Bonita Bay Club (Bay Island)

Situated between Fort Myers and Naples on the west coast of Florida, the residential development at Bonita Bay delivers big time for those who prefer a little golfing variety as there are no fewer than five 18-hole layouts to choose from here.

The two Tom Fazio-designed courses of Cypress and Sabal are served by the East Clubhouse and they are located on a 1400-acre nature preserve where many of the fairways are framed by stands of native cypress, pine and sabal palm trees.

Arthur Hills, another renowned golf architect, has constructed dozens of courses in the Sunshine State of Florida over the years and the West clubhouse serves three of his designs.

The Marsh was the first of Hills’ Bonita Bay creations to be built in 1985 and fairways weave their way – as the course name might suggest – through a wetland landscape that’s so typical of southwest Florida.

The Creekside course arrived on the scene in 1989 and this course plays anything from 5,756 to 6,742 yards, depending on the tees selected. Sympathetic mounding and small man-made hills around green sites help to protest par at many of the holes.

The Bay Island course was last to open in 1994 and it’s considered to be the toughest of the Arthur Hills trio here. Water hazards, sand traps and stands of oak and cypress trees present a serious golfing challenge over much of its 7,045–yard length.