Lakeside
Park at KPMG Return to Florida Page 
KPMG’s Lakehouse
9301 Lake Nona Blvd
Orlando, FL 32827
Cost: Employment by
KPMG (but otherwise free)
Par: 72
Difficulty: 10
Creativity: 8
Atmosphere: 8
To start we should mention that this is a private course on the campus of KPMG’s Lakehouse learning center. It opened in 2024 as part of the expansion of outdoor activities in the “Lakeside Park” meant for KPMG employees to enjoy when on trips to Lakehouse for training and conferences. Thus, you need to be a KPMG employee or a conference guest to have a chance to play the course.
We were excited when we heard this course was going to be built and based on the early descriptions we knew it was going to be Topstroke-like in that it would feel more like a regular golf course than a miniature golf course. The initial pictures we saw confirmed this as well as our first look when we arrived at Lakehouse for some meetings in October 2024. Our first chance to play on this course was early in the morning (the course opens at 6:30am for early-bird play) and given it was late fall we were still under the lights at that time. The course is lit, but more by lights close to the ground versus the more traditional high-powered lights up at tree level, so it is hard to read the breaks with all of the shadows. Since then we have played in the light, but warmer conditions, and lack of early morning dew, provide different challenges for this course.
The holes are all designed with “big” golfers in mind and are modeled after holes that are a combination of famous holes (Augusta National #13) and holes from courses the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship has been held (Baltusrol Golf Club Lower #17). This includes both more realistic bunkers and water hazards. The bunkers are deep and it’s not clear on the rules if you are supposed to play from them or take the penalty and remove the ball from them. Most you can play out of but there are several with cliff-face like edges where you have to take a drop. They are also designed like golf holes in that their pars are consistent with golf and very few of the longer ones even have a chance of getting an ace.
The two first impressions we had were the length of the lanes and the speed. The ball takes off on the carpet but there’s also plenty of breaks in most of the fairways that when you do dial back the pace, the balls gets more impacted by those slopes. It takes a few times through the course to figure out the correct pairing of speed and line, and it will vary greatly depending on when you play during the day. Given there are many without an ace line, you do have to figure out how to best lay up on some holes to get a good line at a two. Even when you get on the “green” the putts aren’t easy with some being sloped so heavily that when it is warm and sunny out, you have nearly no chance to stick a missed putt. After nearly 10 rounds on the course there are still some holes (particularly hole 9 and 14) where we’ve struggled to find a way to get a two on any consistent basis. This is a bit compounded by, despite it being a new course, you can very clearly see some of the seams from the carpet installation and in some instances those bumps do come into play. Given the “golf” design there are also no borders to the holes which can present a challenge for less experienced putters.
We can understand why the course was designed like this with the more golf-centric culture of accounting but as a minigolfer it makes for something that isn’t as enjoyable to replay often. In watching others play the course, while most people seemed to have fun since they are hanging with their co-workers (and maybe enjoying a drink or two at the same time), there was also a lot of frustration as less experienced putters sent many balls flying off the course. Hole 14, which slopes hard to the left, also dumps any golf balls right across the hole below it and into the bushes, which we had happen to us as well. One nice thing about the course though is it probably has some of the best “house” putters you’ll see on a minigolf course with them all being regular golf putters.
If we were to re-design this course we’d have done a few things differently:
- Flatten out the bunkers to make it clear they are playable but still present a bit of a challenge
- Dial down the green slopes and put more “berm” to the edging on the long holes, especially in back of the green.
- Make a more defined “tee area”. Right now there is just a circle with the hole information but no information as to where you should start from.
- Increase the lighting a bit and add some pedestals so you have some place to put your drinks.
These small changes keep the difficulty and design of the course in tact, while making it a bit easier to play for less experienced putters. Given there is a wide range of people who come to Lakehouse every year, you want people to walk away with stories of having fun and a few potential aces when playing minigolf. We have barely registered any aces in all the rounds we’ve played so far. The last change we’d include is a digital scorecard on the Lakehouse app and the introduction of a leaderboard on the screen where you sign-out the clubs.
All that being said, you know you will find us out there every chance we can get!
Reviewed by Pat & Blue Penguin
Reviewed in 2025
Course Pictures (click to enlarge)
See our album on Flickr for more photos.
Map