Tournament Week at Bay Hill, Done Properly
For one week each March, a private enclave on the Butler Chain becomes the center of the golf world. Here is how to do the Arnold Palmer Invitational week the way it deserves.
3 minute read
For fifty-one weeks a year, Bay Hill is one of the quietest famous places in Florida: a private club, a small lodge and a residential enclave on the Butler Chain of Lakes. For one week each March, it becomes the center of the golf world. The Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard — a PGA Tour Signature Event played at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge since 1979 — is the public’s one real way into a club that is otherwise limited to members and registered lodge guests. Do the week properly and it is the best golf spectating in Florida. Do it casually and you will spend it in a parking queue wondering where everyone went.
What the week actually is
Start with the shape of the event, because it is not a regular tour stop. As a Signature Event, the Invitational draws an elite, limited field — 72 players in the 2026 edition — competing for a purse the PGA Tour listed at $20 million, with 700 FedExCup points to the winner. The tournament has been played at Bay Hill since 1979, when it succeeded the Florida Citrus Open, the event Arnold Palmer himself won in 1971 at Rio Pinar. It has carried Palmer’s name since 2007, and since 2017 the winner has received a red cardigan sweater in his memory, a tradition begun the year after his death in September 2016. The 2026 edition, played March 5–8, ended in a playoff, with Akshay Bhatia beating Daniel Berger — the kind of finish this course seems to manufacture.
Tournament week runs longer than the four competition days. Practice rounds and pro-am play fill the early part of the week, when access is loosest, players are most relaxed and the course is emptiest. If your goal is to actually see golf shots rather than crowds, a practice day is the connoisseur’s ticket. If your goal is drama, there is no substitute for Sunday on the closing holes — but earn it by scouting the course earlier in the week, when you can walk it freely.
The course is the itinerary
Bay Hill’s championship 18 — the Champion and Challenger nines, designed by Dick Wilson in 1961 — is a par-72 that stretches past 7,300 yards, and it is built for spectating in acts. The front nine’s signature is the par-5 sixth, which bends in a great C around a lake and dares players to carry as much water as they dare. The closing stretch is the show: the reachable par-5 16th, where Marc Leishman rolled in a long eagle putt on his way to the 2017 title; the par-3 17th over water; and the 458-yard par-4 18th, its banana-shaped green guarded by the rock-lined pond players call the Devil’s Bathtub, where Robert Gamez holed a 7-iron for eagle to win in 1990 and where Tiger Woods — an eight-time winner here — sank famous Sunday birdie putts. Our spectator guide to where to stand walks the holes in order.
Practical rules of the week
Book everything earlier than feels necessary. The Invitational is the week Bay Hill’s small scale works against the casual visitor: the lodge is committed, nearby hotels fill, and the Sand Lake Road corridor — the dining edge in neighboring Dr. Phillips — books out for dinner. Our guide to eating near Bay Hill during tournament week lays out the honest geography. Arrive early in the day, not at noon: morning golf at Bay Hill means dew, softer light on the lakes and the leaders still to come. Build one non-golf half-day into the week — the Tibet-Butler Preserve’s boardwalks, a few minutes away, are the reset locals use, and we cover them in our guide to Bay Hill beyond the ropes.
Respect what the place is the rest of the year. The club at 9000 Bay Hill Boulevard is private; tournament week is a hosted opening, not a conversion to a public attraction. The magazine’s rankings make the underlying point: Bay Hill Club & Lodge is the No. 1 course in our Orlando golf rankings, and its winner feature explains why. Find the course and the club on the Orlando Top Spots Map before you go — then put the phone away at the 18th green on Sunday. Some finishes deserve your full attention.
Photo: Stevie Rocco, CC BY, via Flickr.
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