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8 Florida Golf Courses Worth Owning or Hanging

Writer: shopgolfmaps
shopgolfmaps
7 days ago
5 min read

By Marcus Bell, Tour News Editor

Florida golf never really stops. But October is when the calendar starts to feel like season again: cooler mornings, fuller tee sheets, and snowbirds mapping trips for the months ahead. By midwinter, the state's best public tee times can stretch into serious money, and the private clubs stay as exclusive as ever.

We already covered California and Arizona. This time we're heading to the Sunshine State, where the best courses share a few things: sand that plays firm, water that shows up on TV, and routing that looks as good on a wall as it does from the tee.

A quick note on rankings: the public-course rankings below come from Golfweek's Best 2026 list of Florida courses you can play, published in June 2026. The private pick at the end uses Golf Digest's 2025-26 America's 100 Greatest ranking.

1. TPC Sawgrass (Players Stadium), Ponte Vedra Beach

Golfweek's No. 1 public course in Florida for 2026. Pete Dye's Stadium Course opened in 1980 as the permanent home of The Players Championship, and it still hosts the event every March. The hole everyone knows is the island-green 17th, a short par 3 that looks simple until the wind moves and the water starts collecting Titleists.

The island-green 17th at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach.
The island-green 17th at TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Per TPC Sawgrass's posted rack rates, Stadium green fees start at about $550 per player in summer (June through August) and $775 from September through May, including cart, a group forecaddie, and warm-up balls. Tips are separate. Expensive, yes, but it is still a Tour venue you can book yourself.

TPC Sawgrass whiskey glass with the Stadium Course map, from Shop Golf Maps
TPC Sawgrass whiskey glass with the Stadium Course map, from Shop Golf Maps

If 17 is your hole, our TPC Sawgrass whiskey glass puts the full Stadium routing in your hand after the round.

2. Streamsong (Red), Bowling Green

No. 2 on Golfweek's Florida list. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw routed Red across reclaimed phosphate-mining land south of Orlando, where sand dunes, lakes, and elevation you do not expect in Florida create firm, fast golf. Strategy sits at the center of the design: wide look, narrow misses, and greens that reward the right angle.

Dunes and bunkers at Streamsong Resort (Black's uphill par-3 5th shown), the same land that hosts Red and Blue.
Dunes and bunkers at Streamsong Resort (Black's uphill par-3 5th shown), the same land that hosts Red and Blue.

Red opened with Blue in late 2012 and still ranks as one of the state's must-play public rounds.

3. Streamsong (Blue), Bowling Green

No. 3 on Golfweek's list, so we are stopping at one sibling after Red rather than listing all three Streamsong courses. Tom Doak designed Blue on the same undulating, sand-based property. Towering dunes give way to big bunkers, deep-water ponds, and elevation changes that feel nothing like a flat Florida muni.

The first tee sits at the high point of the property. From there, Doak's routing leans into the land rather than fighting it. If Red is the Coore and Crenshaw conversation, Blue is the Doak one.

4. The Park West Palm, West Palm Beach

Golfweek's No. 5. This is the new model for a city course done right. Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner rebuilt the former West Palm Beach municipal layout, and the reborn Park opened in April 2023 as a public facility with an 18-hole course, a short course, and practice grounds.

It is walkable, sand-forward, and priced for real people next to resort rack rates up the coast. For a modern Florida public round that does not feel exclusive, this is the one that moved the conversation.

5. Cabot Citrus Farms (Karoo), Brooksville

No. 6 on Golfweek's Florida list. Karoo sits on the old World Woods ground north of Tampa, where Tom Fazio's Pine Barrens once drew national attention. Cabot's rebuild handed the redesign to Kyle Franz, who turned the site into a wide, sandy, multi-line course that Golfweek now ranks among the state's best publics.

Karoo is the headline for rankings watchers, and proof that Florida's inland sand can still produce something new.

6. Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Orlando

Golfweek's No. 7. Dick Wilson designed Bay Hill in 1961, and Arnold Palmer refined it over decades into the host of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The championship routing (Champion and Challenger nines) is the one you see on TV every March.

You cannot walk up and buy a random tee time. Access runs through membership or a stay at the Lodge, with lodge guests able to book rounds while they are on property. That limited public-access path is why Golfweek still lists it among Florida courses you can play.

7. Innisbrook (Copperhead), Palm Harbor

No. 9 on Golfweek's list. Larry Packard designed Copperhead, the pine-lined host of the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship. The finish everyone talks about is the Snake Pit: holes 16 (Moccasin), 17 (Rattler), and 18 (Copperhead), a three-hole stretch where the tournament is often decided.

It is a positioning course, with narrow corridors, water, and greens that punish lazy approaches. Among Florida Tour stops you can book as a resort guest, Copperhead still feels like a proper examination.

8. Seminole Golf Club, Juno Beach

This is the history pick most readers will never play. Seminole is private, members and invited guests only. Donald Ross opened it in 1929 on a rectangular coastal site in Juno Beach, and Golf Digest's 2025-26 America's 100 Greatest ranking has it at No. 12 nationally and No. 1 in Florida.

You will not find a public tee sheet. But if you somehow get inside the ropes, or if you just care which Florida course tops the private lists, Seminole is the one worth knowing. And if you ever play it, that round is the kind of map people hang.

Bringing Florida home

Florida courses photograph well because the shapes are clean: island greens, dune edges, pine corridors, and sand that reads from across the room.

At Shop Golf Maps, we make course maps and course-themed gifts for places like TPC Sawgrass. And if you want the Stadium Course in a jar instead of on the wall, our sister shop Course Candles makes a TPC Sawgrass candle for the golfer who just survived 17.

Enjoy the start of Florida season.

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