Bella Collina Golf Club

Bella Collina Golf Club is a private course in Montverde, Florida, co-designed by Sir Nick Faldo and Steve Smyers and opened in 2008, one of only three Faldo-designed courses in the United States. Set on 1,900 acres of rolling Central Florida terrain, it features dramatic elevation changes including a 50-foot drop from tee to green on the opening hole.

Bella Collina Golf Club in Montverde, Florida opened in 2008 as the centerpiece of a 1,900-acre lakefront residential community situated in the western Lake County hills west of Orlando. The course was designed by Sir Nick Faldo in collaboration with Steve Smyers, a partnership that combined Faldo's playing experience and design vision with Smyers's Florida architecture expertise. Faldo, the six-time major champion and Hall of Famer who won three Open Championships and three Masters titles, established Nick Faldo Design to apply the design philosophy he developed from decades of playing the world's great courses.

The Bella Collina site presented Faldo and Smyers with terrain dramatically different from typical central Florida golf. Montverde sits atop the Lake Wales Ridge system, where ancient sand ridges create elevation changes measured in tens of feet rather than inches — a geological anomaly in the otherwise flat Florida peninsula. The Bella Collina course takes full advantage of this topography, stretching to approximately 7,500 yards from its back tees across 1,900 acres of rolling hills with views of Lake Apopka, Lake Siena, and the surrounding lake-and-ridge landscape.

Faldo's design philosophy draws heavily from the links traditions he mastered during his British Open victories, and at Bella Collina he applied those principles to a Florida canvas. Wide fairways that narrow at key scoring zones, sweeping dune-like mounds framing the holes, dramatic elevation changes, and bold green complexes characterize the layout. The course features six tee positions on every hole, accommodating golfers from approximately 5,000 to 7,500 yards — a spread that makes it playable for members of varying abilities.

Bella Collina sits alongside Lake Apopka in a low-density community of approximately 900 home sites across the 1,900-acre property, making it one of the least densely developed golf communities in the Orlando area. Spring-fed Lake Siena is one of the community's own water features, adding to the visual landscape. The combination of Faldo's design credentials, the elevated ridge terrain, and the lakefront setting distinguishes Bella Collina from the flat, water-managed developments that dominate central Florida's private club market.