The Renaissance Vinoy Resort - A Fine Golfing Tradition

- If you’re looking for history along with your golf, then look no further than the Renaissance Vinoy Resort, one of Florida’s premier luxury resorts. This is a resort that allows golfers to travel back in time to a bygone era without giving up the comfort of modern-day amenities. And it’s a resort that’s as elegant and grand today as it was in its heyday of the 1920s.

When it opened on New Year’s Eve in 1925, rooms sold at $20 each and were some of the most lavish and expensive in the state of Florida at the time. The hotel even continued to prosper during the Depression years because of its elite clientele which included such celebrities as Calvin Coolidge, Babe Ruth, Herbert Hoover, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Otis Elevator family, Ernest Hemingway and the Smiths of Smith Corona. Later, during the Second World War, the hotel did its bit for president and country by housing US soldiers.

These days, the resort has been included in the National Register of Historical Places and has received a host of awards including the Mobil Four Star, the AAA’s Four Diamond and Zagat’s Travel Excellent Award.

But achievement of excellence aside, the highlight of the Vinoy Renaissance Resort from a golfer’s point of view is the 18-hole, par 70 championship course with several extremely challenging holes. The 6,267 yard course was restored by golf course architect, Ron Garl, who designed nine of the top 50 courses in Florida. The PGA Tour has hosted tournaments at eight of his courses. His course at the Vinoy features all new tees and greens, nine lakes, narrow fairways, beach bunkers, vast pine valleys, two double greens and a signature island green. The course challenges the serious golfer yet remains enjoyable for the occasional golfer.

At the same time, the environment has been protected during recent renovations and the course has been called “a model of how future golf courses will be designed when they are near pristine bodies of water.” The mature tropical landscaping around the course includes over 40 varieties of palm trees and several native flowering plants have been put in, while nesting boxes for cavity-nesting birds and food and cover for wildlife have been provided.

Challenges for all golfing levels have also been provided. The first six holes on each nine are shorter “position” holes while the 7th, 8th, 9th and the 16th, 17th and 18th are as challenging as any finishing holes in Florida. Golfers are given the opportunity to score well early on and Garl designed the course such that players will be able to build confidence early, since they’ll need it later on.

Thoughtful tee shots and good course maintenance are the two keys to success on this palm-and-pine-dotted layout. Thankfully the wind is not a factor that changes playing conditions, while the lay of the land is basically flat with design undulations in advantageous areas. Note too that the fairways are narrow and contoured on shorter “position” holes but more generous on longer, more difficult holes. As for hazards, the Vinoy boasts 9 spacious lakes dotted around the course as it wends its way through palms, mangroves, wetlands and several natural “waste areas”.

In general, the greens recently resurfaced with Tif-dwarf Bermuda grass, are very large and several have dramatic slopes to challenge all skill levels. Due to the size of the greens, pin placements, from easy to very difficult, can change the character of the course.

The 178 yard, par 3 second hold is the first of two double greens at the Vinoy. It has a large green of 14,000 square feet with water on the left and a large waste area. Safe play on this hole is to the center or back of the green and away from the waste area and par is considered a good score here.

Golfers will find the par 5, 7th hole to be of interest. The 486 yard hole is reachable in two and provides a birdie opportunity but also has the potential for disaster. On this one negotiate your drive between the lake on the right and the trees and out of bounds on the left. The green is deceptively lower than the fairway and is not very deep. The 9th hole, on the other hand is demanding from the outset. From its narrow fairway to the green, the par 4, 421 yard hole is perched along the lake with its wooded bulkhead. Many would say this is the most difficult of the par 4s.

Watch out too for the 170 yard 13th hole which requires golfers to hit over a mangrove-rimmed lagoon stretching out from tee to green. It’s not for nothing that this is one of Florida’s most exciting par 3s. You can hardly see the top of the green’s flat from the tee box. First time players should note that the high flora hides an expansive green which grants adequate leeway for a less-than-pinpoint drive.

The 328 yard par 4, 15th hole features a double green with hole 12. This hole demands accuracy due to the large fairway bunker along the right, the mangroves to the left and a green that features bunkers on the right. The next hole, the 562 yard, par 5 16th, is the course’s signature hole is, quite simply, long and difficult. Precision placement of 3 shots is the key here. Your first two shots must negotiate their way around lakes protecting both sides of the fairway. Then the fun begins because the approach shot is to an island green, and all you can see is water, water and more water.

Many a match will be decided on the 470 yard, 18th hole, the longest finishing par four in the state of Florida (incidentally, this is also the hole with the best view). First the golfer must actually find the narrow fairway which sets up the approach to the green – it is guarded by a beach bunker. But there’s no rolling the ball on this green as the beach bunker transitions into a lake. There’s simply no two ways about it, this hole is hard.

But then again, difficulties are what the Vinoy is all about, whether it’s in the hotel’s historic past or the golf-course’s present-day challenges. Yet like the hotel, golfers will find themselves eager to rise up and face those challenges.

Golf packages at the Vinoy include room, unlimited green fees, unlimited use of the driving range and complimentary bag storage. Other facilities include two heated swimming pools, three spas, fitness center, spa, tennis and two croquet courts. The resort also feature Tampa Bays’ only “floatarium” – an egg-shaped relaxation chamber filled with 1100 pounds of dissolved Epsom salts in 100 gallons of body-temperature water.

Other attractions close to the resort are the Salvador Dali Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Mahaffey Theater, “The Pier” and two bayside beaches. The white sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico are also nearby.

The Renaissance Vinoy Resort is situated on a 14-acre site overlooking Tampa Bay, 22 minutes south of Tampa International Airport.

Tel: 1- 727-894-1000
Fax: 1-727-822-2785