Overview
The Copperheads
The Copperheads have a history of more than 30 years of aiding Tampa Bay area charities through professional golf that has been further enhanced by our new title sponsor, Transitions Optical, a locally-based company with a global reach as a leading manufacturer of photo-chromatic lenses.
This will be the second Transitions Championship with a purse of $5.4 million featuring a quality field of PGA TOUR professionals.
Our first professional mixed-team competition was in 1977, and since 2000 we have been a full field PGA TOUR event. When our tournament was played in the fall, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen (twice) and K.J. Choi (twice) were among our winners. Since joining the Florida Swing in the spring of 2007, Mark Calcavecchia and Sean O'Hair have triumphed. During the course of our 32-year history many of the great stars in men's and ladies' golf have appeared in our events – Arnold Palmer, Annika Sorenstam, Davis Love III, Tiger Woods, Beth Daniel, Curtis Strange, Ernie Els, Justin Leonard, Jose Maria Olazabal, Nancy Lopez, Phil Mickelson and many, many more.
During the course of our 32-year history many of the great stars in men's and ladies' golf have appeared in our events – Arnold Palmer, Annika Sorenstam, Davis Love III, Tiger Woods, Beth Daniel, Curtis Strange, Ernie Els, Justin Leonard, Jose Maria Olazabal, Nancy Lopez, Phil Mickelson and many, many more.
The members of The Copperheads are Tampa Bay area community and business leaders with a two-fold reason for existing. One is to provide the golf fans of the area with a first-class professional golf tournament and the other is to raise funds for area charities. In the last five years we have been able to raise more than $8 million for area charities to push our total since 1977 to approximately $22 million. More than 100 Tampa Bay area charities actively participate in the Transitions Championship through Birdies for Tampa Bay Charities. This is a grass roots fundraising program designed to give all 501(c)(3) charities an opportunity to raise money for their organizations based on the number of “birdies” made by contestants during the tournament.
None of this would be possible without the efforts of our excellent tournament staff led by Tournament Director, Gerald Goodman, our Copperheads membership and their Board of Directors, our 1500 volunteers and our community of golf enthusiasts supporting the event through sponsorships and ticket sales.
Course History
The Copperhead course is part of a 72-hole complex with natural elevation changes that range up to 80 feet. This elevation change is very unusual for Southwest Florida, especially along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico.
The Copperhead course opened in 1974 and was restored in 1999, two years after it was purchased by Westin, Inc. The goal of the restoration project was to regain the shot values and still challenge today's longer-hitting PGA TOUR players when Innisbrook hosts TOUR events.
The plan involved refurbishing all 18 greens, restructuring many of the bunkers, removing some trees around the greens to improve air movement and sunlight and clearing out undergrowth between fairways.
The length of the golf course is the most visible change from 7,295 to 7,340 yards by the addition of tournament tees on five holes. A reported $500,000 was spent, and the course re-opened just in time for the 1999 JCPenney Classic.
With its unusual elevation changes, the natural setting of the Copperhead course will probably remind you of a Carolina layout rather than Florida's West Coast.
--Source: Golf Course Superintendents Association of America