Lemon Bay Golf Club

englewood, Florida

Program for Golf Course Improvements - completed in 2021

Course Renovation - Spring/Summer of 2023

Course Reopened - November 2023

DESCRIPTION

My guess is... not many folks have heard of Lemon Bay Golf Club before. I know I hadn't before being contacted about this consulting opportunity! But after just one visit, I knew I had discovered something quite special.

Formerly known as Lemon Bay Beach and Country Club, the former property was not well cared for (1982)... more of a last resort playing opportunity for residents of Boca Grande and the surrounding area. In 1989, the property was purchased and upgrades began immediately to reopen as Lemon Bay Golf Club. Upgrades included irrigation, the bunkers needed sand, there was a need for a new clubhouse... and, of course, members!

Lemon Bay struck me immediately as a unique situation, as the course is a "core type layout" that has an uninterrupted sequencing and positioning of golf holes. This typology differs greatly from the typical Florida layout where holes are distanced apart with real estate/housing lining both sides of each fairway, thereby branding a much different playing experience. Lemon Bay is nothing of the sort... a very compact layout that is uniquely walkable and intimate... it's a comfortable environment befitting its friendly, welcoming members. In fact, the club openly characterizes its community, "Just feels like home."

Over the last several decades, the course has began to show its age and wear...mainly infrastructure needs and an overall tired presentation. But the potential for greatness here just oozes from every pore - the course has solid bones, and some underutilized and underdeveloped features, not to mention the eagle preserve in the heart of the property. More recently, the course received heavy damage from Hurricane Ian, a category 4 storm that made landfall just south of Lemon Bay with winds up to 156 mph, causing the loss of hundreds of trees, mainly mature stands of loblolly pines.

Construction was completed in the late summer of 2023 and the course reopened for play later that year to rave reviews by its membership.