Course Review - Innisbrook Resort's copperhead Course & Aloha Golf club

The third leg of the Florida Swing arrives this week with the Transitions Championship at Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor on Florida's west coast, less than an hour's drive from Tampa Bay. Innisbrook boasts four golf courses, all designed by Larry Packard, with the first being completed in 1970. Copperhead opened for play in 1974 and its 6700m par 71 layout has natural elevation changes of more than 25 metres which is unusual for Florida's Gulf Coast region. The course underwent a major restoration in 1999 that included refurbishing all 18 greens, restructuring many of the bunkers, removal of some trees and the clearing out of undergrowth between fairways. Defined by its tree lined fairways and rolling terrain together with lakes and ponds that are home to abundant wildlife, Copperhead is as challenging as it is beautiful. The first hole is a reachable double-dogleg par 5 that will give up its share of birdies and the round finishes with a picturesque uphill 410m par 4 where the approach is blind to a back-to-front sloping elevated green that is well protected by bunkers. In between, accuracy, finesse and shot-making of the highest order are required to survive the difficult and often intimidating challenges.

A month-long hiatus on the European Tour comes to an end with the Open de Andalucía at the Aloha Golf Club just outside Marbella on southern Spain's Costa del Sol. Designed in 1974 by Javier Arana - Spain's first golf course architect whose credits include Neguri and the magnificent El Saler - Aloha opened for play the following year just a few months after Arana's death. An unusual feature of the course is that the trees and shrubs were selected and planted to ensure that there are plants in bloom each month of the year. Hosting the Open for the third time, Aloha's undulating fairways and tricky greens are sure to command the full attention of all the players. Aloha is not a long layout at 6300m and plays to a par of 71. However, it is a very technical traditional course with tight fairways where, despite the potential of driving the green on the short par 4 3rd, 7th and 9th holes, accuracy rather than length will be at a premium.

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