Black Diamond Ranch (Quarry Course) - Florida, U.S.A.

Black Diamond Ranch's Quarry Courses is one of the most dazzling designs in the impressive portfolio of architect Tom Fazio, whose skill in enhancing the aesthetic appeal of any landscape is unsurpassed. Located in Lecanto, in Florida's Citrus County just 15 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico, Black Diamond Ranch is a 1,320-acre private golf club community. The Quarry Course, which opened in 1987, plays through a limestone quarry with fairways bracketed by live oaks, dogwoods, myrtles, and magnolias. The quarry holes begin with the 13th, a par-three that plays 180 yards over the smaller of the two quarries, with the back tee perched over 80 feet above the quarry floor. The next four holes bob and weave through the limestone escarpments, with the green of the 218-yard par-three 17th guarded by 30-foot cliffs. Dan Jenkins called this stretch of holes "the best five consecutive holes of golf anywhere in the world."

World Woods Golf Club - Florida, U.S.A.

World Woods Golf Club, located 50 miles north of Tampa in Brooksville, defies all stereotypes of golf in Florida. The two courses, Pine Barrens and Rolling Oaks, are laid out on 2,100 acres of pristine, sandy pine forest. The president of World Woods, Yukisha Inoue, set out to build courses that would rival the best in the world, hiring preeminent golf course architect Tom Fazio for the job. Fazio's design for the Pine Barrens course, which opened in 1993, is both a stunning homage to Pine Valley Golf Club, the world's top-ranked course set in the pine barrens of New Jersey, and a unique achievement. Unlike the exclusive Pine Valley, where Fazio is a member, World Woods is open to the public. At Pine Barrens, the fairways are curving green atolls set among scooped-out sandy reefs sprinkled with brush and wiry grasses. Taken all together, the golfer must negotiate 44 acres of waste bunkers.