Florida Recommendations Please

gaffs · September 21, 2011

Hi

Im coming over to Florida from the UK for 13 days at the end of October.

Im over with my girlfriend. We fly to Miami, stay there a couple of days, drive upto Naples, onto Sarasota, to Orlando, then back to Miami.

I would like to be able to squeeze in a couple of rounds while she is sunbathing on the beach.

So I have a couple of questions....

Courses - can you recommend any? I will be playing on my own and will need to rent a set of clubs.

Golf Shops - any recommendations? I will probably want to pick up some clothing in Florida. I believe that some of the outlet malls are good?

Thanks in advance.

shake99 · September 21, 2011

Lots of courses on your route. Suggest using Golfnow for booking tee times many of the private courses will still probably accept bookings in October. For golf clothes check the Tommy Bahama outlet in Sunrise I also like Steinmart for a good selection at reasonable prices. You will also have all of the usual suspects Golfsmith, Golf Galaxy, Dicks, Edwin Watts. The outlet mall in Orlando near Disney has a great selection of golf and non golf clothing.

99Luftballoons · September 21, 2011

In the Miami Area you can play Crandon Golf Club in Key Biscayne. Doral is in Miami. People like Miami Beach Golf Club but I think its overpriced and not a great course. Hillcrest is a nice little track in that area.

In Orlando you have a lot of good courses. Orange County National has Panther Lake and Crooked Cat- both great courses. Falcons Fire is decent.

gaffs · September 22, 2011

Thanks very much guys.Golfnow looks a great site - i think i will use that.How about Doral? Which course would you go for? I would love to play the Blu Monster, but $275 is a bit steep.

smoova · September 22, 2011

In/around Sarasota check out Waterlefe, Legend and University Club.

williamo · October 7, 2011

In the Miami Area you can play Crandon Golf Club in Key Biscayne. Doral is in Miami. People like Miami Beach Golf Club but I think its overpriced and not a great course. Hillcrest is a nice little track in that area.

In Orlando you have a lot of good courses. Orange County National has Panther Lake and Crooked Cat- both great courses. Falcons Fire is decent.

I agree with you! I have played Hillcrest GC and Miami Beach Golf Club and I would also say that Miami Beach is WAYYY overpriced. I payed more than 200$ for one round at Miami Beach and on Hillcrest I only have to pay the junior rate which is 33$ incl tax. Hillcrest is in VERY nice shape. Love that course :)

NWS Alpine · October 7, 2011

Hillcrest is nice but can be crowded and slow since they only have one course. Definately try Jaccaranda East if you are considering Hillcrest. In the Miami area the good ones have been mentioned but also the Biltmoore Hotel course is suppose to be a nice track. When in Naples check out the PGA Superstore as it's a nice place to see all the equipment including Scratch Golf Also at Tiburon in naples there is a Bettinardi studio if you need to get a putter fitting. One course I really really want to play in the Naples area is Old Corkscrew [url="http://www.oldcorkscrew.com/layout9.asp?id=229&page=7865"]http://www.oldcorkscrew.com/layout9.asp?id=229&page=7865[/url] looks awesome and heard it plays even better than it looks.

clc55 · October 7, 2011

Crandon is pretty solid, but they dont do the best job maintaining it. Also, it is not on Golf Now and is $$$ if your from out of town. Biltmore is a solid option in Miami and is on golf now. I agree that Miami Beach is way over priced. Doral is good but is pretty far away (especially in traffic) but the White Course is a treat and is usually more reasonably priced.

Tiburon is a great track in Naples.

brendankimmey · October 10, 2011

Miami - Doral (Many courses to choose from there)
Naples - Vineyards, Tiburon (Ritz), La PLaya
Orlando - Falcons fire

miamigolfman · October 22, 2011

in miami i would jump on the biltmore, can be had on golfnow for 70ish with cart. If you want to play a doral course i'd go for the white also on golfnow for about 100...also melresse (international links) is a nice track near the airport (good and bad, loud but cool to see all the planes). In Broward the Diplomat on Golfnow, Heron Bay, and Jacaranda East are nice options...Sarasota has nice tracks also Bent Tree CC is very reasonable and is a really cool track near Sarasota, about 5-10 min from beaches.

not too familiar with naples or orlando...enjoy your trip!!