From the very first hole at Heritage Harbor Golf and Country Club, you get a feeling for the beauty of Florida’s wetlands – the hawks, the egrets, the cypress, the palms, the sky. This isn’t just golf you’re playing, you’re about to have an adventure in the natural world.

You’re going to be amazed at the birds you’ll see at this course nestled among 175 acres of nature preserve in Lutz, a small town six miles north of Tampa. There’s even a nesting pair of eagles on the site. That’s because the designers Jed Azinger, brother of PGA Tour player Paul, and Florida architect Gordon Lewis, needed to take extra care in laying out this course that opened in 1999. The goal was to preserve the wildlife in residence. But the designers also used the marshes, the creeks, the woods to create the kinds of challenges and hazards that golfers love to conquer at this public daily-fee course.