Esplanade Golf & Country Club at Lakewood Ranch

One of the best courses in the area. Has a great practice area, if you have time for food and drinks the tiki bar is a most. I’m sad to say it but I have a feeling once all the homes are finished this will be a private members only course.

No question that this is one of the best courses in Sarasota

Used promo plus "Hot Deal" which made teeing off around 2:00 PM on a 90 degree day more than tolerable. However, course could not have been in better condition for this time of year and we finished in just under 3.5 hours. Esplanade is one of the better maintained courses in the Bradenton/Sarasota area and should be enjoyed now while it's still open to the public.

Played Esplanade with a friend and had a good day. Course is pretty open off the tee and the greens were rolling very well. Course is always in great shape and a nice practice area for a good warm up so arrive early to enjoy it.

Great course & great place to practice putting, chipping, pitching, sand shots and driving on a driving range. I like that range balls were included.

Course overall is nice. But for the money, it doesn't hold a candle to courses like Sarasota National or Riverwood which you can get at a much better price. For the same price you can play Lakewood National which is much better value and course.

On another note the course Marshall thought that playing at a 4 hour 10 minutes pace was too slow.

I first played the course a year ago and it was in much better condition than now, although the course is in good shape it played better then. The greens are a little slow but for the most part run true. Everyone is helpful and courteous. I'm surprised they don't have GPS which sucks because my #Garmin watch won't pick up the course. I do recommend the course, my one gripe is the difference in the tees, the tips are 6700 and the next set are 6100 so we played the par 3's from the tips.

It's unfortunate that I have to leave a review like this because I feel this could be one of - if not the - best public courses in the Sarasota area if not for the poor greens.

The good/great :
Practice facilities are TOP notch.
Water, ice, towels, all complementary and readily available
Course marshals have always been helpful with info on my first round here as well as bringing ice and towels on hot days.
So well maintained - great bunkers, great and generous fairways, great green complexes and design.
Well marked

The bad :
This is the big problem - 8.5 at best on the Stimp meter - probably closer to 8 or less. Mid and low handicappers who are decent putters can't stand slow greens. I couldn't sink anything further than 4' because I'd leave it short or have to hit it so hard that it'd get off line. Like putting through mud. I thought this may be due to some rain, but the group I was with plays here weekly for the past few years and said they are almost always this slow. I played another nearby course on my trip and the greens were much faster with presumably the same amount of rain.

Double Verticut, double roll, and give them a good trim guys.. it's really disappointing to have such a great course that rewards good shots and isn't overly punishing on misses to have such mediocre green speeds.

They are great greens aside from the speed, but that makes them even worse than the recently punched fast greens I played on at another course.

My only other complaint is, the marshal gently scolded us twice about being several holes behind the group in front of us. Here is my issue with that:
1.) Our group was 4 - the group in front of us was a 3 some and teed off early for their tee time. I presume they played fast and didn't have anyone directly in front of them when they started. The group behind us was also a 3.

2.) Your pin sheets conveniently show the times you should be on the green or finishing the hole - our group was ALWAYS on or ahead of that time. We finished our round with a suggested time of 4h - in 3h45m yet we were gently scolded twice about our pace of play. Don't do that crap. Instruct your marshals on how to read a groups tee time and how to do math to figure out where they should be on the course.

I really love your course. Speed your greens up at least 10.5+ and teach your marshals how to add hours and minutes and you'd easily .. easily take the best course in the area.

Played the course back to back on the 15th and 16th. Well layer out and the course overall in great condition. Greens ran true and were relatively fast. Lots of trouble off the tees (bunkers and water).
Pace was great early morning as I finished in just over 3 hrs both days.

Staff in the shop friendly and the starter and marshals were very great.

Good value for dollar paid.

Love this course. Beautiful shape, long and forgiving (well not true if you’re a bomber be careful if you’re 300+ as I hit through a lot of fairways with great drives) as long as you’re not in the strategically placed traps. We played this course only on a hot deal option because it’s honestly too rich for my blood. When in season it’s prices drive us Local’s off the course unless you’re rich, $6.75 for a hot dog... greens are lush but quite slow and don’t expect to see them break. Hit it at it firm. I’ll always go back when it’s a special but can’t afford this place otherwise. Also if you’re not a member you can expect to walk 300 yards to where you have to park, regardless if there’s only 16 cars in the other lot. Get there early and enjoy the free range. Make sure you get water or Gatorade as there was no refreshment cart or water to drink that we saw. Not cool for August in Florida. Play it while it’s hot & cheap unless you got big bucks. Other options are Lakewood National that’s completely different locally. The funniest part is be prepared to drive through neighborhoods that every single house is the exact same model. You can get lost easily and note the pro shop is on Malachite dr NOT Esplanade as GolfNow routes you to the wrong address.

First I agree with the previous reviewer slow greens . You are also treated like a 2nd class citizen upon arrival you are told twice to park at the tennis court lot once by guard and then at the bag drop. I have played many better and high end county clubs in over 50 yr., and this is a first, a residents only lot, WOW. A turn off & Snobbish !!

Course in excellent condition. Generous landing areas on most holes. Ranger marked up a yardage book for me while I was hitting a few balls that was very useful for play. So kind of him. Will definitely continue to play this course.

Can’t get a refund on a rainout,Golf now is terrible. Was on range and lightning and rain came in,went inside to ask about refund and was told contact Golf now,apparently it was after the tee time and no way to contact anyone! Great course but don’t ever book with Golf now,refunds are near impossible.

Fairways and greens in great shape.
Have played this course multiple times and it is always in consistently great shape.