A Guide to Different Types of Golf Clubs in Tampa

If you love golf, you should be at Tampa, a picturesque metropolis, laced with hundreds of spectacular golf courses, catering to both professional and amateur golfers. Be it ultra-luxury stay-and-play resorts to public courses – Tampa golf clubs have something for everybody. As far as golfing is concerned, it is not an egalitarian world. It is a world that makes sharp distinction between the mass and the class, and not everybody is qualified to enter a club that he or she takes fancy in. Depending on who can play them, the golf clubs in Tampa can be divided in four main categories – private, semi-private, public, and stay-and-play resorts.

1. Private Clubs: You might have to shell out an astronomic membership fee to be able to join these exclusive clubs.  In Tampa, the fee for joining a private club varies widely. With an initiation fee that runs into thousands of dollars to a monthly membership fee amounting to around 600 dollars, these upscale clubs are designed to cater to the crème de la crème of the society, and their membership rarely exceeds a few hundred golfers. Well, if you are longing to experience what it feels like teeing it off in one of these upscale clubs in Tampa, make friends with someone, who already has a membership of the club, and hit its fairway as a guest.

2. Semi-private Clubs: A semi-private golf club has got the best of both worlds – it welcomes non-members and also offers membership to golfers. Obviously, you are expected to enjoy special perks against a fee. These may include an array of amenities, preferential tee-times, and a lower green fee, among others.

3. Public Clubs: As its name suggests, a public golf course welcomes everyone who is interested in hitting it off in its lush greens. These clubs can again be divided into two main sub-types:  the municipal course and the daily fee course.

• Municipal course: Government-owned, municipal golf courses are designed to cater to local residents of Tampa. However, they also welcome golfers, who do not reside in the city.  
• Daily fee course: Daily fee courses are open to every golfer, regardless of residential status or skill level.   As opposed to municipal courses, these clubs are privately owned, and charge higher fee than city-owned courses, while offering an array of upscale amenities that you cannot get in municipal clubs.

4. Stay-and-play Courses: The city of Tampa boasts a number of these high-end resorts that includes golf in their long list of luxe amenities. Many of these stay-and-play communities offer championship golf-courses designed by legendary personalities such as Jack Nicklaus. These communities blend uber-chic accommodations, good food, pampering spa with scenic fairways, creating an all-round golfing experience for sports-loving vacationers. They are open to the mass in the same way a daily-fee-course is. However, most golf resorts in Tampa require you to stay at the property in order to use its golf greens.

Blessed with natural marshlands, rolling terrains and tree-lined fairways, Tampa is home to different types of golf clubs. Depending on your budget, book your tee time with any of these clubs; enjoy great shots in Tampa's scenic courses.