Community opens course

EAST COUNTY — Only the occasional chatter between friends and the whoosh of golf clubs could be heard last week at the newest golf course in East County.

Residents of the Esplanade Golf and Country Club at Lakewood Ranch can now enjoy their own course, one in which every community member maintains membership.

To officially introduce the course to residents and the public, the new pro shop, stationed at the entrance of the course, hosted a grand opening celebration Feb. 15.

Event participants could view the golf course, as well as eight new model homes, during the event.

Individuals who live in Esplanade will pay annually for the option to use the 18-hole course — the first to be constructed in Manatee and Sarasota counties since 2007.

“This is exciting for us and the residents,” Esplanade General Manager Scott Lamoureaux said. “We want Esplanade to be the best there is and to give residents that value without them having to pay a lot.”

The addition fosters a vacation getaway-feel for individuals who live in the community; it is part of five new features to be constructed over the next few years.

Construction on a pool-side tiki bar and a larger building at which residents can enjoy meals before and after teeing off will begin soon, Lamoureaux said.

“We want to ... create resort-style living for our residents,” Lamoureaux said. “We want living here to be like being on a cruise ship.”

DID YOU KNOW
The course is home to thousands of plants, which vary in type and color.

Hole No. 4 — a par three — serves as the course’s “signature hole,” because of the scenic view of hundreds of flowers growing nearby, and the surprise changes in incline that golfers may not see at first glance.

All residents of Esplanade are golf-course members, and all members are residents.

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].