Tiburon Golf Club is primo but pricey.
If you’re looking for the best public-accessible golf to play on a Naples, Florida golf vacation, point your putter toward Tiburon Golf Club.
You’ll notice that the word “cheapest” does not appear anywhere in that sentence. That’s because this Greg Norman-designed, 36-hole complex is not only Naples’ most visually stunning layout, it’s also its most expensive. High-season green fees are $250, and that’s if you’re staying at the posh Ritz-Carlton. Otherwise, they’re $280.
Still, it’s worth the splurge on a Florida golf vacation to play these varied and voluptuous shot-maker’s courses, the Gold and Black, which alternate each day between member and guest play. While the gallery-friendly Gold hosts the Merrill Lynch Shootout each year, the Black is actually rated higher.
With their lack of rough and abundant waste bunkers, Tiburon’s courses often resemble desert, target affairs, although Norman infused them with the rich diversity of southwest Florida’s vegetation.
Their sod-stacked bunkers and tangerine tone of the coquina sand further create a look that’s unique for a Florida golf vacation. Better yet, golf balls sit up nicely in this crushed coral compared to standard-issue Florida sand. The same can be said of the pine mulch lining the fringes of the fairways.
From the back tees, you should expect many long approaches to heavily bunkered greens. And, because of the uniformly short grass around the severely sloped complexes, you’ll see players smartly putting from great distances off the greens.
And speaking of “smart,” if you make an afternoon tee time after April 1, you can play for as “little” as $109.
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Just got back from Naples. Stayed at the Ritz Carlton and played its well known Tiburon Black Course. The course was designed by Greg Norman. Played from the tips: 7005 yards. The course has a 74.2/147 rating. Expensive: $200 a round and $100 for Twilight after 4PM. This course is a bull. Typical Norman. No roughs only fairway and jungle on the sides. Even if you hit to the edge of the fairway, there is a good chance the ball will end up in jail. A zillion waste bunkers that look like crushed shell and sandstone. A lot of the traps are thinned out with no sand under the surface. My take: this course is not worth the money. Nice views but not exceptionally interesting layout. Doesn’t feel fair and doesn’t look like anything more than target golf at its extreme. I believe a true golf course should have first and second cuts of rough to challenge the golfer, not bush and bramble off every fairway to penalize any shot not in the short grass.