Hole 5 of the Palmer Course at Saddlebrook Resort. Photo courtesy of Saddlebrook.
If you are thinking about picking up the sport, the Saddlebrook Golf Academy (5700 Saddlebrook Way, Wesley Chapel, 800/729-8383) at the Saddlebrook Resort teaches golfers of all skill levels. Classes combine classroom and practice time with course play on surfaces designed to test specific skills. All training packages include accommodations, 18 holes of golf a day, instruction, meals, and use of resort facilities. There are two 18-hole Arnold Palmer–designed championship courses.
About 25 miles south of Tampa, the Ben Sutton Golf School (1007 Cypress Village Rd., Ruskin, 800/225-6923) was the first American school devoted to golf instruction. There are two-, three-, four-, and six-day courses, plus three- and six-hour lessons.
Tampa has a couple dozen public and semiprivate courses for the visitor to try. Many of them are located in Tampa’s swankier northeast residential developments. Here are a handful of the area’s top public courses (par and yardage from the men’s tees, rates for the summer):
Mangrove Bay and Cypress Links (875 62nd Ave. NE , St. Petersburg, 727/893-7800, pro shop 6:30 a.m.–5 p.m., driving range 6:30 a.m.–7 p.m.) are two city-owned courses that sit right beside each other. Mangrove Bay is the better course, an 18-hole, 6,770-yard, par-72 facility that also includes a lighted practice range, pro shop, and lessons. Cypress Links is a nine-hole, par-three course. Hole lengths vary from 105 to 187 yards. It has its share of challenges, including lots of water.
Excerpted from the Second Edition of Moon Tampa Bay & St. Petersburg.
