University of South Florida Golf Course

I play The Claw yesterday. The Claw is the University of South Florida (USF) golf course in Tampa, FL. The course gets it nickname from the signature 14th hole. The top of a tree that creeps out into the fairway on the left side is the claw. It’s know to snag the ball of many golfers as they try to cut the dogleg.

I played late in the day with a client. We started about 5:00 pm, but it was still super hot and humid. That was the bad news. The good news is that the course was in great shape and by going out so late, green fees with a cart were $20 plus tax.

There quite a few water hazards on the course and the fairways are mostly narrow. The greens, fringe and rough are in great shape, so the short game bailed me out from a round of lousy driving. My back went from tight to sore as the round progressed and my driving was erratic all day. My short game was solid and I was up and down on quite a few holes, including a sand save.

When I go back to this course, I’ll focus on keeping drives in the fairway. I could play this course without a driver and still score pretty well.

We didn’t get a full 18 holes in, but we made it to 16.

I would recommend this course to anyone who is in the Tampa area. The course was very nice with lots of wildlife. I saw a racoon, lots of wild turkeys, herons and other birds. The staff was friendly and it was a nice place to play.

My putting was solid, but not spectacular.  I made a 30 footer to save bogey after getting into trouble twice on the 13th hole. The soft hands I taked about in my last putting tips post, made a huge difference on a course where I’ve never played before. I am still consciously forcing soft hands, but I can feel the habit building.