Tag Archives: golf trips

Raven Golf Club at Sandestin Resort

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Sandestin Resort is known as one of Northwestern Florida’s best vacation facilities. Amongst its most celebrated features are the four championship golf courses, at par with all the biggest and most popular golf vacation destinations in the Sunshine State. One of these four courses is a Robert Trent Jones Sr creation, the Raven Golf Club, and ranks among the most beautiful in the country.

At 6,900 yards, par 71, the Raven Golf Club has more for the golfers too see and ‘feel’ than most any other courses its size. Jones Sr described his creation as a “true modern traditional”, winding along natural wetlands, a lot of water, a generous helping of bunkers, and pines lining the tight fairways. This takes the golfers to an entanglement of colors and textures, spread on undulating greens, making it very interesting and challenging. Each hole has a distinct attitude, and has an overall requirement for shot precision and excellent club selection. And it is the same from either one of its four sets of tees. This quality of the course also makes it a sight to behold – something that seems carved by Mother Nature herself, making it quite the golf vacation with the complete package.

 There is not much question neither surprise at the fact that the Raven Golf Club is highly recognized and well awarded. It was once hailed as the No. 1 Golf Course in Northwestern Florida (Florida Golf News, 2003), No. 14 Best Golf Courses Near You (Golf Magazine, 2008) and No. 39 Best Tour Courses You Can Play (Golfweek,2008). That said, there is not room for questions either why this is a favorite for golf trips.

Baytowne Golf Club at Sandestin Resort

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Baytowne Golf Club at Sandestin Resort belongs to a family of achievers. Together with its more popular sibling courses, the Raven and the Burnt Pine, they make up one of the most elite golf vacation destinations in the Northwestern Florida area. To be in this position means to be nowhere near mediocre. The Raven and the Burnt Pine are living up to it; thankfully, the Baytowne is too.

Measuring a good 6,805 yards from the tips, and playing for a par of 71, this 18-hole spectacle is an excellent combination of natural beauty and human genius. The holes are placed to take the golfers around pines, water features, to the beach and all through the bay. The Baytowne Golf Club at Sandestin Resort also has some rare elevation changes unknown to most courses in the area. The fairways are mostly generous, but becomes tight at the most unexpected points. There are four sets of tees, and the recent addition of Junior Tees, to make golf vacations hereabouts enjoyable for everyone including the younger golfers.

Originally a Tom Jackson design, the Baytowne Golf Club at Sandestin Resort has undergone a massive renovation in 2005 to keep up with the standards. But that is not saying it was bad in the past. In fact, Baytowne has quite a reputation of its own prior the renovation, and it is a good one. It holds four stars and four and a half stars then and now from Golf Digest’s Places To Play, and was once on Florida’s Top 100 according to Florida Golf News (2001). That goes without saying golf trips here are nowhere near mediocre, or boring.

The Preserve Golf Club

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Course designer Ted McAnlis must have wanted to see how Mother Nature would have designed a golf course. So he created The Preserve Golf Club with the most minimal of interruption to its natural environment. It was like placing holes in the Bradenton wetlands, and everything else imaginable was left as is. And the result was quite surreal. This is the closest a golf vacation could get to an authentic and untouched Florida environment.

The course is all 7,000 yards of pristine wetlands terrain from the longest tees, playing for a par of 72. As is characteristic of a Florida golf vacation destination, water is an ever present feature. On this particular course, there are a total of 52 lakes, and 9 holes of the 18 has water making direct interference, so to speak. On the rest, water is still present, but a lot easier to handle. On top of that is a lush growth of native vegetation including tall pines, old oaks and an abundance of natural wildlife define this course’s being a nature ‘preserve’. These make up the excellent, fun-challenge that is The Preserve Golf Club.

If there is anything that makes one realize that this is not at all purely organic, it could be the 11 little bridges strewn all over the course. But that is not saying they are unwanted and out of place. On the contrary, these bridges are a most perfect accessory to the nature-themed golf course. To say the least, The Preserve Golf Club is a superb combination of human genius and earth’s bounty. This one is for those golf trips that bring golfers to an encounter with nature.

River Hills Country Club

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Teeming with nature’s goodness, the River Hills Country Club is considered to be among the most beautiful courses in the greater Tampa area. It is backdropped by the hues and views of Tampa Bay, and is laden with natural wildlife that is more than comfortable with sharing the course with the golfers. But not to be mistaken as a wildlife park, the golf course is a true blue golf vacation destination with a superb layout making good use of the natural terrain features in this 200 acre inland countryside just a little outside Brandon.

