Vista Plantation Golf Club

Par 62 layouts occupy a peculiar and underappreciated corner of golf — long enough to require genuine shotmaking, short enough that a sharp short game can carry the day. Vista Plantation Golf Club in Vero Beach fits squarely in that category, a course built around precision rather than power, where the driver stays in the bag more often than not and irons and wedges do the real talking.

Vero Beach sits along Florida's Treasure Coast, a stretch of Atlantic coastline that tends to feel quieter and less developed than the resort corridors to the south. The area has a strong year-round golf culture supported by a large retiree and snowbird population, and executive-length courses like this one serve a real community function — accessible to players of varying ages and abilities without sacrificing the pleasure of playing a full 18.

A course like Vista Plantation tends to reward golfers who actually enjoy thinking their way around rather than overpowering it. Scoring opportunities are there, but so are the chances to give those shots right back.