Located just 20 minutes from downtown in the tree-lined residential neighborhood of Forest Hills, The Babe measures a modest 6,244 yards, but should not be taken lightly. Mike Stevens, SoHG board member and national hickory champion, recommends the course as a great challenge for visiting hickory golfers. Although both nines are par-35, the backside sports four par-4s in excess of 400 yards. It’s fairly open although old live oaks line many fairways and there are a number of bunkers here and there as well as several water hazards.
The course was first opened in 1926 in northwest Tampa as the Forest Hills Golf and Country Club. The original course had riding stables on the south property and just 10 homes. It also had a two-story clubhouse that included a ballroom.
In 1949, Mildred Ella “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias purchased the golf course. It is said that she spent most of her days either playing on her own or with the Men’s Club; she also hosted clinics and exhibitions for local golfers. After Babe’s death from cancer in September 1956, the course closed and the clubhouse was abandoned. It became a hangout for derelicts and, in 1962, the clubhouse burned down.
The City of Tampa re-opened the golf course in 1974, kept it in Babe’s name and put it under the management of the Tampa Sports Authority – a special district that was created in 1965 by Governor Hayden Burns for the purpose of planning, developing and maintaining a comprehensive complex of sports and recreational facilities for the Tampa Bay area. Florida golf course architect Ron Garl was hired to bring the course up to date. Thanks to his philosophy of letting golf courses “rest softly on the land” many of the original features are still intact. The TSA still manages Babe Zaharias Golf Course today along with Rocky Point Golf Course, Rogers Park Golf Course and Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If you visit, let us know what you think.
Babe Zaharias Golf Course
11412 Forest Hills Drive
Tampa, FL 33612
813-631-4374
www.babezahariasgc.com/home/
Greens Fees: $26 to $40
Walking is allowed.