The 18-hole course was designed by Joe Lee, measuring 7,007 yards from the longest tees and plays for a par of 72. It has a dominantly rolling terrain, accentuated by creeks and lakes and an overgrowth of native vegetation. The River Hills Country Club opens with a beautiful 400-yard par-4 that gives a sneak peek of what’s ahead – both in beauty and in layout, and closes with what is perhaps its most beautiful hole: a 422-yard par 4 that is guarded by an old oak, brushed by the wind. It takes quite a lot of patience, the right amount of wise judgment on metal choice, and a stash of risk-taking attitude just for those difficult holes. But not to worry, though. It never runs low on fun and beauty, a most perfect ingredient for the best golf vacations.

The unmatched quality of the layout is only complemented by the amenities on the River Hills Country Club. Its 15,000 square foot clubhouse styled a la Aspen Lodge is a perfect example. The rest of the course are enough an assurance too that this offers nothing but the best for golf trips.

Southern Hills Plantation Club

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Pete Dye is famous in the sport for his unconventionally beautiful designs. He is known to challenge the common, to think out of the box. And the unusual quality of challenge his signature courses pose are what draws golfers to them. It is not surprising why Pete Dye’s creations are among America’s most favorite golf vacation destinations. One of them is found in the older part of Florida, in Brooksville: the Southern Hills Plantation Club.

Measuring more than 7,500 yards from the tips, the course plays for a par of 72 and opened in 2006. It was designed with the goal of optimizing the area’s natural views and terrain. The most notable feature of the course is its highly dramatic elevation that could cause a golfer’s heart to rise and fall in beating just as much as there are rises and falls on the course. Elevation ranges between 60 and 250 feet. And as if that is not challenging yet, the Southern Hills Plantation Club has Dye’s infamous deep, wild and small bunkers to contribute to the drama. The holes are carved out of dense magnolia and oak forests, winding through lakes and ravines, providing seclusion from the residences for a truly enjoyable golf vacation.

These superb features of the course are only complimented by the state-of-the-art, world class facilities that includes a practice putting green, a chipping area, and its massive Spa and Fitness Center. It should not come as surprising that apart from being a top choice for golf trips, the Southern Hills Plantation Club is also a top choice for recognitions. It has earned Golf Week Magazine’s two of its top honors, that being among America’s 100 Best Residential Courses, and America’s (not just Florida’s) 50 Best New Courses.

The Bayou Club

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It should not be surprising if a Tom Fazio creation is stunning. The layout is consistently beautiful, carved out of Mother Nature’s own hands, and so excellently challenging it always has to go to the books. The Bayou Club in Largo, Fl., is one perfect example. Its stunning quality is the type that takes a golfer through a myriad of emotions that leaves him gaping – in amazement that a golf vacation destination could be so beautiful, and gaping in shock while thinking of the best way to conquer each hole perfectly, neatly.

The Bayou Club features 7,085 yards of golf, 18 holes of the championship-quality holes spread on a vast natural bayou environment. It is surrounded by oaks, pines, and natural wildlife. A first look at the golf course instantly gives an assuring feeling to the golfer of having made the right decision: this is indeed the best place to spend a golf vacation in. The opening hole will reassure him even further. A very challenging 464-yard par 4 welcomes the golfer’s round, deemed to be the most difficult hole in the course. But the challenge level is not on a decrescendo mode. The claim of the 1st one being the most difficult is hardly accurate, the succeeding ones seem to be as demanding.

The most notable feature of The Bayou Club are the back-to-back par 5’s on the front and back-to-back par 3s on the back nine. This is only complimented by the presence of water on 16 of the 18 holes, and the round finishes with the most unforgettable Final Four hole-series. This course is so scenic, so superb, so stunning, it gives golfers their most unforgettable golf trips. And there is nothing surprising about that last bit.

Plantation Palms Golf Club

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The biggest challenges reap the biggest rewards. This must be the principle behind the layout design of the Plantation Palms Golf Club in Land O’ Lakes, Florida. This golf course offers a variety of challenges, laid out amidst a backdrop of natural Florida scenery, making golf trips here as interesting as beautiful. The scenery alone is good enough a reward.

This golf vacation destination is located some 20 minutes north of downtown Tampa, and stretches to 6,965 yards from the longest tees, playing for a par of 72. The Plantation Palms Golf Club was designed by David Harman and features a links style design. While most golf courses are challenging only from the Championship tees, leaving the shorter ones a bit easy, this course is not. It makes for challenging games from all tee boxes, encouraging golfers – no matter the skill level – to push their limits and take their game a step up.

