Good Walk Spoiled

The Copperhead is best known for the week the PGA Tour takes over every March and plays what has now become the Transitions Championship there. But mind you Innisbrook is much more.

Before I even get into the course, let’s start by saying that Innisbrook is first class all the way. In many ways it is a golf resort like no other. You turn off a freeway, and suddenly you are smack dab in the middle of rainforest/golf haven. The lodging is first class. The service is top of the line, and for a property that is so spread out, they do a great job getting everyone around from spot to spot on carts. Each course has its own clubhouse, each with a different eating and drinking establishment. Each also with its own pool/hot tub areas. The lodging areas are based around these central locations; the courses however, a different story.

One of the beautiful things about Innisbrook is the way the courses wind and weave throughout the property, never allowing you to forget why you are really there. All four courses are supposed to be spectacular, but the featured course is no doubt the Copperhead. The track where the pros tee it up every year. Not sure about during the popular season, but as an offseason visitor I was given a free nights lodging with my already reasonably priced round on the Copperhead ($125?) That was what drew my fiancé and I up to the area from our visit about an hour+ south in Sarasota. That and bordom (don’t hate me FLA west coasters, I am from Los Angeles).

Calling in advance to the TPC in Sarasota I was set to play, knowing I would be getting a full Titleist set to smack it around with, I opted against the cross country trip for my clubs. This was a bit of a mistake as Innisbrook, while providing a beautiful set of Nike clubs for me, had no choice in flex. Tough for an x-flex guy like me to play regulars, but it was meant to be a relaxing round anyway. As a single, they gave me the opportunity to play by myself, or to wait for an open slot, choosing the former (I had a secret companion anyway…you’ll see) The staff couldn’t have been nicer, even when I lost one of their headcovers. It is resort treatment the whole way.

As for the course, where can you start but with the majestic tee shot off of the Par 5 1^st. A great hole that wraps from the top of the clubhouse down to meat of the course, almost reminding me of a tropical version of the first at Rivera. Hole 3 is an epic target hole with water on both sides of the fairway and quite a challenge, especially when hooking most of the regular flex clubs. But it is pretty. For the most part the holes go up and down the unusually hilly area of this Florida property, which is why ranks highly on the tracks I have played out east. The Par 3’s are all difficult. You see pros put the ball in the water on many of these if you watch on TV, and that is because they are tougher than the cameras would have you believe. The wind is usually swirling and picking the right stick can be tough. #12 might be my favorite hole, and one of the signature holes as you drive by it on your entrance into the resort. A well protected landed area by water, forces the right tee shot, leaving another approach over water to a tough green. It was also one of my few birdies of the day which is why I have such fond memories.

For the most part, the trees provide a great deal of protection for this course. You see the pros often have tee balls, or long seconds knocked down by the treelines when inaccurate. This goes double for amateurs, making the course play long. And the 18^th is everything the commentators promise it is. A long demanding uphill par 4 to a green that is EXTREMELY tough to two putt. It doesn’t seem it on TV, but getting the ball close on that first putt is quite a chore. You will leave the Copperhead feeling as if you have done battle with one of the best, and you have. But they welcome you at the top with friendly employees and great service allowing you to reflect on what is sure to be a experience not to be missed if you are in the area. Trees, water, wind, and tough greens make this course as vicious as the snake it is named after, but don’t be afraid to get bit. If you have a chance, throw your money down, stay a night, experience Innisbrook, and play the Copperhead. It’s a gem.