Going to Florida over New Years, suggestions?

[pdahle]

I have initial plans to spend time from Christmas over New Year's playing golf in Florida, coming over from Europe/Sweden.

Thinking of staying in AirBnb to keep living expenses down and play some courses, with good golf for the money. I could be interested in visiting some premium course too. I play in the low 80s. I favor shorter trickier courses over long and wide, but a good golf course is a good golf course!

What are your suggestions? Where should I base my stay? What courses would then be good options to play?

Any input appreciated!

 

 

[TheFlyerLie]

16 hours ago, pdahle said:

I have initial plans to spend time from Christmas over New Year's playing golf in Florida, coming over from Europe/Sweden.

Thinking of staying in AirBnb to keep living expenses down and play some courses, with good golf for the money. I could be interested in visiting some premium course too. I play in the low 80s. I favor shorter trickier courses over long and wide, but a good golf course is a good golf course!

What are your suggestions? Where should I base my stay? What courses would then be good options to play?

Any input appreciated!

 

 

If it's a golf focused trip I'd probably recommend flying into Tampa and out of Jax or visa versa. All of the top courses with public access are in the northern half of the state. Innisbrook in the Tampa Bay region and TPC Sawgrass in the Jacksonville region both the mold of "shorter/trickier" courses and are PGA Tour Tournament courses. The Copperhead course at Innisbrook is typically won with a single-digit under pad score. That's a rarity on tour these days.

Streamsong is all of the rage and about an hour from Orlando and Tampa. They have 72 holes there now and its courses have skyrocketed to the top of all of the "best courses in Florida" lists.

[pdahle]

Thanks to you TheFlyerLie

[TheFlyerLie]

On 5/31/2018 at 5:17 PM, pdahle said:

Thanks to you TheFlyerLie

Glad to help! Just looked back and there were a few errors in my post. For one, these courses aren't "public", but do have public access. Innisbrook and TPC Sawgrass are both resort courses where you need to stay on the property to get a tee time. Staying at the TPC Sawgrass using Marriott or Starwood points can be a great value in peak travel times like the winter holidays.

Streamsong is public and has 54, not 72 holes.

You can also get on another PGA tour stop, Bay Hill, by staying at their lodge for $225/night. https://www.bayhill.com/accommodations

Finally I should have mentioned playing these courses in December can be incredibly expensive since it's peak season. Not sure what your budget is.

[pdahle]

Hm, maybe I should reconsider. I didn't think too much about Dec being peak season. Will it be the same horrendous price leves regardless - if you stay out of the fancy places? Or maybe they aren't that good? What season would be really worth it in your op.?

[Carl3]

We prefer the gulf coast and stay on the beaches just west of Tampa. This was the playground of the rich and famous perhaps in the 1950’s (and earlier) with Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimagio. There are some old school courses by Donald Ross like Dunedin Golf Club, which was the original home of the PGA. Just south of that was the Bellevue Biltmore Golf Club, which is a Donald Ross course that was purchased and Pelican Club. Not sure where the renovations stand. These are open to the public and should be much less than $100 per round.

My wife like the beach which starts at Clearwater to the north down to a Treasure Island and Pass a grille to the south. We stay midway between those in  Redington Beach. 

[adampaul]

You should go for gulf coast and stay on Grayton beach. It's very amazing you will definitely like this. 

[TheFlyerLie]

On 6/3/2018 at 3:04 PM, pdahle said:

Hm, maybe I should reconsider. I didn't think too much about Dec being peak season. Will it be the same horrendous price leves regardless - if you stay out of the fancy places? Or maybe they aren't that good? What season would be really worth it in your op.?

The cheapest time to play is typically Summer, so that's what I would recommend. You can save hundreds of dollars if you're playing a few nice courses during a summer trip when compared to the same courses in winter. I grew up walking golf courses in Florida during the summer time and playing as an adult with a cart seems luxurious. :)

Hotel prices in Florida are typically very reasonable compared to most major US cities. The only question is if you're trying to play a resort course that limits access to resort guests. Then you'll need to stay there. Otherwise you can typically find a cheap place to stay within a short drive of all the top courses.

 

[pdahle]

Thankyou all! I was in Sarasota a couple of years ago. I think I'll go there, sit on the beach, read and play some golf a few days... I'll check out some courses in advance to see that it fits my overall budget.

[JuanTheGolfer]

On ‎6‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 5:36 PM, pdahle said:

Thankyou all! I was in Sarasota a couple of years ago. I think I'll go there, sit on the beach, read and play some golf a few days... I'll check out some courses in advance to see that it fits my overall budget. 

There are several enjoyable courses in the Sarasota area.  The Web.com tour just announced an event at Lakewood National. Others are University Park,River Strand, Waterlefe, Rosedale (all great courses in good shape), Stoneybrook at Harbour Heritage (great layout, average condition), ...TPC Prestancia....  the list is long

Hope you enjoy your visit.