A links style course, naturally, the golf course is laden with bunkers and water on practically almost every hole. The Plantation Palms Golf Club has a total of 47 soft, white sand bunkers paired with numerous ponds and lakes. This is a most perfect combination for a stunning, challenging course. It also has wide fairways, elevated tees and greens, and unique and dramatic elevation changes that make it all the more demanding. The biggest challenge here is not scoring low, but hurdling one’s own hesitation about taking the challenge. Nevertheless, there is something good waiting for the avid golfer, on the greens or on the clubhouse treats. With a course this excellent, not to mention perfectly maintained, getting to spend one’s golf vacation here is the reward in itself.

Bloomingdale Golfers Club

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Unspoilt natural setting, wildlife preserve, interesting layout made of strategic hole- and bunker-placements – no wonder the Bloomingdale Golfers Club has been an undisputed No. 1 course in Tampa Bay for ten years in a row. Yes, that’s an entire decade of holding on to the top spot in an area where there is a golf course in just about every turn. That is longer than most presidents have held on to their posts! And the reasons are quite easy to tell: from golf trips to tournaments, this course is an enjoyable treat – a combination of fun, challenge, and beauty.

Bloomingdale Golfers Club in Hillsborough County, just outside of Tampa, is a Ron Garl creation that sits on a 219 acre property laden with century-old oaks, natural marshlands, and a field of wildflowers.Half the property is still a wildlife preserve, so it is not surprising to have furry friends stand as spectators. The course measures 7,165 yards from the longest and most difficult tees, playing for a par of 72. 5 sets of tees ensure that more golfers get to enjoy this course that features massive waste areas, tree-lined fairways, and thirteen lakes that play on 13 of the course’s 18 holes. The course was made to be versatile, so as to be challenging for the pros, but fun and memorable for the retreating amateur player who wants to enjoy his golf vacation.

Apart from being a favored golf vacation destination, the Bloomingdale Golfers Club is also a top tournament host, having played host to such competitions as the PGA Tour Qualifying School, US Open Qualifiers, and Florida State Amateurs. This Tampa Bay course also holds a 3 and a half star rating from Golf Digest’s Places to Play and is a Ron Garl creation.

Hernando Oaks Golf Club

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At eight years old, the Hernando Oaks Golf Club is still quite new, but there is something old about this golf vacation destination. And it is not a bad thing. It is not the old, outdated kind that is just awaiting demolition. This is the kind of old that could only be closely associated to classic, timeless, a graceful aging of sorts. It must be the fact that it is located in Brooksville, a part of what is known as Old Florida, or it could be the fact that it bears a semblance to golf courses of the past. It has the air of courses built at a time when large machinery have yet to exist, and there was little or no disturbance on the land’s natural terrain.

This Scott Pate design has that quality. There was a goal to keep this golf vacation haven as close to nature as possible and it was undoubtedly achieved. At 6,905 yards from the longest tees, par 72, naturalists will love the Hernando Oaks Golf Club as much as hardcore golf aficionados would. Its five sets of tees also ensure that golfers of all skill levels will have fun here. It has the right amount of natural beauty and human intervention to its layout, that the wild inhabitants of this area could stand side by side with the enthused golfer and they will both be just fine.

The Hernando Oaks Golf Club is teeming in old, stately oaks draped in Spanish moss and expansive tree-lined fairways. The layout makes optimum use of the natural rolling wooded terrain of Brooksville to create a challenging but fun quality to games here. Truly enjoying the sport never gets old hereabouts; no wonder this is becoming an old-time favorite for golf trips.

Bardmoor Golf and Tennis Club

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If ‘Florida Golf’ were to be an entry in a pictionary, the Bardmoor Golf and Tennis Club would stand a perfect definition. It has all the elements of classic, signature Floridan golfing experience. If one is on the lookout for an authentic Florida golf vacation, this should top the list of choices.

The original design in 1974 and the most recent renovation by Gary Koch brought this course to a new high, whilst maintaining all its classic qualities and the Florida goodness that generations of golfers and countless champions have enjoyed over the years. The Bardmoor Golf and Tennis Club is best described as “challenging for the pros, but enjoyable for all”. There is something about the generous landing areas and many water hazards that make the golf vacation destination as picturesque as it is challenging. And the bottomline of it all is fun. It is generally playable and enjoyable for all players.

Champions the likes of Arnold Palmer, Payne Stewart, Fred Couples, and Tom Kite have tested the greens on this course. Countless others have too, as it is the host of the annual PGA/LPGA JC Penney Classic. Bardmoor Golf and Tennis Club measures 7,012 yards from the longest tees, and plays for a par of 72. Its world class amenities that includes an award winning golf shop and state-of-the-art practice facilities could only do so much as make it better, ranking it among the State’s best. This paints an even more appealing picture for truly fun, authentic and memorable Florida golf trips.