Golf Where the Pros Play

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It's not that hard to play where the pros play. In Florida, many of the pro tours stage their events on courses the public can play. The St. Petersburg/Clearwater area boasts a collection of upscale golf resorts that serve not only to pamper and spoil travelers, but also offer some of the best golf in the state.

Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club

Start with the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor. Ernie Els, the globe-trotting South African star, called Innisbrook's famous Copperhead Course "the best course we (the PGA Tour) play in Florida." Considering some of the alternatives – Doral's Blue Monster, Arnie's own Bay Hill and Pete Dye's bit of “architorture” at the Stadium Course of the TPC at Sawgrass – Els' opinion, backed by similar comments from the other Tour players, is high praise indeed.

A long, challenging layout with greens so slick you'd swear they were sprayed with WD-40, Copperhead has long been one of Florida's highest-ranked courses. The first impression one gets when standing on the first tee and looking out over the course is that this is not your run-of-the-mill Florida layout. Copperhead features knolls, hills and extremely undulating greens that require considerable forethought before club selection.

With long, narrow fairways twisting through the piney woods, past lurking lagoons and around upsweeping bunkers, the course features elevation changes and tricky and fast greens, and demands intelligent course management to avoid high scores.

Ironically, it may not be the best course at Innisbrook. The Island Course, recently renovated and lengthened, is the resort's sleeper 18, demanding just as much precise shot-making on holes that may be even more scenic. The front nine winds through a dark and foreboding wetlands area, while the back nine provides a bit more open area for the bombers.

The other two courses at Innisbrook, Highlands North and South, are more typical resort courses, shorter and a bit more manageable, yet the usual combination of sea breezes, up- and downhill movement, ponds, lagoons and tidal creeks, bunkers and forests demand the golfer's attention.

Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Vinoy Renaissance Resort & Golf Club attracts high-profile guests, from movie stars (George Clooney, Julia Roberts) to great chefs (Wolfgang Puck) to, yes, even golf pros. Combine the elegance of a Mediterranean Revival hotel and a golf course in impeccable condition, and it's no wonder the Vinoy must be on your list of courses to play.

Guests of the resort are shuttled the two miles to the quiet, clubby site of the Vinoy Golf Club on Snell Island. This course was totally renovated by Florida architect Ron Garl in 1992, and while it is not the longest course in the state (6,511 yards from the tips), it is anything but a pushover.

The name of the game on this course is control. Water lurks dangerously on almost every hole, never more so than on the difficult, par-five 16th hole, a 568-yard beast with water to the left, water to the right and water virtually surrounding the island green.

History, Luxury & Golf

The pink flamingo towers and turrets of the Loews Don CeSar Hotel have perched on the Gulf of Mexico beachfront at Pass-A-Grille Island since 1927. The "Don," or the "Pink Lady," as this hotel is variously known, offers the kind of comfortable coddling PGA Tour players get every week.

While the Don doesn't have a golf course of its own, its guests do have playing privileges at the nearby Isla Del Sol Yacht & Country Club. With a typical Florida course of palm trees, water hazards and bunkers galore, the gusty breezes flowing in off Boca Ciega Sound, and the private, clubby feel of the place, it's an enjoyable place to tee it up. The efficient concierge staff at the Don can also help golfing guests book tee times at any of the other fine courses in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area.

Other Good Golf Courses

Visitors who want a relaxing game enjoy courses like Bardmoor Golf & Tennis Club, where the teeing areas are level, unlike so many other courses that require uphill or downhill tee-ups. Here, the greens run so true that there's nothing to blame when missing a putt other than a medical condition.

Other notables open to the public are Mangrove Bay Golf Course, a links-style course that's well-maintained and offers a lighted driving range, and Tarpon Woods Country Club, a challenging layout that's wooded on both sides of most fairways and features water on every hole.