Details
Venue Phone: (352) 588-0059
Venue Website: https://www.tampabgcc.com
The challenging Tampa Bay championship layout is routed around beautiful lakes and conservation areas. Not long by today’s standards, the course is ashotmaker’s delight. Position off the tee is critical to good scoring as water and out-of-bounds come into play on all 18 holes. With five sets of tees, the course is appealing to all skill levels. The casual golfer will find the Scottish links-style layout of TBGCC the perfect test. Playing 6,210 yards from the championship tees, with tight, tree-lined fairways and enough water hazards to get any golfer’s attention, its challenges are plenty. Those elements make the layout intriguing to veteran players who want to hone accuracy and iron play. The course is noted for the front nine being short (2,895 yards) and tight. The back nine lengthens a bit (3,315 yards) and is more open. Here is where you will play your iron game. Three of the courses’ four par 5’s measure under 500 yards. They may look like easy pickings on the scorecard, but slice a drive or miss-hit an iron and a potential par or birdie quickly becomes a bogey or worse. The par 4, 408-yard 18th hole combines the best elements of the course. With a sharp dogleg right, you would aim for the three bunkers slightly to the left at about 250 yards off the tee. A straight drive will not ensure getting home in two as the dogleg has trees along the right side, a pond and a nature preserve to the right, and a bunker up the left side to the green. It is one of the course’s most challenging and prettiest holes. The course also has four strong par three holes, three on the front nine and one on the back. Each par 3 requires carry-over water to reach the putting surface.
