Blackjack is located an hour north of Tampa, straight up the 75.

They've got a nice clubhouse and banquet facilities. I didn't bring my trusty Mossberg, so I rented a Beretta Silver Peon 1 ($40 bucks) and bought a case of ammo ($120 bucks) and rented a golf cart (unknown bucks, I forgot to ask).

Their courses are laid out in a "T". Starting at the bottom of the "T" you start on the beginner course. And we warmed up there.

Finally someone that gets what a beginner course should be, soft, very soft.

As you finish up in the right leg of the "T" you start on the intermediate course. I thought the targets were fair and fun.

We didn't shoot the tournament course, but I have in the past and they were good targets.

A word about lunch (which is really the reason I go shooting), there isn't any. When I think of Florida I think of Miami Vice. Blackjack isn't in South Beach, it's in farmland. And there isn't anything for miles around.

My tip (and truly I don't tip) is, eat lunch before you go, or be prepared to DRIVE.

There's probably 6 or 7 sporting clays courses in the Tampa Bay area, this is my favorite.

 

Great Place shoot the 2-3 days a week!

 

I was there in May. Great place with a very nice staff. No food onsite but I asked for a recommendation and went to the Big Bass Grill on Lake Panasoffkee. It was 10 or 15 minutes away, an old school lakeside joint with decent food.

 

Before I moved to North Florida, I shot there frequently as it was close to where I was living. Built on an old mining operation, they have a little terrain in spots making it a lot of fun.

 

The guy behind the counter said they're implementing electronic tablet scoring. I'm glad to see it, we've been using them in pistol matches for years.

 

Good pictures, Brad, but I don't remember shooting out over a pond/lake on any of the courses. Do you remember what course and station that was? Just curious.

Also, too bad there wasn't more sunshine the day you took the pics. I'm not used to seeing cloudy days here in the Sunshine State.

.

 

The water is at the very end of the beginner course, right before station Black 1. In the cul de sac.

 

Lots of dining options in The Villages nearby.

I was born & raised in Sumter County FL, Wildwood, about 10 miles north of Black Jack.

Wife & I are in the process of building our retirement homej just east of Bushnell, about 8-10 miles south of Black Jack.

 

Thanks, my 90 year old uncle lives in Groveland, so I wanted to head that direction.

 

Great place to shoot.Big dog targets on the super Sporting course. Blue course is tournament targets. Black course is challenging and orange is the softer one.Great people and the the terrain is great. Lot's of big oak trees and a mix of hard woods and palmetto.Paved roads to all Sporting stations. And for great food,just ask Haley or Melanie how to get to Catfish Johnny's. 15 maybe 20 minutes. Great burgers, shrimp basket, and of course, very good Catfish.

 

Here's the course map, and what we shot.

 

The long term relationship with The Villages and BJSC will be interesting to follow. Whatever The Villages want in Sumter county, they get.

Middleton is nearby.

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The current scuttlebutt is The Villages is in the process of having a Federal prison in the area relocated.

 

I doubt the Feds will move their prison; that's one of the largest customers of the electric utility (that also services The Villages)

 

My wife worked for SECO for 15 years; they gave the engineers fits with immediate demands for things that normally take 6 months

 

I had a brother that worked for SECO as well as multiple friends and schoolmates.

The Villages relocated their charter school from east of Oxford to east Sumterville. Built a football stadium some small colleges would be envious of.

The school is right across CR 470 from the prison.

 

When I first read this thread, I thought it was about Blackjack Sporting Clays.
Now about halfway through, it has turned into something completely unrelated and unuseful.

Are the Villages expanding?
Is there a prison nearby?
The electric utility is bombarded with unusual demands.
There are nice football stadiums in Florida.

Who cares? And to what end does any of this KNOWINGLY affect Blackjack?

 

We will now get back on subject.

Steve

 

I visited Blackjack a couple of years ago when my wife and I vacationed in the area. I didn't shoot but they let me take a golf cart out and cruise the grounds. By coincidence they were holding a Villages Sporting Clays Club event. It was being shot mostly on orange and a few stations on black.

I thought the grounds were kept well and the equipment looked to be in good shape. There is a good variety of options for target difficulty between the assorted sporting layouts, the super sporting and the 5 stand. When I was there, they told me that they were developing a new section of ground but I can't tell from Brad's map what that section is. The clays card system with delay seems convenient though connecting with others and shooting in a group is more enjoyable. Good to have the option to go out solo though.

There is a pretty good chance that if we buy a snowbird property it will be in the villages or that general area so I think that Blackjack will become my base place to go shoot / practice when in the south. On that same trip I visited Blackjack, we made a visit over to the Vero Beach area and I was also able to tour the Vero Beach grounds, OK Corral and Quail Creek. All of them were great and I would expect I will visit and shoot at those grounds too.

 

Be careful what color scrunchy you hang in your golf cart!