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Course Puts Kids On The Links

Tribune photo by KAREN HAYMON LONG

Ethan Hurley, 8, tees off at the Fox Squirrel Course, designed for families, with no greens fees or tee-off times.

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By KAREN HAYMON LONG

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 20, 2008

PALM HARBOR - On the new family-friendly Fox Squirrel Course, open from Memorial Day through Labor Day, there are no tee times and no golf carts after 4 p.m.

Signs feature a cartoon mascot, Beggar the fox squirrel, named for the heftier-than-normal squirrels that live at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club and sneak potato chips from golf carts.

Best of all, play is free.

The resort's owner, Salamander Hospitality, created the nine-hole walking course in partnership with Nike. It's a first for Nike, which supplies a free Nike ball for each child and rents kid-sized Nike clubs for $10. (Children are welcome to play with their own clubs, too). Kids also get their own scorecards, adorned with Beggar clutching a golf ball.

The pro shop even has a junior line of Nike golf clothes and shoes, all with the famous swish.

The course is part of a kid-friendly area, where children can play miniature golf, basketball, volleyball and shuffleboard, kick around on a playground and take part in free junior golf clinics.

To introduce families to the new course, the resort is offering a special rate starting at $149 a night for suites with full kitchens and balconies or patios. It also offers social, tennis and golf memberships. Like guests, members can play Fox Squirrel for free. It's open from 4 to 7 p.m. daily.

"We wanted to do something to bring families together," says Ramona Hurley, the resort's marketing director, whose two young sons enjoy playing the course.

Jay Overton, the resort's director of golf who helped spearhead the course, likes the fact that it introduces golf to children, especially those who may otherwise never have a chance to play.

Golf can be expensive, and kids aren't always happily welcomed on golf courses. But this course was created with them in mind.

"Features are more child-friendly," Hurley says. "They are a little more forgiving than other courses."

Several greens are designed so balls roll a little slower than normal, which makes play easier for kids. The length of the holes varies between 50 and 180 yards. The par-32 course totals only 860 yards, considerably shorter than most courses.

To introduce children to golf's traditions, the resort requires golf attire - "shirts with sleeves for boys, no swimwear or halter tops." Manners are also stressed, and ages 8 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.

Hurley's sons, Ben, 13, and Ethan, 8, who were introduced to the game by their golfer dad when they were 14 months old, seem perfectly happy playing Fox Squirrel. In fact, when it's time to leave, Ethan tries to stall his mom, pleading: "One more hole. Just one more hole. It's my favorite!"

Innisbrook is at 36750 U.S. 19 N., Palm Harbor. It has 620 guest suites and rooms, four restaurants, three bars, four golf courses besides Fox Squirrel, a golf institute, tennis and racquetball courts, and the Loch Ness Monster Pool (with two waterslides and waterfalls). Call (727) 942-2000, or go to www.innisbrookgolfresort.com.

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