I may be getting to fly to Florida for the first time for a vacation just after Christmas. :cool: I'll be staying in St. Petersburg.

Time will be somewhat short, so I'd like to ask for some suggestions as far as what courses to play. Here are some of the courses I was looking at.

Crystal River, The Red Hawk. Must Play.

Brooksville, The Quarry. I've been hearing about this one for years and I'd love to see it before it gets pulled.

Floral City, Floral Park. If I'm going north already?


East to Orlando or farther?

Godon Barnett Park
Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake
University of Central Florida


South to Sarasota?

Lakeview Park
North Watertower Park


I'll probably have time mostly for courses close to St. Petersburg. How about these?

Lutz, Lutz Executive DGC (Fly 18)
Dunedin, Saint Andrews Links (Fly 18)
Brandon, Limona DGC
Largo, Taylor Park DGC
Tampa, USF Riverfront Park
Clearwater, North East Coachman Park
Clearwater, Cliff Stevens Park
St. Petersburg, Tocobaga DGC

Any I'm forgetting? Any input would be much appreciated!

Cliff Stephens in Clearwater is a great course.

Re: Brooksville
You may be confusing The Quarry, a 9-hole course (which I have not played) with Gran Canyon, a 27-hole course built in an old quarry at which the Cross Canyon was played. One of the great courses of all time---sadly, the property was sold a few weeks ago.

USF is supposed to be for students only, and it's not all that great, but not bad.
I've heard that Tocobaga is beautiful in the warmer months.
Limona is just a 9-holer but it does have some elevation, a rarity for FL courses.
Coachmen is a tight 18 in trees, fun when played in conjunction with Cliff Stephens. Just watch out for dog poop when walking barefoot outside your car (that SUKD!!!).
The Quarry is a fun 9 hole fly18-type (golf course) where you can get a cart but it has to stay on the sidewalk. There are some very interesting shots over the "quarry", if you're in the area, cool but I wouldn't go all the way to Brooksville for it (anymore, now that the Canyon's gone :( :( :( ).
Hope that helps, those are what I know.

Once I made a disc golfing trip to Tampa. Enjoyed several courses there, but got a migraine so bad that I had to skip the drive to Gran Canyon. So, this winter I thought I'd make the trip to finally play this course. But now you tell me it's GONE??? :( :( :( arrrgh.

If you drift over to Orlando, play Gordon Bennett. It was a fine course when I last played it several years ago, and friends who've returned tell me it's much improved since then. Turkey Lake is worth playing too, but Gordon Bennett would be my first choice in Orlando.

Lamentations for the demise of Gran Canyon can be read on the discussion board under "Tournaments.....Cross Canyon". The wrong part of the board, but the topic turned to the closing and drifted off from there.

Got my tickets today. Loads of people, I'd bet, will be enjoying their time off in the Sunshine State.

I appreciate the input. It'll be well used.

What is the best of the 3 Fly 18 courses?

On the "Gran Canyon", are the baskets pulled yet? Is there any contact for this course as it may exist currently?

Dunedin st andrews has carts and is close to clearwater.Lutz has more unique layout with dual baskets on each hole, with 3 tees on every hole.I only have 2 in fla now.If you drop me an email i will comp you a cart for the day.Both courses are only 45 min apart..f18

Thanks for the info.

I'm planning on playing N. Watertower in Sarasota right after we land on the 26th, followed by a round at Maximo in St. Pete's.

On the 27th, I'm planning on playing the Clearwater courses. Should I play Dunedin or Largo as well? There is another course on the tbdg site that is new and not listed in the course directory?

On the 29th, I'm going to Crystal River. I could play a course or two on the way. To choose from I have The Quarry in Brooksville, Floral City, Lutz, and Brandon.

I'll be in Orlando on the 30th. I'd like to check out both parks, but I know I can't play 36 at each. Should I walk one and play the other? Is it 36 holes or two 18 hole courses at each? If the latter, is one set of 18 better than the other?

Anyone care to rate all these courses in comparison with each other? Which fly 18 course plays the best?

Thanks for helping me out.

Plans are to play N. Watertower on Tues.

Maximo & Clearwater courses on Wed.

Crystal River and Floral City? on Fri.

Barnett (north course) and Turkey Lake (T2 course) on Sat.


Do I have my priorities in place? :) Any "don't miss" courses I am forgetting? I could squeeze one or two more in perhaps.

I've took the Christmas vacation to Texas the last 3 years. I played 30+ in just 4 days each year. Guys on the board love to compare the courses they have down there. I've got my Texas favorites figured out. It's time to explore a new part of the world.

No fly courses.You will miss some good golf.If you email me I will comp 1 round at any of the courses Dinedin,Lutz..... ;)

I wanted to check one of those two out. It sounds like Lutz might be the more interesting of the two? My only concern is time. Playing behind some slow ball golfers might be unbearable. Is it pretty busy in the morning weekday during the holiday?

