Let's Play Two : The twin passions of baseball and golf are a hit at spring training

Golf Digest, Feb, 2002 by Ron Kaspriske

Long before Sun Belt cities like Phoenix and Orlando built multi-million-dollar stadiums and turned baseball's warm-up season into a full-fledged tourist attraction, Babe Ruth knew the real secret to a successful spring-training trip.

When the legendary slugger boarded the "Orange Blossom Special" train headed for the New York Yankees' spring camp in St. Petersburg, Fla., he had a baseball bat in one hand and a golf club in the other.

Not a bad way to spend a month.

Baseball fans consider a trek to spring training a pilgrimage, but throw in the great golf in these locales and you've got the perfect double-play combination. (Provided, of course, that baseball has no work stoppage, lockout or whatever the overpaid millionaires on both sides of the controversy are calling their latest labor debacle.)

Not surprisingly, baseball players and fans today follow in the Bambino's spikemarks. Atlanta Braves pitchers Greg Maddux and John Smoltz boast of playing 45 holes after a morning workout at their camp in Kissimmee, Fla. "I encourage it," says manager Bobby Cox. "It's a great way of getting their mind off of problems. It would bother me if they didn't play golf."

If only all bosses could be so visionary.

Make no mistake: Despite all the fun, spring training is big business. Each year from mid-February to the end of March, almost three million fans flock to see games in Florida and Arizona, pumping an estimated $700 million into the local economies. Our thumbnail guide, including maps, course information and baseball box-office phone numbers, will take you through a week of quality golf and baseball on either side of the country.

FLORIDA: The Grapefruit League

Aside from threats of "contraction"--eliminating two baseball franchises--20 teams practice in the Sunshine State. Three regions--central Florida (Lakeland to Orlando), west coast (Dunedin to Fort Myers) and east coast (Melbourne to Fort Lauderdale)--allow you to put together your preseason sampler. Here's just one example:

Monday: Abacoa Golf Club (Jupiter) and Cardinals baseball (Jupiter). Less than a half mile from the ballpark, Joe Lee-designed Abacoa is vintage Florida golf, with palm trees and water hazards aplenty, along with oversize, undulating greens. The Cardinals' Roger Dean Stadium is new and nice. Afterward, you can check out Town Center's restaurants and shops.

Tuesday: PGA Golf Club and Mets baseball (Port St. Lucie). The golf course is less than two miles from the Mets' complex, which is just off Interstate 95. There are 36 holes designed by Tom Fazio and 18 by Pete Dye (Fazio's South Course is ranked 21st in Florida by Golf Digest), and there's one of the best practice areas you'll ever see. Thomas J. White Stadium is only as cozy as a concrete block can be, but for $3 you can sit on the lawn outside the right-field fence--the perfect location if you want to sneak away for an emergency nine.

Wednesday: Dodgertown Golf Course, Dodger Pines Country Club and Dodgers baseball (Vero Beach). Just outside the left-field stadium wall is the tame nine-hole Dodgertown Golf Club (the opener is a 452-yard par 5). Base-stealing great Maury Wills, now a coach for the Dodgers, learned golf here, because it was the only place black golfers could play in Vero Beach in the 1950s.

Wills plays across the street now at the heftier Dodger Pines--there's a 670-yard par 6--an old-style Florida parkland golf course with parallel fairways and flat greens that former Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley helped design. Dodgertown and Holman Stadium are spring training circa 1955. Even the names of the thoroughfares--Jackie Robinson Boulevard, Duke Snider Street--bring back memories.

GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE COURSES

 1. (NR)         Abacoa G.C.,  Jupiter               561-622-0036
                                                     www.abacoagolfclub.com
 2. ..1 1/4 2    Dodger Pines C.C., Vero Beach       561-569-4400
 3. (NR)         Dodgertown G. Cse., Vero Beach      561-569-4800
 4. ...          Dunedin C.C., Dunedin               727-733-7836
 5. ....         Eastwood G. Cse., Fort Myers        941-275-4848
 6. (NR)         Lake Jovita G. & C.C., Dade City    877-481-2652
                                                     www.lakejovita.com
 7. (NR)         Mystic Dunes G.C., Kissimmee        866-311-1234
                                                     www.mysticdunesgolf.com
 8. Orange County Natl. G. Ctr.                      888-727-3672
                ....11/42 Panther Lake, ....11/42 Crooked Cat
                Winter Garden                        www.ocngolf.com
 9. ....11/42   Osprey Ridge G. Cse.,
                Lake Buena Vista                     www.golf.disneyworld.com
                                                     407-939-4653
10. PGA G.C., Port St. Lucie                         800-800-4653
                ....11/42 Fazio North, ....11/42     Fazio South
                (NR) Pete Dye Course)                www.pgavillage.com
11. ....        The River C., Bradenton              941-751-4211
12. ....        Southern Dunes G. & C.C.             800-632-6400
                Haines City                          www.southerndunes.com

In the five-star Places to Play rankings, one star represents
"basic golf"; five stars indicate "golf at its absolute best."