To an outsider looking in, the Tampa
Bay area has it all. The enormous, sugar-white beaches of St. Petersburg/Clearwater
are some of the best in the world. The peaceful, warm waters of the
Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay are a veritable maritime playground.
The region's once moribund NFL franchise, the Buccaneers,
have become the darlings of the town and captured the 2003 Super Bowl.
Even the Devil Rays, the Bay’s sympathy-inducing Major League
Baseball expansion squad, lured highly touted manager Lou Pinella
away from the playoff-contending Seattle Mariners.
Now, if this swashbuckling chunk of coastline along Florida’s
Gulf coast could only establish itself as a “golf” coast,
we’d have to consider the Tampa Bay area as one of the premier
destinations in the U.S.
It really shouldn’t be a hard sell.
Not nearly as difficult as convincing transplanted northerners to
step out of the 80-degree warmth and omnipresent sunshine and into
a meat locker of a hockey arena to consume a mediocre Tampa Bay Lightning
game.
Look closely and a reputation for being one of Florida’s under-supplied
golf markets is dissipating faster than the morning dew on the first
tee box. Tampa Bay is home to an intriguing collection of first-class
resort courses, upscale daily fee and semiprivate tracks and a heaping
helping of affordable public access facilities sure to appeal to any
skill level and income bracket.
For
Florida golf coverage, visit GolfFlorida.com
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