- October 19, 2022
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Since its founding in 1915, Myakka City has been known for its ranchlands.
It could soon be known as a top-tier golf destination.
Soleta Golf Club, located at 33720 Singletary Road, held an official opening Dec. 10.
The par-72, 18-hole course was designed by World Golf Hall of Famer Nick Price and the 30-acre practice facility has been created by David Leadbetter, a golf instructor who helped guide players to 26 Major Championships.
“I think Nick had the best golf course in Florida at McArthur (Golf Club in Hobe Sound), and now I think we have the best golf course in Florida,” Membership and Sales Director Alan Pope said. “He’s done as good of a job as I’ve seen. I think people are going to love it.”
It didn't take long for Soleta Golf Club to go from an idea to a reality.
Last December, project developers David Turner, John Galt and Charles Duff joined with Price and Leadbetter to break ground.
“We were sitting with everyone here, basically in a barn with the cow pasture, and a vision to build a fantastic, special and unique place, ” Turner said. “A year later, we are very pleased to actually have this hard work pay off with what we think is a fantastic course.”
Though the team met its projected timeline of opening in a one-year timeframe, Mother Nature did its best to make that a challenge.
Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton caused some disruptions in construction, but ultimately didn’t delay the project’s completion.
“I think they viewed it as a labor of love, it all kind of came to jell together,” Duff said of golf course contractor Heritage Links, and Price and Leadbetter. “Despite the frustrations and the setbacks, they were able to kind of grind through it.”
There is still some work to be done.
The eventually golf community aligned with the new course will include several facilities, including a pool, spa, fitness center, golf performance center, pro shop, golf cottages, tennis and pickleball courts, and clubhouses for golf, aquatics and racquet sports.
The next phase of facilities and the first houses are planned to be ready by the fall of 2025, with the permanent clubhouse and the rest of facilities to be completed in late 2026 to early 2027.
Soleta is the name indigenous Native Americans had for sandhill cranes, and the course features a robust amount of wildlife, from alligators and snakes to deer, bobcats, Florida panthers, armadillos, fish and several species of birds.
The developers said they made sure to sustain the existing environment through the design of the course.
There will be no homes lining the golf course, with the 93 custom homes built by John Cannon Homes and Anchor Builders — with a starting price point estimated at $3 million — to be constructed at the northern end of the community.
Native areas and wetlands are the backdrop of the course, with white sugar sand a prominent feature on most holes.
During construction, 2,000 trees and plants were relocated to a nursery and then replanted on the course. Everything on the course — including the sand — came from the original site with the exception of the golf course grass, which was brought in from Sebring.
The preservation of the natural environment was a focus, something that was especially important to Duff, whose dad, also Charles Duff, lived on Singletary Road in the 1980s.
“It’s a special area to me personally,” he said.
Soleta Golf Club has been designed to be a course that players of all skill levels can enjoy.
The ‘Nick Price Black’ tees make the course 7,415 yards, but the front tees are set at 5,145 yards (Green tees) and 5,805 yards (White tees).
Some tee complexes on the course are free-form and as long as 120 yards, which means that golfers can tee up in a variety of spots to change the way they attack each hole — depending on the pin location, wind and each golfer’s skill level.
Another unique aspect of Soleta’s design is that there is virtually no rough on the course. But that’s only due to the vast amount of waste bunkers that line many of the fairways.
Much of the course design was inspired by links golf.
“Golf is two games,” Price said. “One is in the air and one on the ground. And for the longest time, we’ve put too much emphasis on the game in the air. All of the great links courses that are still going now allow the person to run the ball onto the green, and that’s what I tried to do here.
“It’s different. I haven’t seen anything quite like it so far.”
Golfers who simply want to work on their game will have a chance to do so with a top-of-the-line practice facility.
Top Tracer technology gives players the chance to see exactly how they hit their shots on the driving range. Chipping greens provide several different types of angles and situations.
And the putting green features several different types of undulations and slopes so that players can be prepared for any kind of putt they might encounter.
“We know that people do love to practice, and so we’re going to have a great instructional program,” Leadbetter said. “We have a great team here to help you extricate yourself from some of these lies that you may get in the sandy areas.”
Soleta Golf Club is setting its membership limit at 275 local members and 100 national members. Currently, they have around 170 members, Pope said.
Membership initiation fees are set at $100,000 for local members and $50,000 for national members, who would be more limited in their play than local members.
