The Highlands Golf Course

The Meadows in Sarasota, FL is a community unlike any other. The Meadows has three golf courses including two that are open to the public: The Groves, an 18-hole, par 65 course, and The Highlands, an 18-hole, par 72 golf course. The 3rd course is The Meadows Golf Course which is completely private.

The developer of The Meadows community, Frank Taylor, envisioned a community with strong social ties, and wide-open natural spaces that show a commitment to wildlife and ecology. A place where families and friends could build meaningful, lasting relationships with their neighbors. A community that becomes a recreational oasis for all. Lord Frank Taylor passed away in 1995 and never saw his dream become a reality. If only he could see The Meadows now.

Plans to build The Meadows development were approved by Sarasota County in 1974 and soon after that in 1976, Frank Duane, who had been the chief designer for Robert Trent Jones, designed what would be the first of three golf courses, The Meadows. Renowned golf course architect Ron Garl redesigned the course in 2004. In 2021, the Meadows again underwent a major renovation. Greens were rebuilt and sprigged, and bunkers were added, eliminated, and rebuilt. The result is a course that Is much more player friendly and challenging at the same time.

Although The Highlands Course hasn’t been open to the public for very long, the word is getting around about how challenging and picturesque it is. Highlands features fairways lined with mature oak trees and massive pines that lead to generous greens that will reward a well-played shot. Golfers can choose from 5 sets of tees. From the back tees, The Highlands plays 6,699 yards with a course rating of 72.6 and a slope of 128. The forward tees play 5,090 yards (69.7/122). It’s another course that can be played by just about anyone.

The 9th hole is a challenging par 5 that many golfers in the Sarasota area consider to be one of the toughest par 5s in the county. From the White Tees, the hole plays 497 yards, not long by par 5 standards, but the double dogleg created by the trees that line both sides will take the driver out of many players’ hands. Your best bet is to play your tee shot about 160 yards down the left side of the fairway to avoid being blocked out by several oak trees on the right side. A well-executed tee shot may leave an opportunity to go for the green, but you’ll have to deal with a creek that runs through the fairway about 100 yards in front of the green. Push your tee shot right and you’ll probably be blocked out by more trees. The green is small and slopes back to front.

It has been said that “Membership has its privileges,” and this holds true at The Meadows. Membership here includes access to all three golf courses: the private Members-only Meadows Course, the publicly accessible Highlands Course, and the executive-length Groves Course. That’s 54 holes of golf as well as 17 Har-Tru tennis courts, pickleball courts, a junior Olympic swimming pool, a fitness center, 2 restaurants, and 6 unique event spaces. With over 200 social events each year, educational programs, and recreational activities, The Meadows truly offers something for everyone. They also have a “Kids Play Free” program that helps families with aspiring young golfers and encourages practice and skill acquisition. The Staff of PGA professionals offer lessons, free clinics, and club fittings all year round, with beautiful practice areas to help take your game to the next level.

As a member of The Meadows, you’ll find a warm and welcoming staff and a club with a very active membership. The club is located in a beautiful and relaxing setting and is convenient and accessible to Sarasota’s downtown corridor and a bevy of residential and shopping centers including the University Town Center Mall.

During my visit to The Meadows, I met Gerry Dunnigan, who at the age of 97, is still an avid golfer. Gerry lives in The Meadows and has been a member for 23 years. He’s seen a lot over the years but seems to think that the course is in the best shape it’s been in a long time, and he looks forward to many more years of playing the game he loves.

The Meadows offers a diverse selection of Non-Equity memberships for year-round, seasonal, or summer enjoyment. To arrange a tour of the club, give Kat Wilhoit a call

thought the course was in very bad shape. Looks like they are not putting any money into upkeep. Cart paths were in very bad shape. Would not play this again.

Could be a decent course if they put some TLC into it. We showed up for a tee time on Friday morning ($93 for 18 and cart) and were met with a ton of signs saying “members only” which were on both the driving range and the actual practice putting green (i don’t know any sane person who would be a member at this course after playing it). Greens were an absolute joke in terms of how they were kept. Fairways just okay, . Total rip off for $93. Needs a new owner to revitalize the course and to let non-members use the range otherwise I’ll never go back and won’t recommend to anyone. Nice people running the place but they wrote down the wrong tee time for us when we called and were met with “your tee time is in an hour, not 15 minutes” when we clearly were supposed to be in the early one. Luckily they fit us in to our original one. Wont go back.

Rough looking greens but we’re fast & smooth for the most part. Bunkers were just - okay. Some fairways were good others were fair at best.

The greens on the front were not in good shape at all. The greens on the back nine were in much better condition. They had the front nine closed for months in the fall so that they could work on the greens. This leads me to the question.....what happened? I love the layout of the course and everything else about it, but those greens and some of the fairways need improvement.

The $100.00 cost to play Highland G.C. is not justifyable.. While they have done work on the front 9 holes, these same holes are fatigue-immature and not ready to play golf. The greens have been at best putting on hard rough surfaces, tee boxes are not prepared fairly and fairways are hard due to lack of watering them.

While the Highlands have done new work on the front nine holes, the fees of $100.00 is a disgrace to golfers. The front nine holes, the greens have yet to achieve maturity, tee boxes and some fairways need a fair amount of water to get them lush.. I have played 63 rounds of golf since Nov.15/22 over 10 different golf courses; Misty Creek-Heritage Harbour-Greenfield Plantation- Bent Tree- The Meadows-Renaissance-Sandpiper-Specter/Ibis--Highlands and Esplanade @Arizio. I do know what I am talking about.