Resort Reviews
Sarasota Golf: Old guard opens up to Great Unwashed and great Florida golf courses
It used to be that when you thought of Sarasota, you thought of rich, blue-haired ladies driving around in Cadillacs with their noses in the air while they unwittingly ran you off the road. Not unlike most of coastal Florida, in fact, where prime, beach-front lots have been sold out to wealthy, Northern retirees for decades. But Sarasota had a different aura about it. Unlike most of the rest of the state, it had an aversion to growth.
... full article »Sebring's Kenilworth Lodge offers relief from Florida's hustle and bustle golf scene
Tiny Sebring is in the middle of nowhere, respectively, when it comes to Florida and its tourist hot-spots. And therein lies the beauty of this peaceful, historic town. It's the place you go to get away from where people go. And many golf courses here have greens fees starting at under $30! All golfed out? Then take a quick day-trip to Orlando or the coast, or cycle and hike in one of four nearby state parks.
... full article »Westin Innisbrook may be located by Highway 19, but it's a world apart
Tampa's Westin Innisbrook is one of those all-inclusive resorts where you'll never have to start your car or carry your clubs (unless you want to practice your bad swing in the privacy of your villa). The staff here says guests are unlikely to want to go somewhere else, which is true. While golf is the star - there are four golf courses, two of which are superb - there's tons for the wee ones to do as well.
... full article »Plantation Inn offers a quiet Disney alternative
Located in the heart of what the marketers call the "Nature Coast," the Plantation Inn and Golf Resort is a quiet, shady antidote for the vulgar Land of Mickey. This is one of the prettiest parts of the Florida Gulf Coast, with little coastal development to mar the natural landscape of tidal marshes, hammocks and rives flowing into the Gulf, about 20 miles to the east. Tim McDonald reports from Crystal River.
... full article »Sarasota starting to heat up as golfing hotspot
Sarasota will likely never be known as a premiere golfing destination. It's not the lack of good golf in the area, far from it. It's just that this petite city of 50,000 residents on the Gulf coast has far too many attractions to simply be pigeonholed as a golf getaway. Begin with the beaches. The quality of the sand in the area is nothing short of legendary. Crescent Beach on Siesta Key, one of the most popular sunning spots in the region, is considered one of the finest beaches in the world.
... full article »With so many quality instructors, Naples has an embarrassment of riches
You can walk into any convenience store in Naples and get a golf tip. They are that plentiful. Golf instructors outnumber McDonald's employees in this golf bastion in southwest Florida. Everyone has advice and the secret to the game of golf. Instructors may be a dime a dozen but they cost a lot more than a dime.
... full article »Florida's top, bottom halves differ greatly in golf, style, topography
Despite being the southernmost state in the continental U.S., if you ask most southerners, Florida isn't really a part of the South at all. If you spend much time in this part of the country it doesn't take long to realize there's a gentle animosity that exists between Florida and the rest of Dixie. You can travel through the northwest portion of the state and swear you're in Alabama, but to most of us, and to them, Florida conjures up images of corporate amusement parks or of palm trees, high-rise condominiums, gators, swamps, ethnic diversity, scantily clad women on beaches - basically Miami.
... full article »The Biltmore Hotel Coral Gables: Rich in History, Focused on the Future
In the 1995 movie "Bad Boys," actor Martin Lawrence enters the suite occupying the entire 13th floor of The Biltmore Hotel's tower in Coral Gables and is told that this is the Al Capone Suite. Which it is, even though Capone never actually stayed there.
... full article »Two Jacksonville-area courses plan major renovations
Two Jacksonville-area golf courses are undergoing renovations, one involving a major reconstruction of a community course that almost qualifies as venerable. Deerwood Country Club, the first gated, golf community in the city, is on the receiving end of a complete facelift after members complained about deteriorating playing conditions. "It's a total, complete re-do of the entire golf course," said Deerwood general manager Rocky Staples. "Brand new irrigation system, brand new drainage.
... full article »LandMar promises to upgrade three Palm Coast courses
Jacksonville-based LandMar Group has bought three golf courses in and around Palm Coast, with promises to upgrade the courses that are already known as some of the finer in the area. LandMar paid an undisclosed amount for the Cypress Knoll Golf Club, Matanzas Woods Golf Club and Pine Lakes Country Club, all semi-private courses.
... full article »Summer on the Suwannee: Life is easy and so is the golf
They don't play much golf way down upon the Suwannee, at least in that part of north Florida just south of the Georgia state line. This is one of the few parts of Florida left that isn't lousy with golf courses. To the south are the courses of Orlando, central Florida and the Nature Coast, to the east are Jacksonville and the First Coast and to the west is Tallahassee. Beyond that is the Panhandle and its galaxy of courses. To the north is, well, Georgia.
... full article »Florida's Quirky 18 has it all -- literally
They are tough and strange and weird and downright odd. They are Florida's quirky golf holes. There's a tee box that doubles as a helicopter pad, a green that practically begs golfers to walk the plank, and a sand bunker that proves that it's a small world after all. Grab your clubs and your healthy golf curiosity as we visit Florida's Quirky 18.
