Cheval Golf & Country Club

Cheval Golf & Country Club sits in Lutz, a suburban community north of Tampa in west-central Florida. Designed by Steve Smyers and opened in the late 1990s, the course represents the architect's approach to working within Florida's flat terrain by creating significant manufactured elevation changes and strategic bunkering. Smyers, known for his naturalistic design philosophy and admiration for Golden Age architecture, shaped the property to offer more visual interest and shot variety than typical Florida layouts. The routing moves through a residential setting but maintains playing corridors with substantial mounding and contouring that frame holes and create definition. Smyers incorporated large, irregularly shaped bunkers with ragged edges and placed them to challenge both tee shots and approaches. Water features appear throughout the design, typical of Florida golf, but the emphasis remains on ground game options and green complexes that reward precision. The greens themselves feature considerable internal movement, requiring careful attention to pin positions. Cheval serves as a private club with a membership drawn largely from the greater Tampa Bay area. The facility includes practice areas and clubhouse amenities consistent with upscale residential golf communities in the region. The course provides a contrast to many Florida designs through its manufactured terrain and strategic demands, reflecting Smyers' intent to bring classic design principles to a landscape that typically lacks natural topographic variation.