Warm Weather Getaways: Florida
February 3rd, 2007 | Written by Editor | Category: Golf Vacations |
by Larry Dorman
When you say, “Florida golf,” it generally conjurs images of Blue Monsters, Bear Traps or the 17th at TPC at Sawgrass, and of the frenetic pace of the East Coast I-95 corridor, from Jacksonville to Miami. Pity.
While many fine courses are on Florida’s east coast, the Gulf side of the peninsula is where the pace is slower, the rates lower and the courses every bit as good, in some cases better.
Three conspicuous examples spring to mind: World Woods, Innisbrook and Saddlebrook. Each offers something different while sharing a high-1quality golf experience-all of it in the same area.
Tucked away in the most remote spot is World Woods, an absolute, solid-golf gem. Slaves to convenience should shed the shackles and rough it a little to get here. The 36-hole complex is some 80 miles from the Tampa/St. Petersburg airport, in the tiny town of Brooksville. The nearest hotel is 14 miles away. The golf, though, is worlds apart.
Tom Fazio has created, in the Pine Barrens Course at World Woods, the southern equivalent of Pine Valley. Northeastern golf snobs must see it to believe it. Once they do, they will. You can lose yourself beating balls in the huge practice facility, among the finest in the Southeast and nearly the equal of the TPC at Sawgrass.
Rolling Oaks, the other 18-hole course at the World Woods complex, utilizes the terrain in the usual Tom Fazio fashion, and is a pleasure, too.
The Innisbrook Hilton Resort at Tarpon Springs, home to the annual mixed-team JCPenney Classic, is a fine golf refuge. Its spacious rooms have a homey feel. The 63 holes of golf are uniformly good. Some debate exists whether the Copperhead Course (7,087 yards, par 71) deserves to be rated higher than its sister, the Island Course. This is like arguing that pecan pie is superior to Key lime. Essentially, it’s a tasty tossup. You can’t lose.
The same goes for whether Saddlebrook, over in Wesley Chapel, is as good as Innisbrook. Again, what’s your pleasure? There are 36 holes here, and the two courses are very different. The Saddlebrook Course, designed by Dean Refram, can be penal, but so can stone crabs if you don’t know how to crack them properly. Saddlebrook’s Palmer Course, done in 1979 by Arnold Palmer and his design partner Ed Seay, is forgiving but still engaging.
West-coast golf in Florida is like that. Cross the state and frenzy is replaced by friendly, not a bad tradeoff at all.
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