Golf Insider

The Slammer and Squire is always thought of as the lesser course at the World Golf Village, but it's a fun course to play because it's designed for shot-makers. At the same time, it's a resort course, so there are architectural traits built in to prevent you from getting beaten up too bad.

The marquee course at the village, the King and Bear, was a collaboration of two of the biggest golf names of the last century, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer (more on that course in a coming blog).

The Slammer and Squire was designed by Bobby Weed with "input" from consultants Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen. The fairways aren't exactly narrow, but they are narrower than the King and Bear.

I like the wide, undulating collars around the greens. There's some leeway there if you miss the greens – most of the time, you won't end up in either the water or high rough – but because of the swoops and valleys, you'll have some challenging up-and-downs.

Even though this is a resort course, you'll have your work cut out for you, especially if you want to challenge all the risk-reward options here, many of them involving water hazards. No. 16 is a good example: If you bomb it over the bunker on the right, you're looking at a good birdie opportunity. No. 17 is the same.

The Slammer and Squire has that great WGV conditioning, and some of the rides through the woods, over wood bridges, are a treat. Wildlife is abundant. It may be the lesser course at the resort in name, but don't ignore this track. It's well worth the effort, and would be the star at many other resorts.

Click here for a video of the World Golf Village.