It’s that time of the year. Call your buddies, book your flight, pack your suitcase, clean the clubs and head South for a long, warm, relaxing golf vacation.
If you’re going to Florida, you’ll be just in time for the PGA Tour’s Florida Swing — a stretch of four tournaments starting on February 27th and lasting all the way through March 23rd. And the great thing is, no matter where you go in the state, whether it be Orlando, Tampa or Miami, you’ll probably been within a short drive of one of these events.
So if you get some time in between playing your own rounds of golf, don’t pass up the opportunity to see the world’s best tee it up on some great courses. Information on each of the four tournaments is provided below.
The Honda Classic – PGA National, Palm Beach Gardens – Feb 27th – March 2nd – If you’ve never had a chance to play this course, add it to your list. You might not be able to get on it this year with the tournament being so close but you can do the next best thing, watch a tournament on it. Yes, Tiger Woods will be playing in this tournament, as will most of the other top players in the world. So if you’re in the West Palm area toward the end of February, don’t miss out.
Cadillac Championship – National Doral, Miami – March 6th – 9th – Once again, Tiger will be playing here and with a purse of $9,000,000, so will every other top player in the world. This tournament is probably the hardest event to get a ticket to so if you do plan on going, don’t wait to buy one. Owned by Donald Trump, National Doral is much more than just a golf course, so even if you have a friend or wife that isn’t so interested in golf, they’ll have fun.
Valspar Championship – Innisbrook Resort, Palm Harbor – March 13th – 16th – This is probably the lowest profile event in the PGA Tour’s “Florida Swing” but it’s still a fun event to attend. Great players like Luke Donald, Jim Furyk and Gary Woodland are usually in the field and the Copperhead Course is typically considered one of the toughest to play. Tickets are always fairly reasonable so if you’re in the Tampa area, add the event to your itinerary. You won’t regret it.
Arnold Palmer Invitational – Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando Florida – March 20th – 23rd – Closing out the Florida Swing at the end of March, the Arnold Palmer Invitational is considered the players final preparation before The Masters in April. Bay Hill is an extremely difficult course and almost every single top player in the world will be competing. Tiger Woods has won here 8 times (including the last two years) and unless something unexpected happens, he will be in the field looking for number 9. The best part about Bay Hill is that if you like the course that much after watching it, you can go to the pro shop after it’s over and set up your own tee time.