Florida’s Best Golf Courses: There’s more to the Sunshine State than theme parks and beaches
Travelling to the sunshine state and planning a break from the theme parks and beaches? These are the best golf courses in Florida for you to get your golfing fix.
Despite being home to some of the best golf courses in the USA, the Sunshine State invariably gets a pretty bad rap for its golf courses as a large percentage of them exist only to sell houses. Couple that with Florida’s lack of elevation (its highest point – Britton Hill – if just 345ft above sea-level) and the fact outsiders tend to associate it with sweaty swampland and it’s no great surprise many won’t give its golf the time of day.
Read the article to see which Fry/Straka courses made the list.
Belleair CC (West) Rockets into Rankings Following Fry/Straka Restoration
Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design is pleased to announce the West Course at Belleair Country Club has zoomed into the rankings following our restoration work after previously being unranked. Golfweek ranked the course #77 in the list of Top 200 Classic Courses in the USA and the #4 Best Private Course in the State of Florida.
The Restoration of Donald Ross’ Design at Florida’s Oldest Club
In 2020, Belleair Country Club hired Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design to oversee the restoration of the West Golf Course. To restore the course to Ross’ 1924 design, Jason Straka turned to historical records stored at the Tufts Archives at Pinehurst Resort (Pinehurst, North Carolina) and The Bellview Inn (Belleair, Florida).
A look at Florida's first golf course, right here in the Tampa Bay area
The Belleair Country Club is located in Clearwater and sports a long history that is connected to the very start of the Tampa Bay area.
WTSP takes a ride around Belleair Country Club and the restoration work designed by Fry/Straka.
TalkinGolf History Episode 100 - The History & Restoration of Belleair CC
Today we dive into the History and Restoration of Belleair CC, which happens to be my home club. Belleair has not only a fascinating golf history, but has just been restored to one of the best Donald Ross' courses in the United States.
Donald Ross uncovered: Jason Straka finds original Belleair CC layout in the Florida ground and in the history books
Architect Jason Straka in June was midway through a major face-lift of Belleair Country Club’s West Course, with a reopening slated for November. In order to save the original Donald Ross layout, which the private club says is the oldest continually operating course in Florida, Straka first was tasked with erasing decades’ worth of alterations that dampened the intent of the original design, often burying Ross’s sublime work beneath good intentions.
Fry/Straka restores Ross design on Belleair’s West course
Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design is progressing with a restoration of the Donald Ross-designed West course at Florida’s Belleair Country Club, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.