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You Are Here: Home » Things to Do » Golf » Lavish Layouts »
By Doug Kelly
As we walked up the cart path of the first fairway, a golf ball dropped from the branches of a tree like an egg out of a nest. My companion – a non-golfer oblivious to the game's protocols – walked over to it. Expecting him to merely look at the brand name, I nearly fainted when he bent down and reached for it in the thick grass.
"Stop!" I shrieked, my voice so loud that Vijay Singh could have heard me from Fiji. "Don't touch that."
"What's wrong?" he asked, a look of befuddlement stretching his face. Gasping, I explained that we were spectators at a PGA Tour event and the ball undoubtedly belonged to a contestant. At that very moment, T.C. Chen arrived in search of his errant shot.
"Thanks," Chen said with a smile. He proceeded to hit a low 2-iron under the branches and out into the fairway. Had he known that my friend almost absconded with his ball – a fate that would have resulted in a penalty shot – Chen would not have been smiling.
A year later, I returned to the scene of that near fiasco, not as a spectator but as a golfer. I'd always wanted to play the Copperhead course at the Innisbrook Resort & Golf Club, and I soon learned firsthand what the touring pros encountered: A long, challenging layout with greens so slick you'd swear they were sprayed with WD-40.
The first impression one gets when standing on the first tee and looking out over the course is that this is not your run-of-the-mill Florida layout. Copperhead features knolls, hills and extremely undulating greens that require considerable forethought before club selection.
A good case in point is the first hole, a par 5 with hardwood and pine trees abutting the fairway. A big drive that carries the fairway bunker at left will reward you with about 60 yards more distance than laying up, thanks to the downhill slope past the bunker. With Director of Golf and former touring pro Jay Overton looking on, I nervously hit a decent drive but not solidly enough to fly the bunker. I flubbed a 5-iron to get out and despite an uphill lie that almost required mountain climbing boots, I crunched a 5-wood behind a bunker next to the green. An excellent lobbed chip kissed the green six feet past the cup, but I missed the putt to register a bogey.
The most remarkable thing about the third and fourth holes wasn't my play or the course design, but instead a big alligator in the connecting lake. I also viewed a couple of big soft-shell turtles on the bank of the lake, basking in the sunshine and undoubtedly keeping a wary eye on the gator. No. 5, a 605-yard colossus with roller coaster terrain, sports a tall pine tree smack in the middle of the fairway. My drive found squirrel territory, and after getting back on the short grass I faced a shot up a fairway that rises most of the length of the hole until it crests about 150 yards to the green, leaving a downhill shot. A crisp 8-iron left me a four-footer that I canned for my first par.
The sixth hole, nicknamed the "Sidewinder," is best played by hitting your drive to the right so it rolls left down the fairway. On the seventh hole, the fairway literally saddles, so put your drive into the middle of the saddle to leave you with a mid-iron home.
As varied and interesting as the holes are on the front side, it's the back nine that really blows you away. A picturesque fountain borders the 12th tee, and the wise player will lay up with a 3-iron or such to avoid the water about 220 yards out. The enormous green is sandwiched front and back with bunkers, so make your short iron count. The 14th is a double dogleg with the course's biggest bunker left of the green. A dogleg right with water all along the right side highlights the 16th – just stay dry and your approach into the huge green isn't as scary despite bunkers on both sides.
The home hole features three long bunkers in a row to the right of the fairway in driving range off the tee, giving the appearance of church pews. Stay left of them and pray that your 7- or 8-iron approach to a green that's tucked between two gaping bunkers finds its mark.
My villa included a spectacular balcony view of the Copperhead course, with postcard-quality views everywhere I looked in the early morning sunlight. I'll definitely return again, despite my friend nearly picking up that ball during the tournament. But if truth be known, his faux pas actually was surpassed by my own. Hoping he'd appreciate a little empathy, I approached a sweaty and tired-looking Jesper Parnevik as he walked off the 18th green after a not-so-great round. "Hey, you don't look so good," I said with a half-smile. He glanced at me and without breaking stride and replied, "Neither do you."
