The state that has it all when it comes to golf, Florida is the perfect destination with PGA TOUR courses, luxury resorts and great a selection of cities such as Jacksonville and Miami.
Commonly referred to as ‘The Sunshine State’, Florida offers some of the best year-round golf in the northern hemisphere and with its plethora of courses featured on the PGA TOUR each year, it’s an excellent choice for your next golf(ing) vacation.
The excellent array of stay & play resorts offers the perfect platform for a golf trip to Florida, with destinations such as Orlando and Miami providing great options to see and do off the course. Find out our top recommended locations for your next golf vacation below!
TPC Sawgrass is the home of the flagship event on the PGA TOUR: THE PLAYERS. The two courses were designed by world-renowned architect, Pete Dye, with the more famous of the two being THE PLAYERS Stadium Course. A monster of a course that features the famous 17th par-3 with an island green that has fooled many of the world’s best golfers.
It’s a championship course through and through that you must certainly take advantage of should you get the opportunity to play. The second on-site golf course is the brilliant Dye’s Valley Course, a challenging course, even compared to its big brother, where you can expect to find water hazards, deep bunkers, and brilliant immaculate conditions.
Overlooking the two golf courses at TPC Sawgrass is the Marriott Golf Resort & Spa which offers comfortable and modern accommodation for your stay, offering plenty of local dining options to explore pre and post-golf.
The World Golf Village is an excellent complex that includes the World Golf Hall of Fame Museum, allowing you to walk through all of golf’s greatest moments and players, the exciting Challenge Hole to test your golfing ability, and perhaps most notable of all, two world-class golf courses; King & Bear and Slammer & Squire. The prior is actually around 15 minutes drive away from the World Golf Village, however, it has its own clubhouse which serves up the perfect refreshments before or after your round.
The King & Bear was designed by golf’s most famous names, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, which is enough to tell you that it’s going to be an amazing experience. The two legends created an absolute gem and added their own personal touches. It’s a very playable parkland course that features plenty of water hazards ready to catch errant shots however if you play well you will be rewarded throughout the course with good scores.
The Slammer & Squire Course is onsite at the World Golf Village and was designed by Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen, what more do you need? It’s an enjoyable course in immaculate condition and available to play year-round thanks to its location, but it’s especially perfect for winter golf.
Located in West Palm Beach Gardens, PGA National is one of Florida’s most famous golf resorts and courses. This vast complex offers travelling golfers a choice of five courses to play including PGA TOUR regular, Champion Course, host of the prestigious Honda Classic. This is by far the most demanding of the courses on-site and home to the famous ‘Bear Trap’, which is a stretch of particularly difficult holes (15th to 17th) that often determines the winner of the Honda Classic and friendly four-ball wagers.
Of all the courses on-site at PGA National, the one we’d recommend most to our customers is The Palmer Course, designed by the legend himself, this layout is more forgivable than the Champion Course with plenty of risk and reward holes which is more akin to amateur golf. If you want to walk off a golf course beaming from ear to ear, The Palmer Course is the one for you!
The hotel at PGA National has over 300 comfortable rooms including Club Cottages to provide that home-away-from-home feel, perfect for larger groups wanting a bit of privacy. There’s plenty of dining options too that serve up an array of food from around the world to suit all tastes, however, if you’d like to venture into the city, it’s just a short cab ride to West Palm Beach. With all of this and more, this is another great option for your next golf trip to Florida.
Another regular feature on the PGA TOUR, during the Florida Swing, is the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook. The beautiful layout runs through Florida’s parkland with plenty of natural and purpose-built lakes where guests can spot all sorts of wildlife from alligators to bald eagles. This championship golf course plays over 7k yards from the tips, however, there are plenty of tees to choose from based on your ability and how tough you want to make the round.
While the Copperhead Course is Innisbrook’s main attraction, there are an additional three courses (Island, North and South) which are all excellent to play and recommended for those new to the game or not quite ready to face the fierce test of a championship course.
Aside from the golf are top-quality accommodation, restaurants, bars and leisure facilities that complete this resort and turn it into one of the best destinations for a golf vacation in America.
The Blue Monster at Doral Resort has long held high importance to the golfing world, no other than featuring on the PGA Tour from 1962 to 2017, before the tour relocated a World Golf Championship to Mexico. The renovation work that took place on the Blue has helped further bolster it into one of the most impressive layouts in the state. Along with three other first-class courses; The Golden Palm, The Red Tiger and The Silver Fox, Doral has cemented itself as one of the best golf resorts in America.
Due to the resort's location and amenities, it’s ideal for a winter golf vacation where warm days on the golf course are complemented with evenings dining out at one of the many bars and restaurants or for those non-golfers, the extensive spa treatments and leisure facilities are second to none.
Reunion Resort is one of the top golf resorts in all of Florida. The resort offers golfers 54-hole of Championship golf from 3 different designers (Palmer, Nicklaus, and Watson) along with countless 1, 2, and 3 bedroom villas onsite. Along with the villas, the resort also has a wide variety of rental homes ranging from 6 – 12 bedrooms with private pools and updated furnishings to fit the needs of large groups.
The resort also has multiple restaurants to choose from including ones in each clubhouse and other independent restaurants. For relaxation, the resort has a first-class spa with a variety of treatments and services to enjoy when you’re not on the course. Reunion Resort should close to the top of the list for your next golf trip to Florida.
Located 3 miles away from Reunion Resort sits Omni Orlando Championsgate Resort, a fantastic 4 star hotel with two Greg Norman courses onsite. With over 700 guest rooms, full-service spa, multiple pools and restaurants, this resort is the ultimate golf destination. The two 18-hole championship golf courses, the National and International Courses, are some of the best golf in the Orlando area.
The International Course can be described as an inland-links style layout with a plethora of bunkers, large greens, and firm conditions making it one of the Florida’s most unique courses. The National Course is more of your normal Florida parkland style layout with more bunkering and less water throughout the course. The course weaves through wetlands and woodlands offering all golfers an exciting round of golf.
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Senior Golf Vacation Specialist
Senior Golf Vacation Specialist, I advise clients on golf courses and accommodation options across the US, Mexico, and Caribbean
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