Saltleaf Golf Preserve - The Preserve

Raptor Bay, the predecessor, was one of my favorite public courses I’ve ever played. It was something to look forward to every time I came down to SWF. I played both the par 3 and full 18. Par three was a solid warmup, gave you a good taste at how the greens would play and that’s a great amenity. Shortly after playing the par three I was looking forward to taking some long iron, wood and driver swings at the range. Raptor bay had a massive grass practice facility that was one of the best in the area. Now that is overgrown and you are left with a 80 yard netted range that the pro shop thinks is “adequate”. Knowing this course during peak season is ~$250 a round that sadly not warranted. I remember hearing they wanted to charge $400 a round when they were starting to tear up Raptor Bay. At the start of the round you tee off on the front to a fairly challenging and interesting layout, that I enjoyed. I was excited and had a great time. Little did I know how poor this layout turned out to be. Soon you are met with a mess of a back 9 that made little sense. You tee off on 10 and then need to drive a quarter mile to 11. 11-17 are comparable to your local municipal course. Little challenge or penalty for a bad shot. It really left me in a state of utter disappointment knowing the prestige this course once had. If that is not bad enough, you then need to drive the quarter mile back to 18 to finish your round, smack dab in the middle of two fairways from the other side of the course. For $100 it’s not a terrible round, but I would not spend a dime more. Too many other great public courses with better layouts in the area to warrant it. Hopefully some changes are made in the future.

Bottom line, good conditions and a decent value for $100 but it really should not be more expensive than that. You’ll enjoy the round. One other point would be the tee boxes make no sense. The tips play at 7000, the blues in the 6200 range and the whites at 5800. Need some tee boxes in between these yardages. I’ll be back but only when the price is right.

Wonderful
Enjoyed a great day with great friends.
Course was in absolutely perfect condition, and the staff made it an even more enjoyable experience !
Thank you 😊

I wanted very much for Saltleaf to be exceptional , but it really isn’t . The greens can be challenging, as many are crowned or have significant slope . The back nine layout is very repetitive and offers very few unusual Fairways . It felt at times that you were teeing off on the same hole over and over . As much is new , several growth years are needed to add anything visually interesting to the course . Given the price point , I think better alternatives exist in the greater Naples area.

I’d played the former Raptor Bay several years ago. I feel the overall condition of the course was better. The greens are still very firm but rolled pretty well. The consistency from green to green pace wise was off. But under the circumstances i didn’t have a big issue with it. It just is not a $200/$190/$180 course. It is overpriced.

Enjoyed the course, layout is fantastic. Large fairways but challenging course. Would recommend to anyone.

The only thing this is missing is a practice facility that reflects the quality of the course. Hitting into a net of 50 yards on mats is brutal. Everything else is great.

Excellent course but like all Naples public golf...well overpriced.

Played this course several times due to lack of public courses around Naples, excessive greens fees for very average course with no amenities. Place shuts down at 6 pm all doors locked !!!
Starter and his cohort on April 5th at 3 o clock. Was a total jerk !!!!!!!!! Too much to get into here but should be fiired !!!
This is a case where the previous course name was Raptor Bay and was a tremendous value and course with a great staff !! .purchased , modified and ruined. New owner is probably clueless on the issues that will continue to destroy the future of his course. I would never recommend this course to anyone !!!

This course used to be Raptor Bay. Was good then. Much improved now with new ownership. The holes are now much different and the greens are firm and run well. They have a short term range in place which is adequate. Good putting greens. Clubhouse has a good place for food and drinks after to round out the experience.