Thanks for the cart offer. I might have to take you up on it.

Clearwater--play Cliff Stevens. NE Coachman is a nice park, but it has few truly memorable holes. Cliff Stevens is beautiful and has some amazing shots and incredible scenery. The Champ plays most of his casual golf there as well, and I've never seen him turn down anyone for an autograph.

Fly 18--St Andrews has been busy lately. It is a nice layout, but it plays along with the golf holes, so getting stuck between golfers is a real possibility. IMO Lutz is a more interesting layout, has fewer golf patrons, and plays more away from the golf course.

Brooksville/Crystal River--Don't miss Red Hawk at the Plantation. This may be FL's premier new-school course now. Along with that I would choose between the mini canyon and Floral City. The Mini canyon has some awesome shots, but it is only 9 holes. Floral city is a beautiful course situated in the FL countryside. It is kind of a basic, traditional, birdy-centered course of mostly par 3's.

Hope this helps. I must be nuts because its 75 degrees down here and I'm flying back to MI for two weeks...

Thanks for the help,

It looks like I'm going to play Lutz either 27th afternoon or 29th morning. I thought they didn't have carts there ( per directory)?

Another question....

On the Tampa Bay disc golf website I saw a Hammock Park and a Ross Norton Park. I didn't remember seing these in the course directory. One is in Dunedin, where is the other? Any info. on these courses?

I hadnt heard of anyone going to Hammock in Dunedin before I moved for probably the better part of a year due to re-construction of the course. Ross Norton is in Clearwater, but I never went there. I think it may not exist at the current time. Just make sure you play Cliff Stephens in Clearwater, maybe Coachman since your going to be right there and then drive an hour north to Crystal River to play Red Hawk. $10 gets you a cart to play a round or $5 to walk.

I had a blast in Florida. Perfect time of year to visit. Thanks for all the helpful info. I was very impressed with the disc golf and everything else.

The courses were great. Every one that I played was in a beautiful park and had very nice tee signs, pads, and baskets.

I played N. Watertower Park in Sarasota on the 26th. The flora was incredible! Nothing like anything I've seen before. Tight, low ceiling shots with trouble all the way up to the green. The course was fair though, as par could usually be saved with an excellent recovery shot.

It was almost 5pm when I got to Maximo in St. Pete's. I played the short tees because many of the holes were blind from the long tees and I was short on time. This course was like a rainforest jungle. Right next to the gulf, but not too much water in play. The dogleg on treeville hole 6 was pretty crazy. The painted trees might not look so great, but they were very helpful in getting me through the course in under an hour. I would have really liked to play the long tees as they looked a great deal more challenging.

The next day I hit N.E. Coachman in Clearwater. Very beatiful park. Creek in play on a stretch of holes. The course plays similar to N. Watertower in distance and foliage thickness.

Down the road to Cliff Stevens next. I couldn't believe how different this park was from Coachmen. Much longer from the pro tees and enough open space to shape a shot and reduce the luck factor given by the trees. Loads of Spanish Moss hanging from the trees looked really cool and didn't effect the disc flight too bad if you hit it. Much water in play on the course, including on a 500'+ hole #16, with water going all the way to the hole. The lake was curved so that you could pick a spot on the right to bale out. Landing at a good spot was just as important as distance. Trees on the right made it more appealing to throw over the lake again on the second shot. Shot even from the pro tees (course had 18 alt tees) and was the best in a group of advanced players. Didn't see Climo, though. :)

Wen't to Clearwater beach and explored the beach house neighborhood out on the island. The beach was incredible. Fine, white sand and covered with seashells. It was like 65 degrees and the water was even warmer. Warmer than the warmest day in San Fran's water. The locals were not in the water, though. They all thought it was freezing cold out.

Guys at Cliff Stevens told me to hit up Taylor Park in Largo, so I did. This course was loaded with pine trees and next to Taylor Lake. Short, but a fun course in a very nice park.

Just toured around on the 28th. Drove through downtown Tampa and Ybor City. Then to downtown St. Petersburg. We saw the Coffee Pot Bayou, Sunken Gardens, the Palm Arboretum, the Pier, and the Salvador Dali Art Museum. We also went to Indian Rock Beach and drove down to Fort DeSoto Park and saw the North Beach at the very end of the keys.

Friday, we drove up to Floral City, about 2 hours north of where we were staying in St. Pete's. It was nice to get out of the city for a while. Floral Park was amazing. Moderate length with trees on every hole, but not too many. No water trouble or deep shule. Good variety of distance, shots required, and elevation. Plamen shot 61 from the am tees and I shot 47 from the pro tees. I also got intoduced to "the real" shuffelboard from some friendly older-timers.

I went to Brooksville to shop at Sunking Discs. I had also went to shop 2420 in Clearwater and was disappointed. I now realize that I missed the big disc golf store in Clearwater. Brooksville was a cool town with some rare elevation for Florida. The Quarry course looked enticing from the 1st hole, but I had to get on the road.

