Key Club golf course renovations begin

There are bulldozers and mounds of dirt on the Islandside golf course instead of golfers and golf balls.

Scheduled renovations this summer for the Longboat Key Club’s Islandside golf course have begun.

Longboat Key Club Director of Communications Sandra Rios said the golf course renovations include:
• All greens being re-sodded with drought-resistant paspalum grass.
• The redesign of six greens.
• The restoration of 12 greens to their original size.
• An upgraded irrigation system.
• The reconfiguration and/or removal of certain sand traps

The Islandside golf course will re-open for play on June 23.

The Harbourside golf course will then close June 24 so both the Red Hawk and Blue Heron courses can be re-sodded, from tee to green, with paspalum grass. The Harbourside golf course is expected to re-open in early October.

Since Ocean Properties purchased the Longboat Key Club in November 2012, it has invested more than $4 million around the property, including a renovated spa, other golf course upgrades, new pool patio furniture and new menus at restaurants among other upgrades.

“The capital resources this company is putting back into this club and this Key in general is phenomenal,” said Key Club General Manager Jeff Mayers in November 2013. “They are standing behind their investments and making them better for this community.”

Last year, Ocean Properties spent approximately $700,000 on golf course renovations alone, which included newly redesigned tee boxes and fairways, new golf carts and new golf locker rooms.

Rios said the Key Club does not have this year’s golf course renovation cost estimates available at this time.

Ocean Properties also has plans to close its Longboat Key Hilton Beachfront Resort property at the end of May for a $24 million renovation and expansion project.

Ocean Properties also owns Lido Beach Resort, the Lido Key Holiday Inn and the Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach among other properties.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].