The Bobby Jones Golf Club is located on Fruitville Road between I-75 and downtown Sarasota.
It’s a municipal golf complex with an 18-hole Donald Ross design, restored by Richard Mandell on Ross’s original plans, a 9-hole adjustable Gillespie Course that can be played five different ways with 30 hole options, a 25-acre practice facility with 70 hitting stations, a 3.75 acre short game area with three chipping greens and two teardrop target greens, and a 21,000 square foot putting green. The Championship course meanders through wetlands and water features along mounded fairways defined by trees and tropical shrubry with modest, raised greens protected by Ross’s trademark sand bunkers. There’s six tee boxes from 4,583 yards to 6,714 yards, the Blue tees play to 6,061 yards, 69.4/126, course/slope ratings.
Port St. Lucie, midway between West Palm and Melbourne, is already a golf destination with the PGA Village and the nearby Nicklaus design of Hammock Creek, but now there’s a reason to stay an extra day.
Astor Creek, which opened in late 2023, is off Midway Road exit of I-95 to the west on the west side of the PGA Village within a residential community. The layout is over level terrain along fairways dotted with native grasses, oaks, palms, or pine trees. There’s a generous amount of water features in play, waste areas and traditional sand bunkers and features several template greens including a Redan, Biarritz, Punchbowl, and Short Horseshoe. There’s five sets of tees from 3,653 yards to 6,903 yards off the tips, the the grey tees are 5,529 yards, 70.8/119, course/slope ratings, designed by Chris Wilczynski
According to our guide to the best golf courses you can play in Fort Myers, there are eleven golf courses open to public play within 30 miles of downtown Fort Myers. Today, we profile Herons Glen which is between US 41 and I-75 in North Fort Myers within a residential development.
The layout typifies Florida golf as it’s a centerpiece for a community of single family homes. There’s homes bordering one or both sides of the fairways throughout, a generous amount of conventional, pot, and waste area sand bunkers, and water in play on most holes. There’s multiple tees from 4,168 yards to 6,458 yards off the tips, the white tees are 5,703 yards, 67.0/119, course/slope ratings, designed by Florida based architect, Ron Garl.
The historic, West Palm Beach Golf Club was established in 1947 and designed by Dick Wilson, a Toomey/Flynn disciple, (known for Bay Hill, Doral, Cog Hill among others). It was renovated in 2009 by Mark McCumber but fell into disrepair and neglect over the years finally closing in 2018. It was a PGA Tour stop in the 1950s hosting the West Palm Beach Open Invitational.
The City of West Palm Beach accepted a proposal by Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, to raise outside capital to build a world class, community oriented, public access golf course. They raised a total of $55 Million and employed Gil Hanse and Jim Wagnerto develop an 18 hole championship layout, 9 hole, lighted short course, and a massive putting course on the 180 acre tract of land. The Park West Palm is located on the southeast corner of the I-95/Forest Hill interchange, convenient to virtually all of southeastern Florida. The golf course has been constructed on sand based soils with 30 feet of elevation change providing for an environment bordered by sandy scrub vegetation, oak trees, and sable palmettos reminiscent of the Streaming property-except that it’s not out in the middle of nowhere.
There’s no water in play, but it’s dominated by sand, rippling fairways, generous, undulating green complexes and tucked into a mature residential/industrial neighborhood. There’s also a lighted 9-hole par three course; an 18-hole putting course, a two-acre kids only golf area; and a lighted two-sided driving range featuring Top Tracer technology. The current pricing favors residents of the City of West Palm Beach with $70 greens fees while outsiders will pay around $130 depending on their “dynamic pricing” model. It may end up being one of the best golf courses in Florida you can play according to our guide.
MLB’sFlorida Grapefruit League has a long association with Fort Myers Florida. While Spring Training in Florida began in Jacksonville in the late 1800s, it didn’t really begin in earnest until the mid-1920s. Fort Myer’s first team was the Philadelphia Athletics in 1925, followed by the Cleveland Indians, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Kansas City Royals who departed in 1986. Today, it boasts the Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox in separate parks in south Fort Myers. at Hammond Stadium and Fenway Park South Jet Blue Park.
If you’re looking to get in a round of golf while in Fort Myers for a game,we’ve compiled a list of twelve of the best golf courses you can play from the major golf periodicals and user reviews. While there’s a total of over 90 private, resort, municipal, and public access courses in the area, it’s been whittled down to the most highly rated. Hopefully, next year, the Dunes Golf Club on Sanibel will reopen after restoration from the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Florida’s MLB’s Grapefruit League now boasts 15 teams playing in twelve different cities dispersed throughout the state from Interstate 4 South. The season runs from February 24 to March 31, and during this time we’ll profile the best public golf courses in the areas convenient to the stadiums.
First off, the Pittsburgh Pirates play at Lecom Park just south of downtown Bradenton and the Manatee River on 17th Avenue. It’s an ancient stadium built in 1923 and is the third oldest stadium currently used by MLB after Fenway and Wrigley. It’s a classic design as well, old Florida Spanish Mission white stucco exterior with covered bleachers-at least over the reserved seating.
There’s 60+ golf courses in the surrounding Bradenton/Sarasota area with a mix of private, municipals, or public daily fees. To save you time in finding the better courses to play, we list just eight of the best public golf courses you can play in the areawhich range from resort offerings to upscale semi-privates. Next year, we hope to be able to include the newly renovated Bobby Jones Municipal Golf Course where Richard Mandrell is tackling a presumably faithful restoration of a Donald Ross original design.
Stillwater Golf Club is on the south side of Jacksonville below I-295 and off I-95 at FL 210 to the west in a 55+ residential community by Lennar.
The golf course is at the upper level of daily fees in the area in the realm of the World Golf Village just up the road. It was designed by Bobby Weed, a protege of Pete Dye, whose most notes for many TPC designs while working for the PGA Tour.
Stillwater was cut out of a large forested/wetlands tract of land over generally level terrain but with rippling and mounded fairways. There’s absolutely no rough in play, but an abundance of water features and an assortment of conventional, pot, and revetted sand traps. There’s five sets of tees with the tips playing to 6,745 yards, 71.6/127, course/slope ratings.
With over 1,000 golf courses, public, private, municipal, military, and resort, here’s a handy guide to the best golf courses and resorts you can play by city. Use our golf trails to find the best public golf courses and resorts you can play.
If you’re looking for areas outside of the major cities, use our general Florida map page and the Google Maps function to zoom in and around the areas you’re targeting to play. Also, check out the Florida Historic Golf Trail featuring golf courses designed by many of. the golden age of golf course architects and included in our guide as well.
