Mission Resort + Club Named Among Top 25 Historic Hotels of America®

July 16, 2024 – (Howey-In-The-Hills, FL.) – Historic Hotels of America®, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing and celebrating the finest historic hotels across America, today announced          the 2024 Top 25 Historic Hotels of America Most Historic Golf Courses and Central Florida’s Mission Resort + Club was among them.

“This is list features some magnificent properties and we are proud and honored to be among them,” said Cindy Staley, General Manager, Mission Resort + Club. “Our ownership is making a significant investment in our entire resort including the golf facility to make certain it is an enjoyable experience for future generations.”

This unique list of historic resorts chronicles the history of golf in the United States through many of the most beautiful, prestigious, and iconic American golf courses that continue to attract both leisure seekers and serious players.

Many of these courses were designed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often called the Golden Age of golf course architecture.  Last year Mission Resort + Club Resort was inducted into Historic Hotels of America.

Click here to see the entire list which includes The King and Prince Beach and Golf Resort on St. Simons Island, GA.  Both properties are owned by MMI Hotel Group.

Mission Resort + Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida,  just a 35-minute drive northwest of Orlando is home to two historic and picturesque golf courses: Las Colinas and El Campeón. The latter, (The Champion), is the most historic of the two.

Built in 1917 by George O’Neil, El Campeón is one of the oldest courses in the Southern United States and has a classic design and features unusually sharp elevation changes in the typically flat Central Florida terrain.  It has hosted everything from local high school and college competitions to professional tournaments.

Las Colinas (The Hills) course, which was created in 1992 by six-time PGA Tour winner Gary Koch, lives up to its name, with wide fairways rolling over gentle rises. Both courses at Mission Resort + Club feature undulating greens surrounded by tropical vegetation and incorporate large water hazards on many holes.

Among the many high-profile players that have teed-off at Mission Resort + Club are Arnold Palmer, Tiger and Charlie Woods, Jack and Gary Nicklaus, Bubba Watson, and Jim Thorpe.

El Campeón course is a Founding Member of the Florida Historic Golf Trail and in 2009, was named the Florida Golf Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association.

Nestled among the rolling hills of Lake County, Mission Resort + Club also offers an abundance of attractions for romantic couples, vacationers, hikers, cyclists, racquet sports enthusiasts, eco-tourists and fresh water anglers. The resort features four restaurants and a spa.

Mission Resort + Club features distinct Spanish Colonial architecture and offers 176 hotel guest rooms, 131 deluxe rooms, 38 club suites, four one-bedroom suites, two two-bedroom suites and one penthouse suite with three bedrooms.