Want to golf in Bradenton or Sarasota? Here’s a look at the courses and area history
The Suncoast is much like the rest of Florida in terms of year-round sunshine and golf courses.
From November through April, the golf season is in full swing in the Sunshine State, and Manatee County offers no shortage of courses for locals, snowbirds and visitors alike.
It’s when the temperatures morph from the scorching summer to a bit cooler that the weather becomes quite appealing for year-round residents and snowbirds spending a short vacation or winter residence away from cold northern climates.
And the area is right up there with any other Florida — or national — area when it comes to its golfing history.
So here’s a look at some tidbits from the local links, where you can find yourself walking the same fairways as some of golf’s and other sports’ legends.
Golf history
The Sarasota/Bradenton area has seen several legendary golfers tee it up. The PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Champions Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and Symetra Tour have hosted tournaments locally.
The area’s golfing history runs even deeper than that.
In 1885, Scotsman John H. Gillespie arrived in Sarasota, where he began building one of the first courses in America — it’s hotly debated which was course was first — in what later turned into Bobby Jones Golf Club. The namesake of the course is one of the best players golf has ever seen. Bobby Jones won golf’s grand slam, all four majors in one season, in 1930.
He later founded The Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.
Bobby Jones Golf Club in Sarasota pays homage to his slam feat by naming its American and British courses after his U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open, British Amateur and British Open titles for each nine on the respective courses.
The original architect was Donald Ross, who also designed Sara Bay Country Club in southern Manatee County. That course hosted an LPGA Symetra Tour stop for six years, the last event happening in 2017. The tabletop greens are reminiscent of a famous Ross course: North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2. Coincidentally, Jones played the first match to christen Sara Bay, which was originally called Whitfield Estates, in an exhibition match with the “Silver Scot” Tommy Armour.
Baseball legend Babe Ruth teed it up at both Bobby Jones Golf Club and Sara Bay Country Club.
Another Ross design is Bradenton Country Club, which has hosted several U.S. Open qualifiers. Both Sara Bay and Bradenton Country Club were founded in the 1920s. It’s also been a home to Tony Jacklin, who won two major championships in his career. That includes the 1970 U.S. Open, where he became the first player from the United Kingdom to win the event since 1925. He also won a British Open, and his key Ryder Cup moment with Jack Nicklaus in 1969 was the inspiration for The Concession Golf Club’s name.
That course — which Jacklin and Nicklaus co-designed — hosted the most recent high-profile pro tournament when the PGA Tour’s World Golf Championship event scheduled for Mexico in 2021 was relocated to the exclusive East Manatee track because of COVID-19 restrictions at the time.
The Concession, though, is a private club as well as Sara Bay and Bradenton CC. Additionally, Palm-Aire Country Club is another private club that had its beginnings in southern Manatee County and once hosted the PGA Tour’s DeSoto Open, which the legendary Sam Snead won in 1960. The Hall of Famer holds the record for most career PGA Tour wins at 82 with Tiger Woods.
Palm-Aire’s Champions Course also hosted the television program, “All Star Golf,” that later became known as “Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf,” as well as an LPGA Tour event and
Further south, TPC Prestancia in Sarasota was a regular Champions Tour stop in the 1990s until the early 2000s.
Golf courses to play
But those courses, aside from Bobby Jones Golf Club, are private. The city’s River Run Golf Links is right by Pirate City, where the Pittsburgh Pirates begin spring training at before moving to LECOM Park.
River Run plays host to the annual Bradenton City Men’s Amateur and other amateur tournaments. It’s a narrow venue that requires precision from tee to green.
Bobby Jones GC is the City of Sarasota’s golf course, but is closed until early 2022. East Manatee venues like River Strand, Legacy Golf Club, Rosedale Golf and Country Club, The River Club and Waterlefe Golf and River Club present various challenges and are among some of the top courses.
There’s also University Park Country Club, IMG Academy Golf Club, Moccasin Wallow Golf Club and unique executive-style courses to test your short game in Pinebrook/Ironwood Golf Club, Peridia Golf and Country Club and Timber Creek Golf Course.
The county’s two courses, Buffalo Creek and Manatee County Golf Course, are managed by Pope Golf.
In total, the area boasts many golf courses to choose from, leaving no shortage of options throughout the year.
