Golf in Auburndale

The one-hour, two-person lessons focus heavily on swing improvement. During the lessons, golfers will learn how to successfully decrease strokes. Check out this video for a 60-second preview of what to expect during a lesson. Establishing a natural swing almost takes the golfer out of the game by removing the human element known as over-thinking. This Groupon includes necessary balls, but you should bring your own clubs to re-familiarize yourself with them; part of successfully forging that no-think stroke is using a consistent club of choice. Sign up with a friend, or alone to be placed into a session by Mike.

Staffed by experienced coaches and computers who’ve sworn allegiance to the three laws of golfing robotics, GolfTEC’s motion sensors and high-speed cameras monitor swings and break down each individual’s form on a high-definition video display to get results. Sensors chirp with approval whenever they detect the perfect stroke or an especially witty golfing joke. GolfTEC’s certified personal coaches will point out flaws and strengths while providing golfers with tips on how to permanently improve their game from tee to green.

At Tampa Bay Downs, thoroughbred horses burst through the starting gates, and spectators cheer for their picks and spend an afternoon basking in the amenity-rich premises. Visitors can wager on live and simulcast races, or wander into The Silks Poker Room and hunker down for a game of Texas Hold’em. The racetrack features numerous restaurants, grills, and bars as well as a fully lit, 22-acre golf-practice facility with all-Bermuda-grass hitting stations, chipping greens, and a covered range.

The splendid fairways of four scenic golf courses blanket the grounds at Orange Lake Resort, drawing in clubbers with layouts designed by some of golf's premier architects. The Reserve, originally crafted by Joe Lee, has since been refurbished by Mike Dasher to challenge golfers with more bunkers, water hazards, and pelicans trained to give bad reads on every green. Arnold Palmer's course-design company lent its skills to two fittingly named courses: The Legends, a 7,071-yard course that incorporates both open links-style elements and pine-lined woodland holes in a seamless layout, and Legends Walk, a nine-hole executive course with five sets of tees and lights for postsunset pin hunting. The nine-hole Crane's Bend course rounds out the quartet with an undulating utopia encircling a pristine lake where a central fountain showers the water with a steady mist and the freshly liberated spirits of drowned golf balls.

Skyview Golf & Country Club’s 18-hole, par 72 course unfurls an emerald map of fairways and greens that span 7,142 yards of lakeside scenery. With four sets of tees, the course offers up a fun, par-hunting test for golfers of all stripes. The club complements its 18-hole masterpath with a staff of instructors led by Director of Golf Peter J. Summers, from whom golfers can gain swing-honing wisdom in on-site lessons.

Tree Tops Golf curates competitive fun and practice at a sprawling facility that encompasses a driving range, a miniature golf course, and batting cages. Airborne golf shots take flight at the driving range, where grass tees appeal to those who prefer a natural feel and artificial hitting mats cater to prima donna pitching wedges that demand a perfect lie every time.

A canopy of vibrant palms forms cool shadows over the 18-hole mini-golf course as putters tap orbs across a winding circuit of artificial turf lined with brick rails and rocky outcrops. Two Iron Mike pitching machines lob high-arching, slow-pitch softballs in two batting cages, helping batters to prepare for their next opportunity to ruin a water-balloon-toss competition.