COURSE REVIEWS
The Legacy Golf Club: Luxury Golf at a Luxury Price
By Joe Bruno,
Staff Writer
SARASOTA/BRADENTON, FL (Feb. 8, 2002)--The first thing you notice when you motor into the packed parking lot of the Legacy Golf Club at Lakewood Ranch is the luxury cars; Cadillacs, Lincolns, Mercedes, BMWs and a cool Lexus, or two. And some of these cars are from out-of-state places, like Texas, Wyoming and Wisconsin.
You'd figure if these people travel all the way by car to the tiny town of Bradenton, Florida to hit that little white ball with varying degrees of success, then the Legacy Golf Club must be the place to go. And you'd be right, as long as you have the cash, and the perseverance to get through their overtaxed phone system to reserve a tee time.
|
Making a tee time at the Legacy Golf Club is almost as hard as getting tickets to "The Producers" on Broadway. You call their reservation phone number, and if you don't get a busy signal, you get either a computer voice telling you someone will be with you momentarily. Or an operator who will transfer you to the pro shop, where they may, or may not, answer the phone.
When you finally get through to the pro shop, you'll find out that the morning fee at the Legacy Golf Club, which is now priced for the height of the golfing season in Florida, is a gaudy $94 plus tax in the morning, and $69 plus tax in the afternoon. A coupon in the Sunday Sarasota Herald Tribune gives a 50% discount on the rack rate (morning rate) at the Legacy Golf Club from Sunday to Thursday only.
The Arnold Palmer-designed Legacy Golf Course provides challenging golf at its best and may not be the prescription for beginning or high-handicap golfers. The fairways are intertwined with a natural preserve consisting of wetlands and grasslands, and are lined and dotted with tall pine trees and massive oaks. Water comes into play on almost every hole, and sand traps are everywhere, even in the middle of the fairway. The slopping greens are spacious and not as fast as might be expected.
The back championship black tees run a lengthy 7,067 yards with a rating of 73.7 and a slope of 143. And if you step down to the gold tees, it doesn't get much easier. The gold tees run 6,684 yards with a rating of 72.1 and a slope of 140. The silver tees, which most people play, run a reasonable 6,108 yards, with a rating of 69.6 and a still formidable slope of 134. And for those of you who are so humbled by the course, you'd dare tee off from the copper senior tees, don't expect much of a break.
The senior tees run only 5,465 yards, but the rating is 66.6 and the slope is a still arduous 129. And you ladies don't get much of a pass either. The jade ladies tees run 4,886 yards, with a rating of 68.2 and a slope of 125. So pick your poison and hope for the best.
The Legacy Golf Club was recently renovated (the front nine is now the back nine) and the scorecards do not have a map of each hole, nor are there pictures of the hole at the tee boxes. If you request one, they will give you a yardage book, but the book is an old one published before the redesign of the course.
Hole number one in the book is now number 10, and hole number 10 is now hole number one. That doesn't help too much for first time golfers on the 328-yard, par-4 hole number 2 (formerly hole number 11), when you expect a dogleg left and instead get a mean dogleg right. Because of a huge forest on the left side of the fairway, you can't see from the tee box that if you go to the left on your tee shot, your approach shot to the green on number 2 is instead an approach to a completely different green.
The good news is that if you know the change in holes in advance, just page through the yardage book starting at hole number 10 (really hole number one). Reverse this tactic after the front nine, and you have a decent chance of playing to within 10 strokes of your handicap.
The bottom line at the Legacy Golf Club is that it is a luxury golf course with a luxury golf course fee. The Legacy Golf Club is suited for those who can afford to pay the freight. But for the rest of us peons without the excess green cabbage in our bank accounts, there are several Sarasota/Bradenton golf courses almost as nice as the Legacy Golf Club for less than half the price; the Bobby Jones Golf Complex and the Foxfire Golf Club, just to name two.
If you really have the big bucks and are not afraid to spend it, the new Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota runs periodic golf schools at the Legacy Golf Club. The twoto five day Ritz Carlton/Legacy Golf Club golf package price includes breakfast and five hours of daily golf instruction. Also included is unlimited green and cart fees and unlimited range usage and bag storage.
All students at this school receive a 9 hole evaluation lesson on their day of arrival. And when you leave, they give you a video analysis of your swing and a custom take-home practice program. The teacher to student ratio runs from 2-1 to 4-1, so you'll be sure to get someone in the know tinkering with your hacks. The prices for the golf school package ranges from $1,299 to $2,399.
The tony 266-room Ritz Carlton, which opened on New Years Eve 2001, is astounding in its decor and its ambiance. Food lovers will certainly be pleased with the luxurious Verona Restaurant at the Ritz Carlton, which was named for the bygone El Verona Hotel, which was built on the same site as the Ritz Carlton in 1926.
Dishes at the Verona Restaurant include grilled baby rack of lamb, served with Provencale vegetables and white bean puree with rosemary lime jus. For fish lovers there is Snapper El Verona, which is Key West snapper with white shrimp, monkfish, scallops, mussels and clams in a saffron broth, with braised fennel and grilled potatoes.
For lunch, visit the Ritz Carlton's Bay View Bar & Grill, an outdoor restaurant which faces the blue/green waters of Sarasota Bay. The menu at Bay View Bar & Grill has a decided Caribbean influence. Try the Caribbean Sampler appetizer, which consists of Coconut Shrimp, Conch Fritters, Calamari, and Ahi Tuna served with Thai Curry Sauce, Tropical Salsa and Tamarind Tartare Dipping Sauces.
And for an after dinner drink, or just to soak up the scenery, stop in at the CĂ dâ' Zan Bar & Cigar Lounge, where you can puff on your $20 stogie without having someone in your face screaming about the effects of second hand smoke.
The CĂ dâ' Zan Bar & Cigar Lounge, which was inspired by circus giant John Ringling, has a stunning interior designed with hickory wood and warm beige and peach fabrics. And for those who care about this type of thing, “CĂ dâ' Zan” means “House of John” in Venetian dialect, and is the name of Mr. Ringling's bay front mansion in Sarasota, where the Robert DeNiro movie “Great Expectations” was filmed a few years back. The drink menu at the CĂ dâ' Zan features a sophisticated selection of signature martinis, which come at signature prices - 12 bucks a pop minimum.
But then again, if you're staying at the Ritz Carlton, money is probably not much of a problem anyway.
The Legacy Golf Club
8255 Legacy Blvd.
Bradenton, Florida 34202
Phone: (941) 907-7067
The Ritz Carlton
1111 Ritz-Carlton Drive
Sarasota, Florida 34236
Phone: (941) 309-2000
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
