IMPROVE YOUR SPORTING CHANCES IN FLORIDA’S GULF ISLANDS

The great weather and world renowned theme parks are not the only good reasons to visit Florida, the Sunshine State, especially if you are a sports fan. Also on offer are some of the best sporting facilities in North America. In the Bradenton area of Florida’s Gulf Coast there are even professional training academies of disciplines that are great for those in serious training as well as the enthusiastic amateur. Bradenton also has its fair share of Florida’s golf courses, offering top class championship courses as well as challenging public and semi-public courses for both the serious golfer and the fair-weather player.

IMG Academies, the world’s largest and most successful multi-sport training facility, has a 180 acre complex in Bradenton, housing the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, The David Leadbetter Golf Academy, The Soccer Academy, The Baseball Academy and the International Performance Institute. From September 2000, The IMG Hockey Academy will offer the most comprehensive, year round, on and off ice hockey training programme available within sport. The Academies are frequently host to world class players, including Andre Agassi, Monice Seles, the William sisters, Anna Kournikova, Nick Faldo and Greg Norman, to name but a few.

Also in the area is The Tony Jacklin Golf Academy which offers a 3:1 student ratio and teaches how to improve the total game, not just one aspect, through coaching on the fundamentals of the game using video and computer analysis. The School of Relaxed Golf completes the trio of golf academies, offering tuition for complete beginners up to world class standards.

Continuing the golf theme, there are a total of 25 courses in the area available for visitor play, offering from 9 up to 27 holes. Courses have been designed by the likes of Ron Gari, Ted McAnlis and Arnold Palmer, many rated as Par 72 Championship courses. Even better, it is possible to book guaranteed advanced tee times weeks or even months beforehand through Florida Golf Getaways, who can provide updated rates and organise local accommodation and rental cars too.

Florida’s Gulf Islands and the Bradenton Area are easily accessible to British visitors, featuring in many tour operator programmes with direct flights into Tampa (30 minutes) Orlando and Sanford airports (approx 2 hours).