A New Destination, Florida's Gulf Coast

Much is made on the southwest coast of Florida of the visits of explorer Ponce de Leon in the early 1500's. But by then, his mark in the history books had already been well established across the state at St. Augustine. That identity crisis extends to the golf world, where the styles of golf in Miami, Orlando, or Jacksonville are more readily identifiable. Golfers asked to describe playing the layouts between Tampa and Naples might, after much deliberation, shrug their shoulders and say, "I'm sure there's good golf on the Gulf, but don't ask me to prove it."

The communities between Tampa Bay and Alligator Alley can prove it now, coming together to market the area as a golf destination under the banner of "Florida's Golf Coast", a delicious play on words that ties together the widely varied areas along the Gulf of Mexico. But to truly describe the remarkable diversity of the public-available golf along the Gulf, they might need to put one more alliterative word after "Florida". "Fabulous".

Home to dozens of outstanding private courses designed for the homeowners in the region and at least a half-dozen PGA, LPGA and Champions Tour events annually, Florida's Golf Coast now has the critical mass of upscale visitor-accessible courses that make a golf vacation in either Tampa Bay, Sarasota/Bradenton or Ft. Myers/Naples a true treat in its own right. And a trip down the length of Florida's Golf Coast, sampling a diversity of golf that rivals the assortment of seafood in the region, is nothing short of spectacular.

Working from north to south, this writer recently had the opportunity to taste both the treasures of the surf, and the turf, of Florida's Golf Coast. And as one who thought he knew his golf, I was blown away by the quality, variety and affordability of golf along the Gulf in Florida. Beginning at the Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor, home of the PGA TOUR's Tampa Bay Classic, you are immediately taken aback by how un-Florida many of these Sunshine State courses are. Having found a rare, rolling piece of heavily-wooded real estate, the developers of Innisbrook used the best of it to create four very different, yet very Carolina-style courses. Copperhead, the most famous of the foursome and host to the PGA TOUR pros, could be called "hilly", and the Larry Packard design has actually been called the "best course the TOUR plays in Florida" by Ernie Els, simply "the best course on TOUR" by 2008 Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger, and the notoriously-hard-to-please two-time U.S. Open Champ and TV commentator Curtis Strange said he "could play this course every day for the rest of my life and enjoy it, it has that much character."

Yet it might not even be the best of Innisbrook's four layouts. Wait till you play the Island course with its gorgeous views and delightful mixture of generous fairways and diabolically- placed bunkers. The "rooms" are actually condominium units in smaller buildings scattered throughout the property. And with a fully-stocked lake, three clubhouses, 11 clay tennis courts and five restaurants (including Packard's Steakhouse, where the waiters actually use a flashlight to inspect whether your filet has been properly cooked), there's really not much reason for golfaholics to leave the resort during their entire stay. (www.GolfInnisbrookResort.com)

Innisbrook sits northwest of downtown Tampa, within view of the Gulf of Mexico from the Island course's second tee. Northeast of downtown (closer to Orlando) is Saddlebrook, a privately-run resort that also contains multiple golf courses (two, either designed or redone by Arnold Palmer), a spa, tennis and all the classic resort amenities, with one big difference. You can walk to all of it. The layout of the resort at Saddlebrook is as important as the layout of the golf courses. Once inside, you really don't need any vehicular transportation while you're there, making it a little easier to coordinate activities for couples or small families. Its easy to remember the key difference in the two courses, the Palmer course has more palm trees, while the Saddlebrook course is known for its narrow, cypress-lined chutes. The golf may not be quite as "honored" as Innisbrook's, or as varied, but is every bit as relaxing, and the rooms, like the rest of the resort, are slightly newer. (www.Saddlebrookresort.com)

Located between the two are a number of solid stand-alone courses that can add variety to a golf visit, including the TPC Tampa Bay, host to the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am on the Champions Tour calendar each spring. Bring a solid short game to this classic TPC design from Bobby Weed, with Chi Chi Rodriguez as the player consultant, there's a lot of water, and many bunkers, close to the edges of many of the greens. (www.tpctampabay.com)

