Going for Golf

Florida’s Paradise Coast - Watch the birdies

Tiburon

After years of fly-drive holidays and business trips that have centred around Orlando – now designated as a wildlife sanctuary that DOES allow 24/7 Tiger hunting – I have finally found paradise in the Sunshine state. There is a golfing destination which combines everything that is great about the natural Florida – rather than Disney’s man-made heaven.

The Everglades is one of America’s most prized natural habitats for wildlife. The mangroves set in the swamp and river system is one of three key wetland habitats designated by UNESCO. Nestled on the northern edge of the Everglades you will find Marco Island and the city of Naples, where you could play golf on a different course every day for two whole months. The sea breezes will freshen up the steamiest Florida day and in winter is the perfect climate for Brits fed up with the doom and gloom at home. In December sunshine, with temperatures in the high 70s or low 80s and with an almost negligible amount of rain, I promise you will want to move heaven and earth to persuade the kids to give Mickey and Co a miss for once.

In 1991, I drove down the US41 from Clearwater on my way to the Everglades and Miami. Collier County was being transformed by the arrival of myriad gated communities for the retired and domestic holiday home market.

I remember then that many of the billboards along the highway boasted of championship golf courses to accompany them. I was new to the game back then and didn’t have my clubs with me… What a pleasant surprise when I returned 18 years later, and cruised up the 41 to Marco Island, some two hours from Miami.
Visitors to the state’s best kept secret can now feast on golf courses that are fully-grown wildlife sanctuaries in their own right – you are guaranteed to see everything from ospreys, bald eagles, vultures, kestrels, pelicans to herons, cormorants, egrets and spoonbills right down to the wading birds’ sworn enemy… the alligator. Some courses have so many happy snappers lurking in the lakes, you would not be surprised to find the fairways haunted by Steve Irwin!

Talking of legendary Aussies, Greg Norman is the undisputed King of Naples when it comes to golf, having been a high-profile figure in the area’s expansion over the last 20 years. The Shark Shootout might not feature highly on the PGA Tour schedule, but Naples has hosted the friendly, end-of-season birdie fest at Tiburon every year since 1989. The private club nestles next to the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, which officially hosts the 54-hole tournament, featuring 12 pairs playing a greensomes and scramble format.

The Gold Course is not the toughest tour venue an ordinary club golfer may be lucky to play. Even off my uneven 18 handicap, playing off the back tees at 6,523 yards was not too much of a physical challenge. With virtually no rough to speak of, the Gold sets up as a typical American resort course. Set amid the pine trees, the dangers are at the business end as long as you stay out of the large coquina waste bunkers, which are liberally sprinkled around the course.

The greens are, on the whole, quite large, incorporating some big slopes. Coupled with the Bermuda grass, getting on the wrong side of the hole can leave you racking up the big numbers.The 451-yard 18th could be at Sawgrass or Pebble Beach (minus the Pacific Ocean of course) – or virtually every closing hole on a typical PGA Tour venue – water all down the left, and a narrow landing area to hit.

The Black, while almost identical in terrain and natural features, is tighter than the Gold and rated tougher on the USGA’s slope system.

Tiburon is also the southern home of the Rick Smith Golf Academy – who is recognised as one of the top teachers in the world. Director of instruction Trevor Gliwski concentrates his teaching on a couple of fundamentals that unite all the world’s best players – namely that the club-head is square at impact, and not how it got there. One short session sorted out my driving and I have never hit the ball so well off the tee as I did during my week here.

To play Tiburon you need to stay at the Ritz-Carlton. Another course which requires you to stay at the hotel is Naples Grande Golf Club, set a few miles away from the Naples Grande Beach Resort overlooking a prime piece of the town’s beach – complete with its own mangrove estuary, Clam Pass, which can be explored by kayak by the more adventurous.