Islandside golf course undergoes renovations

The Longboat Key Club is reshaping the Islandside golf course in more ways than one. This summer, the course has seen a name change and is undergoing renovations.

The course, which owner Ocean Properties Ltd. recently renamed the Links on Longboat, is replacing the course’s grass with saltwater-resistant platinum paspalum sod.

The browning of the grass Longboaters see when they drive by on Gulf of Mexico Drive, Resort at Longboat Key Club spokeswoman Sandra Rios said, is the result of a “re-grassing process.”

“The old grass needs to be stripped before laying the sod,” Rios said. “This summer we will be rebuilding and enlarging the tee surfaces and the fairway bunkers and adding areas of native plantings to recapture the beach feel on the course.”

The golf course is set to reopen Labor Day weekend.

The renovations are a culmination of several improvements Ocean Properties began a year ago on both the Islandside and Harbourside courses.

Last year a wall-to-wall irrigation system was installed to better manage allotment of water at the Islandside course. Twenty acres of greens complexes were redesigned and a brand new signature par-three hole was created. 

The Harbourside course had 36 holes re-grassed on the Blue Heron and Red Hawk courses last year. The courses were also sodded with platinum paspalum grass.

“The new grass demonstrates the best possible playing conditions while utilizing the high salts in our irrigation water,” Rios said.

Renovations costs for the courses were not disclosed. 

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].