HERITAGE HARBOR GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB

 

The 11,000 square-foot Harbor Towne Clubhouse at Heritage Harbor reminds visitors of a Gulf Coast plantation home, where residents at Heritage Harbor enjoy an array of resort style amenities. There is a fitness center, complete with locker rooms, a library, activity center & children’s playground area, an unbelievable quarter acre swimming pool with a 50-foot twisting three story water-slide, four tennis courts, a sand volleyball court, basketball hoops and an outdoor rollerblading rink.

 

Heritage Harbor is a par-72, 6,900-yard course with four sets of tees and loads of water and marshes to cross. Along the way, you’re likely to spot hawks, ospreys, loons, ibis, herons and kingfishers; you name it. It’s a paradise for birds as well as for golfers.

 

The intention here was to create a playable public course, but also one that can get golfers to think and rise to new levels of play on some holes.

 

As you tee off at the start, you face a par-4 slight dogleg right that’s yards from the back tees. There’s a pond to your right fairly easy to avoid but the real obstacles to making par are the bunker just past the pond and the fact that you can’t be long on your approach.

 

The 13th hole is a favorite because of the forced carry over a natural wetlands area needed on your second shot in order to reach the green. This is a par-4, 415-yard hole from the tips, 284 yards from the forward tees. It’s typical of the type of rhythm you need to get into in order to play Heritage Harbor successfully. A good first shot to get into position to cross a band of marsh.

 

But the par-3 14th hole is probably the one that amazes most players in terms of the golfing skills that it demands. From the back tees, it’s 263 yards across a natural area that’s 100 yards wide and over a pond as well.

 

In all, from the championship tees, it takes a 225-yard tee shot, probably with a driver, just to carry onto dry land in front of the green. Then you still have to cross a bunker to get to the putting surface. It’s the most memorable hole on the course, and has been conquered. But not often.

 

One of designer Jed Azinger’s favorite holes at Heritage Harbor is the risk-reward, par-5 8th that first takes you on a dogleg right and then on a dogleg left. From the tees and farther down the fairway you have to cross natural wetlands. This hole plays 557 yards from the back tees and 386 from the forward tees. You need to hit a good distance shot off the tee, but subsequent shots demand precision.

 

What you won’t find on this tract are houses crowding the fairways. There are only five holes out of 18 with housing on both sides. That’s unusual in Florida, but because of the wetlands here and the way the course was designed, many of these areas will have no building on them at all.

 

Heritage Harbor has a wonderful facility seating up to 210 guests. There are scenic views from the clubhouse of the waterways and wetlands; the golf course itself can be used as the velvety green backdrop for a ceremony or for memorable photos of the wedding party. The 11,000-square-foot clubhouse with its Gulf Coast plantation style and nautical feeling has rooms with country-contemporary style furnishings and decorative touches that can make guests feel as if they’re in a home rather than a banquet area.

 

The Clubhouse and its adjoining facilities serve as the heart of the Heritage Harbor community. The Harbor Terrace Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and cocktails. Banquet rooms and an outside patio bar are available for casual dining and reserved parties. The Harbor Terrace Restaurant is perfect for a quick snack, sit down lunch or maybe just a drink after a round of 18.