Short Course is Coming into Focus at Bobby Jones Golf Course’s Restoration Project
Architect Richard Mandell turns his creativity into a links-like par-3 companion to the original Donald Ross design.
The sod has been installed around the greens, tee boxes are visible from Fruitville Road, and fine-tuning is underway on the front nine in preparation for sprigging the tees and the rest of the fairways all 18 greens. The golf course architect Richard Mandell, a Pinehurst, North Carolina-based architect, is currently focusing on the Gillespie Course nine-hole “adjustable” par-3 course across Circus Boulevard from the golf club’s main entrance at Azinger Way.
“The short course will be composed largely of native sand areas and grass, resembling a links-style course. Low handicappers will have a lot of fun and still make it playable for junior and senior golfers,” says Mandell in an interview with Sarasota Observer reporter Andrew Warfield.
The main attraction, though, will be the original Bobby Jones Golf Course, designed by Donald Ross in 1925. In 2022, the Sarasota City Commissioners agreed to renovate the original 18-hole Donald Ross Golf Course, create an additional 9-hole short course, and build a new clubhouse and restaurant – but also to put in place a conservation easement that will permanently protect the land from future development. Over half the site will be a future home to a 100+ acre nature park adjacent to the municipal golf course.
Content and graphics from the Sarasota Observer, Bobby Jones Gold Course, and Herald-Tribune