Bobby Jones Golf Club — Attraction in Sarasota

This NEW course deserves 5 stars and here's why...

Firstly, it's situated in a great location with beautiful trees and wildlife appearing all around the course with a relaxed feel.

The practice facilities are brilliantly spacious, with 3 decent short game areas, bunkers, a decent sized putting green and the driving range is on grass with $5 for 25 balls, $10 for 50 or $15 for 75 from the self service machine.

All the greens on the course are in excellent shape, the fairways are very good and bunkers are tip top.

I would describe the course as a very fun-inviting course with a good challenge for golfers of all levels.

Having played the course twice so far, you've gotta try and drive an ace on hole 10, which is a par 4! From the blue tees I was just short of the green on the first round and missed the hole by about 1 foot on the second round! It could be a great hole for YouTubers to showoff on!

If you're a scratch golfer, you should be shooting plenty of birdies on a calm day! Good luck on a very windy day!

The guys and gals that work here are all very friendly, helpful and professional.

If you are a resident of Sarasota, you can get a discount and just need to fill out a form to qualify.

Yes, I would agree that $100 for a morning round is a little on the pricey side for this course and should be $85 tops, but my review is based on the quality of the course, practice facilities and service.

I'm sure the team at Bobby Jones will make more improvements and invest along the way.

GPS on a golf cart is not necessary in my opinion, just buy yourself a range finder.

I would recommend a moveable shaded cover for the driving range though, for when the weather gets really hot.

The mobile clubhouse works fine with quick refreshments, individual bathroom facilities and a mini shop for merchandise. The refreshments golf cart only takes cash at the moment.

Overall - The Bobby Jones course is a really fun course that is welcoming to all golfers and well organised. I highly recommend playing here to hone in your game with the course, and practice on your swing and skills with all the decent practice facilities.

I can't find any major hindering negatives other than the niggly pricetag, but I will still play here many more times. Go out and enjoy this place. I'll be surprised if you don't have fun here - regardless of price!

Apologies I didn't take more photos, but I was having too much fun to be snapping pics with...

First off, I enjoyed the course layout. If properly maintained and managed a little differently, it could be a great addition to the area. There are a few things that I’d love to see addressed: The course is very walkable, the most walkable I’ve played in Florida, but they’ve set a policy that does not allow walking until after 12pm. I wasn’t given a reason, only that it was their policy, and the person at check in said I was welcome to walk but my bag had to be on the cart (say what?). If I’m walking while my bag is on the cart, how is that different from me walking with my pushcart? A little training as to how to explain why this policy is in place would be helpful, if they have one. Usually a carts-only policy is in place for either pace of play or revenue. Studies have shown that walking golfers have better focus, shoot lower scores, take less time to make each shot, and get more exercise. Considering that most golfers who prefer to walk easily keep up with their cart riding playing partners, pace of play shouldn’t be a problem on such a walkable course. The fee can be the same whether you walk or ride, but there should be an opportunity to play the game the way Bobby Jones would have wanted to see it played, whatever time of day it is. There should be a pricing tier for people who have a Sarasota address, but live outside the city limits. Because the course is situated at the edge of Sarasota’s city limits, there are people who live across the street from the golf course who cannot get the reduced locals rate. Considering that there is a 40% discount for Sarasota city residents, a 20% discount for Sarasota County residents with a Sarasota address would go a long way to attracting more local golfers more often. I live closer to the course than most Sarasota city residents and would happily play this course multiple times each month with a 20% discount. Treat me like a snowbird and I’ll likely only play it a time or two each year. Too many other solid options in the area. The cart paths need a lot of work. Too many ruts and potholes for those...

I’d give .5 stars if I could. The course itself is decent. Not a difficult track, but fun to play. The price and customer service is what ruins the experience here. On the par 72 18 hole, if you don’t schedule a tee time on golf now (I’m not referring to when there’s hot deals either) the price is significantly higher. On the par three course, when you schedule on golf now it says “Cart included”, yet the person in the clubhouse gave me a hard time saying it’s $5 extra for a cart, I showed her it said “cart included”, yet at the end of my round she came out and said “cart included means walking cart but I won’t charge you this time”. Look, there’s no option for walking, walking cart, or actual golf cart on golf now. staff of Bobby jones, fix it yourself before badgering your customers. Not only that, but there’s not clear directions to each hole on the par three course (so it’s easy to get confused as to which hole you’re heading to), they didn’t even give us a score card, and there’s nothing to indicate distances if you don’t have something on your own to do so. Also, I’ve golfed at Bobby Jones multiple times with awful customer service from the people in the clubhouse and the cart staff. Last annoying thing is the starter making you sign a paper with your name on it and signature. You guys are a municipal course, not Pebble Beach, get over yourselves. Plenty of other similar quality courses with either better prices or far better customer service. Don’t go (I won’t be) here until they improve on price and customer service.

PS responding to the response I received: notice how every time someone leaves a bad review there’s the same generic response from the owner? Because they don’t care. The city paid some management company to manage the course and the management company is awful. Do better...