McDowell’s Mountain retreat

Graeme McDowell has returned to Orlando from Malaysia to begin his Masters preparations at a little known private golf course that has remained relatively hidden for 100 years.

McDowell intends spending much of this coming week at the Mountain Lake resort course, located about an hour’s drive south of his palatial Lake Nona home.

It means McDowell will skip this week’s Shell Houston Open where organisers have for the past few years enticed the likes McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson in setting up the Redstone host course as Augusta-like as it can.

Mountain Lake was designed in 1916 by legendary US-born course designer Seth Raynor and is listed on the US National Register.

It’s also ranked No. 16 by Golfweek magazine on the ‘Best Residential Golf Course’ and No. 8 by Golf Digest as the ‘Most Fun Private Course.”

“Mountain Lake is a great old Seth Raynor course where there is very Augusta-like greens and where I practiced last year before heading to the Masters,” said McDowell.

“It’s a great old style golf course and I’ve been in touch with the guys down there and they’re going to have the greens running nice and quick and I’m going to go down there for a couple of days to work on my putting and chipping.

“It’s just that Lake Nona is struggling with its greens right now so I won’t be undertaking much short work there.

“But then there is a chipping area down the back of Lake Nona practice range area and the guys there have also assured me they’ll have the area slicked up.

“So I will be having no shortage of practice sessions before heading up to Augusta on Sunday evening.”

McDowell will be making his seventh Masters appearance since 2005 and his sixth in succession.

However, the former US Open winner has enjoyed a love/hate relationship with Augusta National with his achievements reading – Missed Cut (2005), T17th (2009), Missed Cut (2010 & 2011), T12th (2012) and Missed Cut last year.

But while McDowell remains in the Sunshine State three fellow Irish in McIlroy, Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke will tee up in the Lone Star State.

Clarke was out on the Redstone course Sunday having jetted-in from a week’s holiday with his wife in the Bahamas. He will then travel to Augusta where he will celebrate his 500th European Tour event.

For Harrington, this weekend is his last chance of extending his unbroken run at the Majors to 34, where, once again, it will be win or bust for Irish golf’s greatest warhorse but based on his form at his most recent event, the Valero Open, he has it all to do.