... full article »Doral Golf Resort and Spa: Blue Monster, Great White course top golf roster
For more than 40 years, the Doral Golf Resort and Spa has held fast as one of the East Coast's most internationally flavored golf retreats. Duffers sojourn from as far away as Japan to toil on one of the property's five golf courses and soak up the omnipresent sunshine and hipster Miami nightlife. Once they arrive, they find 72 of Doral's 90 golf holes are accessible by simply stepping out the back door and into a golf cart.
... full article »TPC pegs Naples for next top design from Arthur Hills
With 23 Tournament Players Clubs spread throughout the United States, and two more close to opening near Dallas and New Orleans, the PGA Tour is being very selective about when and where TPCs spring up in the future. But when the opportunity arose near Naples in southwest Florida, the Tour didn't hesitate. The Tour announced last week that construction of the TPC of Treviso Bay, a private course designed by Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates, will start later this year with a scheduled opening in 2006.
... full article »Florida's First Coast of golf is a perfect pit stop on the way to Daytona
Florida's "First Coast" -- the swath of Sunshine State running from Amelia Island to Palm Coast -- is home to more than 70 daily fee and resort golf courses, the World Golf Hall of Fame, and the PGA and Champions Tours headquarters. Yet somehow this area continues to fly under the radar of most golfers. With the Daytona 500 fresh in our minds, Shane Sharp reveals the best bets in the area.
... full article »Valdosta has Wildcats and Ham and Egg Show, but little golf, with one big exception
Valdosta, Georgia is home to the Valdosta High School Wildcats, probably the most powerful high school football program in the country - and little else. Yeah sure, they have Valdosta State University and Wild Adventures theme park, but if you ask anybody who's lived in Valdosta for any length of time what the name of the game is, they'll point you in the direction of Cleveland Field and Bazemore-Hyder Stadium, named after the two coaches who took the Wildcats to high school heaven.
... full article »St. Joe/Arvida gets it right by taking environment, design to heart
The old axiom around here is "so goes St. Joe, so goes Northwest Florida." Considering the Jacksonville based land baron's current direction, the going is getting good. Since purchasing community development powerhouse Arvida in 1997, St. Joe has authored two of north Florida's most environmentally sensitive, progressively designed communities: SouthWood in Tallahassee and WaterColor in Seagrove Beach. Together, the communities are reinventing residential development in the Sunshine State.
... full article »The South's best reachable par-5s
Any discussion about the reachable par-5 (a par-5 designed to entice the players to get to the green in two strokes) begins with (and could very well end with) the 510-yard 13th at Augusta National. Considered in many circles to be the greatest par-5 on the planet, it's certainly the best short par-5 in golf. The 13th does to perfection what this type of hole is supposed to do, which is to lure players into bold yet dangerous play by dangling in front of them the possibility of eagle.
... full article »Innisbrook Golf Resort knows the meaning of stay and play
High-ranking Westin Innisbrook Golf Resort employees were hard to come by on this sunsplashed February afternoon. Jay Overton, director of golf emeritus for the resort, was in contention at the Champions Tour's ACE Group Classic three hours south in Naples.
... full article »Elegance, class and classic golf at The Biltmore Hotel
Just minutes away from downtown Miami, and a few miles farther from toney South Beach is an elegant, stately community called Coral Gables. And the undisputed queen of Coral Gables is The Biltmore Hotel.
... full article »- Saddlebrook Resort corners the corporate market, looks to the traveling golfer
- Marco Island Marriott renovates course and renames it the Rookery
- Summer Beach Resort Perfect for All Seasons
- Ritz-Carlton Resort Naples is a true resort, complete with tennis, pool and good golf
- Playing, Staying, and Dining the Naples Way
- Golf At Grand Cypress Resort: 45 Holes of Vintage Jack Nicklaus Architecture
- Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort Continues to Set the Standard
- Florida Takes a Dip in Golf Magazine's "Top Places You Can Play" 2002 List
- Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort: Never a Dull Moment
- On The Road in Florida: Classy Golf, Beach, Fast Cars, Await Daytona Beach Visitors
- A Tour of Florida's Unlikely Stretch of Rough and Tumble Golf
- Orlando Resort at a Glance: Orlando's Mission Inn Resort
- Panhandle Resort at a Glance - Destin's Sandestin Resort
- Bay Area Resort at a Glance: Palm Harbor's Westin Innisbrook
- Amelia Island Plantation: A Garden of Beauty and Activity near Jacksonville
- Belleview Biltmore Resort & Spa: Victorian Charm and Southern Hospitality
- The Grand Cypress Resort: An Escape from Reality near the World of Disney
- Just the Facts: The Grand Cypress Resort
- Just the Facts: Doral Golf Resort and Spa
- The Resort Story: Doral Golf Resort and Spa
- ChampionsGate Golf Resort: A Winner in the Making
- The Memory Remains at Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort
- Palm Coast Resort: Where the Value is Virtually Unmatched
- Saddlebrook Resort and Spa: The Doral of Tampa Bay
- Florida's best 18 holes that you can play
- Focusing on the Community: M.G. Orender and Hampton Golf, Inc.
