Lekarica Hills Golf Course

Overview: Lekarica Hills is an 18-hole public course in the Highland Park village just south of Lake Wales. The back tees are listed at 6,009 yards for a par of 72, while the rolling Lake Wales Ridge terrain creates more than 110 feet of elevation change. The short-to-moderate yardage is balanced by changing lies, water and the course's historic setting among orange groves and native Florida vegetation.

History: A nine-hole course occupied the property in the early 1920s, but it was frequently flooded and poorly designed. In 1927, the Boston firm of Stiles and Van Kleek was hired to create an 18-hole Highland Park Club layout, incorporating five earlier holes and placing new holes on higher ground in an orange grove. World War II labor shortages reduced the course to 12 holes for a period; it was bought and restored to 18 holes in the 1990s. The Lekarica name is associated with the names of a former owner's children.

Did You Know? The course rises and falls across more than 110 feet of elevation on the Lake Wales Ridge. That topography is a striking contrast to the flat terrain commonly associated with Florida golf.