This Bradenton jewel gets a makeover. A two-time major champ led renovation project
Tony Jacklin, winner of two major championships, said he learned quickly during his legendary golf career what to expect from a Donald Ross-designed course.
“None of it was rocket science,” Jacklin said. “It was all plain, simple stuff. He saw the opportunities in that way — a simplistic way. It wasn’t about creating monuments as far as he was concerned. It was golf ability, playability to the golfer.”
It was no different with Bradenton Country Club, a course Jacklin became an honorary member at nearly 20 years ago.
The simplistic approach is what Jacklin strived to do as he renovated Bradenton Country Club back to its original Ross design, which meant removing six bunkers and 560 trees — most that weren’t part of the 1920s design — and replaced with 226 palm trees.
In February 2017, Jacklin started the process when he spoke to board members to get things rolling.
The plan really got going when the course was closed on April 15, 2018, and superintendent Frank O’Rourke was hired — after Jacklin mentioned his name to board members — two days prior to the course’s summer closure.
O’Rourke came from Seminole Golf Club, which is considered one of the best Ross designs in Florida, in Juno Beach.
“(Jacklin) has great passion for this club,” Bradenton Country Club director of golf Brian Lake said. “He’s been here for many years and he was just not happy with what it had looked like as how it had developed. He knew that with his vision that he could get it back to what a ... subtropical climate Donald Ross course should look like.”
Lake said they’ve had tours all summer for people to see how it’s come together, and everyone that’s seen the progress is ecstatic.
“They had no idea what it was going to look like, and it’s that spectacular,” Lake said.
The course reopens Friday.
Bradenton Country Club began in 1924 when it was originally called Palma Sola Country Club. Donald Ross was hired to bring the golf course to life. As a tribute to the original name, the club changed its logo to a lone palm.
This past summer’s renovations, which came with a $2.5 million price tag handled through a bank loan ($1.5 million) and member assessment ($1 million), saw every green and tee box getting sod-cut by hand.
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“We plant the greens first,” Bradenton Country Club general manager Dave Taylor said. “Then we sod areas around the greens, we sod the areas around the tee boxes and then we plant the tees, then we came in and planted the fairways, planted the rough. And we did it six holes at a time.”
The $2.5 million project included renovations for the course, the main roof to the clubhouse and adding a resort-style pool with accompanying furniture and restaurant.
Friday’s grand reopening features a 120-player member-only shotgun tournament at 10 a.m. Jacklin and Vaughn Curtis, who was the club’s president during most of the renovation period, are hitting ceremonial first tee shots.
On Saturday, the club is hosting its annual Fall Gala with fireworks, music and entertainment around the club. The event normally happens in November, but was moved to coincide with the reopening celebration.
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