Rotonda Golf and Country Club

Julie was the dining manager and wedding coordinator for my wedding yesterday. She was absolutely wonderful and turned the wedding venue into a paradise. She even had her staff wear Hawaiian shirts! My guests said the food and service was outstanding. Would highly recommend!!

During my 10 years of living in SW Florida, I was always under the impression that Rotonda Golf & Country Club was a private club. It wasn’t until my sister moved there that I discovered that the public was welcome to play it, too. In the few times I’ve played it since then, I’ve always had a great time. The courses are always in good condition, they are challenging, and priced right, and the staff is friendly and helpful. The Rotonda West community is located in southwest Charlotte County, Florida, less than a mile from the Gulf of Mexico, and Englewood Beach. It is a deed-restricted community that is home to over 15,000 residents. The community has an interesting shape to it when looked at from an aerial view; it’s perfectly round, with 7 pie-shaped wedges cut into it. Each wedge is a separate community - Oakland Hills, Pebble Beach, Pinehurst, Long Meadow, White Marsh, and Pine Valley. The eighth wedge is wetlands and preserves which is helpful for irrigation of all the courses. Each community has a golf course running through it, so if you live there, you’re never too far from the golf course! All of the homes and home sites front either a golf course, greenbelt, or body of water. The Rotonda Golf & Country Club features 99 holes of golf across its five courses, designed by 5 renowned architects: Pete Dye, Ted McAnlis, John LaFoy, D.J. DeVictor, and Jim Petrides. Long Marsh has 27 holes and is considered Rotonda’s premier course; it’s also rated its toughest. Long Marsh was designed by Ted McAnlis. Rotonda Golf & Country Club has been awarded a “Beginner Friendly Certification” from the National Golf Course Owners Association and numerous accolades from the Charlotte Sun Herald. The Long Marsh Golf Course is the centerpiece of all five golf courses at Rotonda Golf & Country Club. The course winds through 450 acres of natural Florida scrub and each of Long Marsh’s 27 holes has a distinctive character, making it unlike any other course in the area. Gently rolling fairways are framed by native pine, oak, and palm trees with natural waste bunkers, lakes, and marshes that add to the intrigue. What you see is what you get; there are no blind shots or hidden hazards. Number 6 on the Pine Valley nine is probably the most interesting hole of all 99. From the White Tees it plays 350 yards and doglegs around a small lake; fairway bunkers dot the landscape in the landing area. Longball hitters can take their tee shot over the water straight at the green. Anything left of the green will most likely not be seen again. Bunkers front both sides of the green which slopes gently from back to front. It’s a good risk-reward hole. The Palms was the second golf course built at Rotonda. With five sets of tees, there’s a yardage suitable for every level of golfer. The Palms’ five finishing holes have been astounding golfers ever since. These five holes bring six different water hazards into play and feature several multi-tiered greens. Number 16 is a 492-yard par 5 with more water on the right side off the tee. There’s room to bail out left this time, just before the dogleg. A good drive down the right side may allow you to cut the dogleg and go for the green but beware, there’s more water to the left of the green. A single sand trap sits on the left side between the water and the long, narrow green. Golfers and residents alike flock to the Rotonda Hills Restaurant; the public is invited on Wednesdays and Fridays for dinner and on Sundays for breakfast. Their specialty is made-from-scratch dishes with new food and drink specials each week, You can see their menu online. Should you find yourself playing at Rotonda more and more because of the great golf and friendly staff, you may want to consider becoming a member. A membership at Rotonda gives you access to all 99 holes of golf, free range balls, advanced tee time booking, and a 10% discount on pro shop merchandise.

I must say I have been impressed with the efforts of ownership and management to bring the golf courses back to respectability. We as golfers want the courses we patronize to first be staffed with friendly, caring people and secondly have a decent lie in the fairway if we're fortunate enough to hit the fairway and lastly once we reach the green we'd like to have a chance to make a putt using our skills. Other than Long Marsh, that has not been the case of late. However, I now know why and what I see is a concerted effort on the part of ownership and staff to remedy the issues at hand caused by sea spray during multiple hurricanes. I am A PGA Member and having spent nearly half a century owning and managing golf courses i know all too well how hard it is to make it work and work profitably - after all, business owners aren't in business to lose money. The damage the Rotonda Golf Courses endured during last years multiple hurricanes both structurally and financially has been unprecedented. Ownership has "doubled down" on their investment and are headed in the right direction. That's important to me as a consumer to see because nobody wants to spend hard earned money on undeserving retail establishments. Rotonda Golf Courses absolutely deserve our patience and understanding and lastly our patronage. It won't take too long if we're willing to support our wonderful golf courses to see them once again back in great shape and something we can all be proud of. If we abandon these five courses we will almost assuredly lose them and then what will we be left with? On a side note....... please keep your golf carts at least 10-15 yards away from greens and tee boxes, and don't drive over, under and around cart traffic ropes; of course also....DON'T CUT THE ROPES IN ORDER TO ALLOW CLOSER PARKING PROXIMITY. DON'T YOU WANT PLAY ON GRASS INSTEAD OF DIRT/SAND TO PLAY A CHIP OR APPROACH SHOT? Zachary Fink