PGA National Resort

As the golf chairman of a recent golf outing with 15 business owners and 3 corporate executives, I can't tell you how shocked and disappointed I was with the management @ PGA National and the Champions course on our recent annual golf outing. While the resort facility is a very impressive, the Championship Course is under heavy construction and was a joke to play. In a nutshell, we were had.
Our golf group flew in from all over the country for a long weekend of business meetings and golf. At no time in the booking phase of this outing (or later) were we advised that the premiere Championship course would look like a Kubota construction equipment auction. There were huge Kubota shovels on numerous holes manned by dozens of workers who were actively rearranging the green side bunkers – in the middle of play. While standing in the fairway of numerous holes, we had to wait until the workers moved the buckets of the shovels to laser the flags. When a ball rolled into what used to be a sand trap, there was no way to play the shot as there was no sand. Trucks were pouring concrete as workers built new cart paths. Rolls of plastic were stacked in front of greens and partially blocked pitch and run shots. Plywood is laying everywhere to allow workers to drive the scores of tractors used to haul materials. And to add injury to insult, the rangers were actually pushing the groups to stay on pace – something a bit tricky when your ball rolls under the tread of a shovel.
Everyone we met was complaining of the situation and all were infuriated that the resort would actually book golf rounds on a course that was undergoing major reconstruction. When we complained to the management, we were told that they had “waived the Championship surcharge” and would provide free crackers, beer & wine in the lounge. Needless to say, we didn’t fly to south Florida to snack on crackers and drink jug wine and draft beer. Many of the members of our group are active golfers with low handicaps and have played some of the best venues in the country. We know what is right and wrong relative to golf play and the course should have been closed for renovation.
However, all is not negative. Our group always looks for the bright side. We're all in agreement that this is the best construction site we've ever played. Seriously, if you are looking for a Championship golfing resort that has better golf courses, we’d recommend Innisbrook in Tarpon Springs. The view is much better (the courses are not surrounded by houses), Copperhead is a better course than Champions, there is nothing like the Island Course @ PGA National and the management at PGA understand that you can fleece a lamb all you want but you can only skin them once.

I found this course to be exceptional. I have wanted to play here for a while but I could not get on. A friend is a member but it never worked out. Finaly we played this past april after the recent Honda classic. The grounds were perfect accept for the occasional area that had grandstands during the tournament. We played late april of 2012.

The course was very chalenging. I normally play to a 14 Handicap and shot a 101. when looking back at where the champions tees were set I could not help thinking "Wow the pros sure do play a different game than us".

I cant wait to try to best my round next year!