Rosedale Country Club

When renowned golf architect Ted McAnlis, formerly a member of the Fazio staff, was offered the opportunity to create an 18-hole championship golf course at Rosedale, he had several goals in mind. Among these was to keep the natural surroundings intact, weave fairways and greens through the existing Florida forest and add in water and sand on many holes. Ultimately, the answer to the question "Did he succeed?" is a resounding yes! Rosedale is not your typical flat, boring, Florida course. Unlike most golf courses in the area, Rosedale features holes that have mounding and undulation in the fairways. It's very likely that during your round at Rosedale you will face...an uneven lie!

This is definitely not the longest course you will ever play. Rosedale measures 6,714 from the back tees, with a course rating of 72.8 and a slope rating of 138. There's an 8-acre driving range to put in the necessary practice time. There is also a chipping area and putting green for fine tuning the lesser practiced aspects of the game.

Memorable Holes:

Number 1: Par 4, 380 yards. As you step up to the first tee, you are immediately faced with a choice; driver or three wood off the tee? Should you choose to bomb it, you will need to carry some trees on the right to cut off the corner of the dogleg. Not that it can't be done but the safe play here is a three wood, hybrid, or long iron. A strategically placed tee shot (by that I mean the left side of the fairway) will leave about 150 yards to a two tiered green. This hole can provide a jump start to a good round.
Number 2: Par 4, 422 yards. This dogleg right requires a somewhat lengthy tee shot over water. A good drive will leave about 140 yards to a large, slightly elevated green that features a lot of undulation. Par here is a good score.

Number 3: Par 4, 353 yards. Don't let the length of this hole fool you; hit a bad tee shot and you can expect a high number. Your tee shot is everything on this hole. It's a slight dogleg right that features out of bounds (houses) to the left and water the entire length of the fairway on the right. If that's not enough, a fairly deep fairway bunker awaits on the left side for errant tee shots. Mounding in the fairways can also leave some uneven, not-so-typical Florida type lies. The green is slightly elevated and depending upon pin placement can be a tough two putt.

Number 12: Par 5, 523 yards. Depending on which set of tees you are playing, this is either one of the longest holes on the course or one of the shortest. From the white tees, it plays only 467 yards making it shorter than par 4s I have played! Emphasis here is on straightness, it's a fairly narrow hole with only a couple of bunkers. If you are playing from the up tees, this is a great birdie opportunity; if you can hit it straight.

Number 17: Par 3, 210 yards. Water on this hole should not come into play, yet for so many, it does. This long par 3 plays uphill and has sand traps guarding both the front left and front right side of the green. The green slopes right to left and features a lot of undulation. Anything on the left side of the green is going to roll down and quite possibly off the green.

The Last Word:

Although Rosedale is a semi-private club and is available in the "off peak" months through many of the Sarasota/Bradenton online tee sheets. The mounding and undulations in the fairway is something you don't often find in Florida and is reminiscent of northern courses. If you have the chance to play Rosedale, my advice is to take it. You can visit them online at www.rosedalegcc.com or give them a call at 941-753-6200.