Working your way south toward Sarasota, there are a host of courses that take advantage of the native wetlands and marshes. Most are carved between homesites to handle the influx of new Floridians, but those newcomers also demand a challenge in their golf. One of the most intriguing is WCI's Waterlefe Golf and River Club in Bradenton. The course's routing along the Manatee River (where you'll see many pleasure craft docked behind the homes) is tough enough to have hosted U.S. Open qualifiers in 2002, '04 and '06, yet comfortable enough at 5900-yards from the middle tees for the higher handicap player. There's even a "circled" option of mixing up the white and blue tees for a 6200-yard test that fits nicely between the 125-slope white tees and the 139-slope blues. Listen to the resident starters, they'll give you all the advice you'd ever want! (www.waterlefegolf.com)

Much of Charlotte County caters to a different type of recreational golfer, one that wants it handy, but is not as obsessed by it. Communities like Rotonda, between Sarasota and Ft. Myers, offer a great variety of courses with rolling fairways through the natural southwest Florida scrub. Rotonda has four different 18-hole layouts with four different themes, but a common thread of playability. Visitors to the area would do well to make these forgiving layouts a first stop if their games are a bit on the rusty side. (www.rotondagolf.com)

Golf "community" courses are a great complement to the resort courses that abound on Florida's Golf Coast. Every area up and down the Gulf has its charming resorts with differing challenges of golf. Just off the Sarasota coast is a classic beach and golf resort, Longboat Key. Located on a skinny barrier island, Longboat Key fits 45 palm-lined resort golf holes with a spectacular resort on the Gulf side of the main road and a marina with a wonderful spectrum of boats on the harbor side. The last three holes of the Harbourside's Blue Nine play between new high-rise condos and the harbor, with the boats in the marina as a target off the tee, and a view of Sarasota across the bay. You have to be a member, or a resort guest, to play the courses, but the resort's Gulf views frankly make the golf secondary. (www.longboatkeyclub.com)

Somewhere between Sarasota and Ft. Myers, you cross over from genuine Florida to a more tropical climate. Ft. Myers and Naples are rapidly growing together into one large, tropically flourishing resort community. Smack between the two along Estero Bay are some stunning private courses within WCI communities, and terrific resort courses like the Raptor Bay Golf Club, adjacent to the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa in Bonita Springs. The Raymond Floyd-designed course invites daily-fee play and features gently rolling fairways, many elevated greens with runoff areas, and almost no bunkering, just yards and yards of crushed coquina waste areas to offer a different trial from many other area courses. (www.wcigolf.com) Overlooking the course, but not intruding, the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point continues the tropical paradise theme with lavish gardens, pools, waterfalls, and even a water taxi to a secluded beach. (www.coconutpoint.hyatt.com)

It is pretty tough to compare and contrast 5-Star golf resorts, so we'll just identify them. Among the top-of-the-line retreats in Naples is one that needs little introduction, especially if you watched the Merrill Lynch Shark Shootout on TV in November. The Greg Norman-designed Tiburon at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort might be the best-manicured resort course anywhere. There are no roughs on these 36 holes, just fairway, bordered by sand or pine straw without a grain or strand out of place. They're also the first Florida resort with the Segway x2 personal carts for guests. And you don't have to be a resort guest to play either Raptor Bay or Tiburon. And the Ritz-Carlton Resort? Golf Digest recently moved it up to the Top 15 golf resorts in America. (www.ritzcarlton.com)

One thing lacking no more in the Ft. Myers/Naples area is an extraordinary stand-alone, pure-golf challenge. Not since Old Corkscrew Golf Club opened in December. The Jack Nicklaus Signature design blends classic Nicklaus risk-reward options into an Audubon-certified natural setting, with no homes or traffic to encroach on play. The mix of Nicklaus' imaginative use of sand, waste areas and water amidst the cypress trees, pines and stately old oaks offer you a thousand ways to play each hole. And you'll likely use them all over time. (www.oldcorkscrew.com)

After making the golf trek down I-75 between Tampa and Naples, one cannot identify a singular "style" of Golf Coast golf course. And that's a good thing. The subtle, yet surprising, diversity of climate and terrain lends itself to different types of designs to blend with the natural habitat in each area. The differing amenities and pace of life in each area gives visitors choices to match their trip to their personalities. If you've been to Orlando, or Miami, or Jacksonville, you might be amazed to discover Florida's Golf Coast, the Sunshine State's newest golf destination. If it was good enough for Ponce de Leon?