Crystal River was the next stop. I sent the family to the Homosassa Springs St. Wildlife Park just down the road. The resort was very nice. They didn't give me any trouble with the dress code, and rented me a cart for just $5 extra. I had a little trouble with the directions though. I asked for a map, and the employee told me that I was playing the Lagoon's course. I later realized after a few holes, that the Lagoon's course was actually a 2nd ball golf course and that the disc golf holes were not on the map. Many of the baskets on the course were longer than the most visual basket, so this also made it very confusing. I had a cart though, so it wasn't too much energy to pre-navigate the holes. While playing, this ball golfer told me he saw a guy throw a disc in the water and then can a 180' shot over the water. A few holes later, I'm back at the same water seing some guy in the pond wading around. Somehow I knew this was a disc golfer. I saw he didn't have a cart so I drove over and it turned out to be a KC guy named Brant that I played with at Ted's Dread. He gave some course navigation and I gave him a ride.

The course played extreemly difficult. The first tee had been moved since the tourney layout. The new shot was into a difficult headwind with tons of trees on the right and water straight and left. I immediately put two discs in the drink. Another wet disc on the 2nd hole. Tons of long annhyzers on this course. OB cartpaths and/or water were in play on most holes. Some holes played off (of) the golf course and played though thicker rough. I lost a CFR wraith that I had rescued from water 4 times, in a small (but thick) palmetto tree. By the time I was done the scorecard read 75 and my hand was bleeding from throwing so hard. All in all a remarkable course, but brutally tough. I'm sure I could take off 10 strokes with another round, but as the first round took 3 hours, I had no more time.

Orlando was the trip's last stop for fun in the sun. By Saturday last week the temps were up into the 80's. Even though the morning temp was only about 65, the ground was covered with dew. With 2 courses at Turkey Lake and 2 courses at Gordon Barnett, I couldn't make my mind up which to play. Everyone was giving different feedback. I got the general idea that I should play Barnett because Turkey Lake had one course that was open and easy and one that was ridiculous and unmarked.

I went to Turkey Lake first. I saw the back course first, which I thought would be the longer, thicker course from the initial look. The course turned out to be amazingly beautiful, with moderate length. Several downhill shaped shots to start out. The back nine (like many courses I am noticing) was good, but not as remarkable as the front.

The other course at Turkey Lake was called T-2. I tried to throw the first hole and immediately realized I would not be able to get past the pain. Throwing a putter gave me no trouble at all, but I quickly realized that this was the course that was insano. The signs were outstanding. Colorful and acurate. The tees were carpet and matched the PDGA color code using blue and red for every hole with a few gold and white pads. This was the course that was very long and very thick. The par was like 61, but I would have been pressed to break 65 as there are so many opportunities for trouble. I heard from the locals playing league that the course record is 54, by Hosfeld. The rough was extreemly punishing. Fresh fruit growing from the trees was nice though. Turkey Lake was very nice, with some very memorable holes on both courses.

Gordon Barnett was a very crowded park in a questionable neighborhood. First course seemed fun, playing across a creek. I lost my only disc, a Glow Aviar, on the 3rd hole in some water that wasn't on the map. With the mangrove trees right on the course, it was apparent that the course was flooded for a good portion of the year. My feet were soaked before long. The original course featured some really cool holes and some that were pretty bland.

The north course played both longer and through some really thick stuff. Some of the holes played in some really wet areas. Great extreemly challenging course, but a punishing experience, at least from the long tees. Hole 18 was unbelievable. 312 into a headwind to a 25' radius island green! I used Plamen's putter that he was begging me not to throw. I threw it with a big anny over the water and around a tree on the right, on my side of the water. The next shot was between a couple trees and over the water. There were some homies on the green that refused to move, and added some extra challenge to the shot. I got the par. :cool:

None of the courses were disappointing and I would love to come back again some day.

I heard from the locals playing league that the course record is 54, by Hosfeld



The record I think is Scott Scholten and JT Rosenthal with a 52 during Octobers 2006 Orlando Open. I just moved from Clearwater, FL to Nashville, Tennessee. Let me tell you, these courses up here are pretty nice, but dont come close to the ones in FL. I lived on the other side of the railroad by Cliff Stephens and played there very regularly. I do miss that course! However,there are more important things to life than living near an amazing disc golf course.

Hole 16 at Cliff Stephens was either everyones favorite hole or least favorite. It was my favorite followed by hole 10(350' over the lake) that I aced 1 week before I moved for $405 in doubles. Im glad you had a good time exploring the Fl courses and yes, THE RED HAWK is sweet too! Try to make the Mocassin Lake open A tier at Cliff Stephens in Novemeber, 1 week before the Players cup. I go back to FL to visit in April, I cant wait! :D

Ron Howell
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