minimal undergrowth. The trees and other flora, not to mention the bird watching around the lake, are the truly distinctive features of this course.
Lakeview Park has numbers on the teepads but not the baskets, and minimal signage otherwise, so you should probably take a map for your first time out here. And while it does have concrete teepads, they are the shortest I've ever seen, and thus can throw you off a little bit. Finally, as the course is tightly parceled in among the canals and lakes, it's both relatively short, with no hole much over 300 feet, and does have a few overlapping fairways that could pose a problem on a crowded day. Considering the space, though, the course is laid out well, with good variety of approach and taking full advantage of the distinctive landscape. If you're willing to take the risk of sacrificing a few discs, Lakeview Park is worth a visit.
Favorite hole - #9 - One of the longer holes on this short course, the flight path goes over a wider part of the canal, then has to hook back into a grove of old live oaks and thick bougainvillea.