The Whitfield Estates development (the original name of the club) recruited Donald Ross in early 1925 to lay out an 18-hole course as the centerpiece of a planned resort community with hotel, yacht basin and residential lots. The club opened in 1926, and within weeks hosted the highly publicized Bobby Jones vs. Walter Hagen 72-hole challenge, with the first 36 holes played at Whitfield on February 28, 1926—a promotional coup that tied the course to the era’s two most famous golfers.
The Depression forced changes in ownership and identity but not in the underlying Ross design. In 1938 the club became North Shore Country Club; in 1940 it was renamed Sarasota Bay Country Club, reflecting the shoreline; by 1964 the name had been shortened to Sara Bay Country Club, which remains today. During that same early-Forties period the course, along with Sarasota’s municipal Bobby Jones course, co-hosted the Senior PGA Championship in 1940 and 1941, won by Otto Hackbarth and Jack Burke, Sr.
Late-20th-century renovations (pre-restoration) altered many green contours and mowing lines and introduced more water edge into play, softening or obscuring several of Ross’s intended optical cues. In 2018, under Kris Spence, the club undertook a course-wide restoration guided by Ross’s 1926 drawings and period imagery. The program rebuilt greens to recapture lost perimeter, reset bunkers to historic lines (often elevating fairway bunkers to restore visibility), and re-introduced the optical foreshortening Ross used to manipulate depth and trajectory. The course re-opened for play in October 2018. In 2022, Spence returned to complete a greenside bunker rebuild across the course, continuing the historically grounded work.
Unique Design Characteristics
On this low-lying Florida site, Ross concentrated the fight at the greens and at line-governing hazards—a pattern now legible again after restoration:
Optical bunkering & foreshortening: The eleventh features “a series of bunkers 25+ yards short of the green,” intentionally set to distort depth perception from the fairway; the restored sand now does that job again.
Creek-fronted targets and angled carries: The eighth is a picturesque par-3 fronted by a creek with a guarding bunker left; the twelfth likewise requires a creek crossing into a green that tilts back-to-front—classic Ross on this property, using modest water and green pitch rather than embankments.
Risk-reward par-5s with precise lay-up asks: The ninth tempts long hitters to challenge fairway bunkers and O.B. for a chance to reach in two; the eighteenth is a dogleg-right par 5 with a creek ~50 yards short of the green that fixes the lay-up decision.
Restored bunker cadence and visibility: Spence’s 2018 work elevated fairway bunkers throughout to bring them back into the player’s eye. On the seventh, the restored array presents “eight bunkers stepping down” each side—hazards that read from the tee and pull the drive toward (or away from) the proper approach angle.
Green surface variety recovered from prior crowning: Before restoration, several greens had become severely crowned, leaving few usable hole locations; the 2018 rebuild reclaimed edge plateaus and interior contours described on Ross’s drawings, returning the “placement-over-power” character of the approach.
Clearest surviving Ross expressions today—because they combine original siting with restored, plan-documented intent—include 11 (short bunkers/optics), 8 and 12 (creek interactions with clear Ross-style front-to-back control), 9 and 18 (par-5 risk-reward framed by bunkers and water), and 7 (bunker cadence and visibility). These holes demonstrate the strategic language Ross used here: govern the line from the tee, then demand exact landing-spot control into subtly perched targets.
Historical Significance
Sara Bay is a touchstone of Ross’s Florida land-boom work and of the promotional synergy between real-estate development and elite golf in the 1920s. The Jones–Hagen exhibition on opening (Feb. 28, 1926) placed Whitfield/Sara Bay in national headlines and, according to the club’s own history and contemporary reporting, Jones later described the course in glowing terms. The course’s role as co-host of the Senior PGA Championship in 1940–41 (under its North Shore/Sarasota Bay names) and as an LPGA Sarasota Open venue in 1952–54 underlines its status as a capable championship test. In the modern era, the club’s Symetra Tour run (2012–2017) and recurring USGA/FSGA qualifiers show that, even at ~7,000 yards, the design scales through contour, angles, and wind rather than sheer length.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing and yardage. The course remains an 18-hole Ross routing, with contemporary back-tee totals of ~7,000 yards at par 72. Changes in length have been achieved by tee work within original corridors rather than wholesale re-routing.
Greens. All putting surfaces were rebuilt in 2018 to Ross’s 1926 geometry (as documented on original drawings) to reverse prior “crowning” that had reduced effective hole locations. Recaptured perimeters re-exposed false-front behaviors and edge plateaus, and new grassing improved firmness and speed consistency.
Bunkers and fairway presentation. The restoration reset, elevated, and reshaped bunkers to historic positions and scales; in 2022 the club finished a greenside bunker rebuild, further refining edge profiles and sand-line visibility. Fairway and surround mowing was adjusted so short grass runs into many green complexes, keeping the ground game alive.
Water and corridors. Several creeks and interior lakes influence line and lay-up decisions (e.g., 8, 12, 18). Tree management over the last decade has opened airflow and width in key corridors without sacrificing specimen framing, aligning agronomy with the design’s intended firmness.
Facilities and competitive use. The club maintains an active practice range program and regularly appears on state and national qualifying calendars; the interactive scorecard and course-restoration pages document ongoing master-planning to steward Ross elements forward.
Sources & Notes
Sara Bay CC — “History” (official). Commissioning in 1925; opening in 1926; Jones–Hagen match (Feb. 28, 1926); name changes (North Shore 1938; Sarasota Bay 1940; Sara Bay 1964); Senior PGA co-hosting 1940–41; LPGA Sarasota Open 1952–54; Symetra Tour 2012–2017; 2018 Spence-led restoration using original blueprints.
Sara Bay CC — “Interactive Scorecard” (official). Hole-by-hole yardages and notes; total back-tee yardage 7,012; specific features (e.g., 11 bunkers 25+ yards short of the green; 8 fronted by creek; 9 risk-reward par-5; 18 creek ~50 yards short).
Golf Course Architecture (Richard Humphreys), “Sara Bay reopens following restoration of Donald Ross course” (Oct. 12, 2018). 2018 restoration scope and intent; use of 1926 Ross drawings; bunker visibility (elevated fairway bunkers); No. 7 “eight bunkers stepping down” each side.
Golf Course Architecture (news), “Kris Spence rebuilds greenside bunkers at Sara Bay” (Sept. 6, 2022). Follow-on work completing greenside bunker rebuilds; Spence quotations on Ross’s involvement and the greens’ creativity.
Club home & golf pages (official). Private/member-owned status; practice range; general club context and restoration/master-plan pages.
Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Jan. 22, 2006), on the 1926 opening exhibitions and Jones–Hagen spotlight.
Florida Historical Quarterly (S. Kingdon, 2020), “The Match of the Century.” Academic treatment of the Jones–Hagen 72-hole match structure and promotional context.
KitchenAid Senior PGA — host venues list; GolfCompendium. Confirms 1940 (North Shore) and 1941 (Sarasota Bay) co-hosting in Sarasota (architect credit: Donald Ross).
Business Observer (Nov. 5, 2018). Reopening announcement after restoration; confirms 1926 Ross authorship.