Best golf courses near Punta Gorda, FL

Open to members and guests of the resort, Gasparilla Golf Club sits on an island near the picturesque coast of Charlotte Harbor. Though it perhaps lacks the overall ambiance and seriousness of the architecture, the proximity of the design to the water (five holes run directly along the island’s shore) and the exposure to the coastal winds puts Gasparilla in the same category of other Pete Dye seaside courses like Teeth of the Dog and The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. Dye revamped an old 1930s-era course here in 2002, making it his own, though time, weather and other modifications over the last 20 years muted much of that character. Now Tripp Davis has attempted to bring back the overall Dye composition while making adjustments in certain places including shifting greens and fairways, planting new grasses and shortening some holes while lengthening others by as much as 40 years. The constant is the unique location and water views.

Coral Creek is a low, slinky Tom Fazio design set in a pristine section of nature on the mainland side of Gasparilla Sound near Boca Grande. There are no homes or other development around the club, just pure golf with holes that slide through a series of interior lakes and open sandscape buffers. Fazio completed a remodel of the course in 2020 that addressed drainage issues, revamped the bunkers and installed SubAir systems beneath each green.