Boca Royale completes golf course reconstruction, clubhouse renovations

Recently completed amenity and golf course renovations at Boca Royale Golf & Country Club in Wellen Park are anything but “par for the course.” Elevating the membership experience, the all-encompassing improvements reimagined the clubhouse, pools, restaurants, bar and pro shop and added an expansive outdoor dining pavilion. Headed by renowned golf course architect Gordy Lewis, the community’s 18-hole semi-private championship course was renovated with new tees, greens and fairways, along with new irrigation. The course now features white-sand bunkers, coquina shell waste areas, coquina cart paths, expanded tee options and tee-to-green seashore paspalum grass, revered for its exceptional play and verdant dark green hue.

Renovations also doubled the lakeside racquet club’s lighted pickleball courts to eight and resurfaced its six lighted Hyrdo-Grid clay tennis courts. The new section of pickleball courts received a new shade structure, and all existing shade structures at the pickleball court and tennis courts were updated to new canopies and all posts were repainted. All the tables and chairs under the shade structures were also replaced.

“Our members and residents are thrilled with the clubhouse renovations, expanded facilities and the golf course reconstruction,” said Doug Foote, general manager of Boca Royale Golf & Country Club. “They say it’s like belonging to a new club but with the same friendly hospitality and gracious customer service they’ve come to expect.”

Overlooking the picturesque golf course, Boca Royale’s elegant golf clubhouse provides a variety of renovated dining options, including fine dining in the sun-filled Fairway Dining Room, casual fare and a full-service bar in The 19th Hole and the new outdoor pavilion under a green-and-white canopy. New decor features a tropical palette of greens and blues, wood flooring, carpeting and elegant restrooms.

With its boutique ambience, the renovated pro shop now includes new lines of men’s and women’s apparel along with accessories and equipment.

While the golf course and its dining venues are open to the public, Boca Royale residents enjoy a private experience at The Resort, offering a resort-inspired pool with lap lanes, a spa, shaded cabanas, a clubroom and a fitness center with state-of-the-art cardio and weight-training equipment.

Overseen by golf course superintendent Keith Welter, the course’s new par-71 layout spans just over 6,600 yards from the back tees and features all-new green complexes with manicured collection areas and runoffs to challenge golfers of all skills, the new turf and coquina waste areas, white-sand bunkers and over five acres of tees with seven different tee positions. Water factors into many shots, often wrapping around tees while palms and live oaks enhance its beauty.

“The new course is very walker-friendly and visually stunning from almost every tee box,” said Welter. “The new greens complexes are a tribute to old-school architecture and feature subtle undulations with deep bunkering and several falloffs and collection areas, giving the golfer several challenges and options.”

The redesign eliminated half of the original bunkers, added a new 10,000-square-foot short game practice facility with a two-tier chipping and putting green, and doubled the size of the driving range. It also included new irrigation and control systems and expanded cart paths to all 18 holes, some paved, some with crushed coquina shells.

Created by award-winning and family-owned Neal Communities, Boca Royale is a 1,000-acre new-home community offering move-in ready and under-construction twin villas and single-family homes starting from $410,990. The community is minutes from Manasota Key Beach, Downtown Wellen, CoolToday Park and south Sarasota’s many attractions.

            For more information about new homes and membership opportunities, visit Boca Royale at 1601 Englewood Road in Englewood, call 941-475-6464 or go to bocaroyale.com.