Course designer Ted McAnlis must have wanted to see how Mother Nature would have designed a golf course. So he created The Preserve Golf Club with the most minimal of interruption to its natural environment. It was like placing holes in the Bradenton wetlands, and everything else imaginable was left as is. And the result was quite surreal. This is the closest a golf vacation could get to an authentic and untouched Florida environment.

The course is all 7,000 yards of pristine wetlands terrain from the longest tees, playing for a par of 72. As is characteristic of a Florida golf vacation destination, water is an ever present feature. On this particular course, there are a total of 52 lakes, and 9 holes of the 18 has water making direct interference, so to speak. On the rest, water is still present, but a lot easier to handle. On top of that is a lush growth of native vegetation including tall pines, old oaks and an abundance of natural wildlife define this course’s being a nature ‘preserve’. These make up the excellent, fun-challenge that is The Preserve Golf Club.

If there is anything that makes one realize that this is not at all purely organic, it could be the 11 little bridges strewn all over the course. But that is not saying they are unwanted and out of place. On the contrary, these bridges are a most perfect accessory to the nature-themed golf course. To say the least, The Preserve Golf Club is a superb combination of human genius and earth’s bounty. This one is for those golf trips that bring golfers to an encounter with nature.