About Town: Tampa

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Now that you're accustomed to the East coast after a week in Palm Beach for The Honda Classic, we have a packed schedule for you on Florida's other side. This week, the TOUR drives four hours northwest to Palm Harbor, Fla., in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area for the PODS Championship. Florida's Gulf Coasts can count itself one of the country's most popular vacation spots, if not one of the world's, so you're in for a good time.

A fairway view of the 18th hole at Innisbrook Resort Copperhead course (Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

HOT HOTELS

More: Sailport Waterfront Suites
More: Innisbrook Resort
More: Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay

SOMEWHERE TO SLEEP

Stay at Tampa Bay: Though you'll find the host course -- Innisbrook Resort -- in Palm Harbor, the city of Tampa lies just around the corner. This makes hotel selections much more plentiful. To really enjoy the area, book your long weekend at the three-star Sailport Waterfront Suites. This hotel is around 30 minutes from the course, but it's right on the water in Rocky Point Island overlooking Tampa Bay. The island location translates to an island ambiance and attitude, which, if you ask me, you can't go wrong with when you take a vacation. Wake up to sun-touched views of the Gulf of Mexico, or get up before the sun and do some early-morning fishing from the hotel's mini pier. And the best part? All this island fun can be yours starting at $159 a night.

Other options
• Innisbrook Resort: As is sometimes an option with attending PGA TOUR events, the host course for the PODS Championship also includes its own resort. Though you pay more for the convenience -- it's exactly what you pay for, convenient. Innisbrook has a three-and-a-half-star rating and rates start at $236 a night.
• Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay: Another bay-front hotel about 30 minutes from the course, the four-star Grand Hyatt offers all the amenities you would expect from the hotel's good name as well as close proximity to area entertainment and nightlife. Rates start at $229 a night.

SOMETHING TO TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT

Are you a Jack Sparrow fan? Come on, everybody is. How could you not enjoy Johnny Depp in pirate wear wobbling around like Keith Richards? Just like the character of Jack Sparrow, piracy has somewhat of a romantic connotation in the Western world despite the horrible truths behind the once rampant sea crimes. We can't help but be fascinated by it. Whether we're reading with intense nosiness news stories out of the oceans around Africa where modern piracy is very real or going back to our childhood and enjoying a little Peter Pan on the DVD player, we truly are captivated by it. So take a chance to indulge that peculiar interest and book a pirates cruise out of Clearwater Beach (I recommend sunset). Captain Memo's pirate cruises, aboard a traditional Black Pearl-esque vessel, last around two hours and has room for 125 passengers. Get to know the pirate crew (from Gangplank Gary to Mad Dog Mike) with an adult beverage while watching the waters for whatever ye may find. Yo ho ho and a bottle o' fun.

Jason Bartlett of the Tampa Bay Rays wants you to come to a spring training game (Laham/Getty Images)

HUNGRY?

More: Mystic Fish
More: Crabby Bill's
More: Hops Grill and Brewery
More: Samurai Blue

More things to keep you busy
• You probably know that this part of the world has more theme parks than the West coast has movie stars. With that in mind, try to escape for a few hours to Busch Gardens in Tampa. While the Virginia park has a European premise, this one takes you to Africa. Whether you want to ride rollercoasters til you puke, fill up on (expensive) junk food or hang out with the famous Budweiser Clydesdales, this is your spot.
• If manufactured fun really doesn't float your pirate boat, then skip Busch Gardens and head to Caladesi Island State Park. You have to take a private boat or the state park ferry (departs hourly on the hour) to reach this unblemished barrier island. And once you get there, what you do is your call. Answer nature's call and go hiking on the trails or settle into the soft sand beach for a quiet day of catching rays.
• Two weeks ago for the World Golf Championships -- Accenture Match Play Championship, I suggested attending pitchers practice for Cactus League Spring Training. Well, now you can go to some actual games as part of the Florida Spring Training at Tropicana Field.

THE MAIN EVENT

Innisbrook resort, home of the PODS Championship, comprises four championship courses: Island, Highlands North, Highlands South and Copperhead -- where the TOUR event takes place. The courses were designed to simulate some of the best golfing experiences in the Carolinas and South Georgia rather than your typical west Florida coast layouts. The par-71 Copperhead course plays over 7,340 yards of narrow fairway avenues with a lot of elevation changes -- a feature that makes this course the hardest of Innisbrook's four courses.

MORE ON THE COURSE

More: Innisbrook Resort

Watch out for nature on the Copperhead course (Halleran/Getty Images)

It's not just the tree-lined fairways with little wiggle room that make this course an intimidating one; its challenging dogleg holes and long water hazards leave little opportunity for birdies on some holes, and nothing but perfect shots will save you from multiple bogeys on others. But at Copperhead, the difficulty directly correlates to the attraction of the course, both aesthetically and game wise. The par-5 fifth hole is not only one of the hardest on the course; it is also the most photographed.

STICKING AROUND?

I kept finding all these things I wanted to suggest for other things to do while you're in town, but a lot of them required more time than a few hours here or there. So if you did plan for a day or two before or after the tournament, then look into these activities:
• Gone fishin': Book a day trip with some major rods and reels on a chartered fishing boat. Get a group together, pack some sandwiches and beer and don't forget the sunscreen. Also, if you are prone to sea sickness, Dramamine is a must. I once spent all but the first 20 minutes of a chartered fishing trip with my head over the side of the boat (not looking for marine life) or asleep from nauseated exhaustion or trying to fall asleep to avoid nausea. Fun stuff.
• Dive with the dolphins: Plenty of resorts and parks in Florida offer a chance to have a dolphin encounter, but usually this means aquarium dives with dolphins in captivity. However, you can take a dolphin cruise out of Tampa to swim with wild dolphins, while proceeds from the program go to dolphin conservation and research. It's a win-win. Not to mention, you get to see this part of the country from the water.