Only one word describes Bardmoor Golf & Tennis Club: Awesomely conditioned. Okay, that's two words, but play this splendrous course and you'll fully agree. The teeing areas are level, unlike so many other courses that require uphill or downhill tee-ups (one of my pet peeves). On the fairways, your ball sits up and begs to be hit. And greens run so true that there's nothing to blame other than a personal medical condition when missing a putt.
Quite memorable is No. 8, a 509-yard par 5 that doglegs left. A gargantuan bunker protects the driving area to the right of the fairway plus it's out of bounds farther right, so stay well left of the bunker at all costs. Water crosses the fairway about 320 yards out, and water visible to the right of the green also snakes in front of it as well but out of view, so stay left.
No. 9 is another great driving hole, a dogleg left with water to the extreme left, with a bunker right and a big tree right in the desired line of flight. I hit a branch of the tree and the ball dropped straight down, robbing me of 40 or so yards. My 7-iron flyer out of the short rough from 155 yards ended up 35 feet short of the pin, so I complained not about the par.
The view from the 14th tee is daunting. Water all left and right on a slight dogleg left. Go with a 5-iron to keep the ball on solid ground, leaving 150 yards to the green. I also saw something new behind this green: a strip of deeper grass within the mowed frog hair. That presents a very unique chipping challenge if you go over the green. I bogeyed this hole but didn't shed a tear, considering its potential for a high number.
No. 16 presents another tee-off challenge. Aim at the bridge to avoid water left and bunkers right. A creek runs across the fairway about 260 yards out, so plan accordingly. This is a long par 4, however, so you'll need your biggest timber to reach the green after laying up. I crushed a 3-wood just right of the green, hit a revolting pitch shot and two-putted for a raunchy bogey.
The home hole sports another hidden finger of water just before the green at right, so hit your approach shot on this par 5 to the left side.
Combine the elegance of a Mediterranean Revival hotel and a golf course in impeccable condition, and it's no wonder that the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club must be on your list of courses to play. My spacious room made me feel like royalty, and the complimentary shuttle to the course did likewise.
Just be sure to bring your sand wedge. Amid the variety of palm trees, flower gardens and impeccably manicured shrubbery entwines a golf course any desert fox would love. Indeed, a camel would especially appreciate the view from the tee at the second hole, what with the amazingly huge bunker all along the right side and in front of the green. The green is so gigantic it's shared with the eighth hole. Same with the fifth hole, where a giant bunker runs down the entire right side from about 200 yards out until it sweeps in front of the green.
Speaking of No. 8, the long par 3 features a beautiful double-tiered, elevated tee. A pine tree grows in the middle of a huge bunker fronting the double green. Use more than enough club to clear the bunkers to avoid playing Lawrence of Arabia.
No. 16, a long par 5 with water in front and to the right of the green and more water the length of the fairway to the left, requires a long and straight drive. I managed to do so and followed with a perfect 5-wood, leaving a wedge to the moted green and a two-putt for par on this oh-so-dangerous hole.
Water also plays a big part on the 17th and 18th holes, meaning you're either going to be accurate or wet, with birdies hard to come by. But that's okay – the combination of sand, water and lush landscaping means birdies of another kind are ever-present, such as roseate spoonbills, egrets, ibises, wood storks and even a bald eagle's nest. The Vinoy is unquestionably one of the most picturesque courses you'll ever find.
I heartily recommend playing all these spectacular layouts, just as I did during a weather-perfect week of golf in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area. Just the same, here are two other notables to consider that are open to the public: Mangrove Bay, a links-style course that's well-maintained and offers a lighted driving range, and Tarpon Woods Country Club, a challenging layout that's wooded on both sides of most fairways and features water on every hole.
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