Closer look: Water dominates the Preserve Golf Club at Tara in Bradenton
BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Preserve Golf Club at Tara sits inside a sprawling residential community right next to I-75. Sound like an urban jungle? Hardly.
More than 40 ponds create a dynamic target test of golf through a natural setting. Players who aren't striking the ball crisply or making good decisions will lighten their golf bag in a hurry. Water or wetland appears on virtually every hole of this 7,000-yard design by Ted McAnlis.
General Manager Scott Herman said golfers play The Preserve for a challenge. "The ponds get even more diverse with their shape and size on the back nine," he said. "It averages about two and a half ponds per hole. People come out here expecting a difficult course. There is a lot of thought process playing here."
A three-hole gauntlet leads players home. The par-5 16th is a double dogleg around several ponds. No. 17, a 220-yard par 3, flies over more water often into the wind off the Gulf of Mexico. The finishing hole checks in at 440 yards, the longest par 4 of the day.
"We've got some of the toughest finishing holes I've ever played," Herman added. "It is a tough home stretch."
The Preserve, which opened in 2000, is one of nine courses along the Florida Golf Trail, all owned or managed by Fore Golf Partners.
![It's risky to try and reach the fifth green in two at the Preserve Golf Club at Tara in Bradenton, Florida.](/photo-galleries/images/small/46667.jpg)
![Like most holes on the front nine, water makes an appearance at the par-3 second hole at the Preserve Golf Club at Tara.](/photo-galleries/images/small/46668.jpg)
![It's tough to hit the third green in regulation at the Preserve Golf Club at Tara. It's the no. 1 handicap.](/photo-galleries/images/small/46669.jpg)
![This hazard gobbles mis-hits to the fourth green at the Preserve Golf Club at Tara in Bradenton, Fla.](/photo-galleries/images/small/46670.jpg)
![Water dominates the left side of the sixth fairway at the Preserve Golf Club at Tara, Bradenton, Fla.](/photo-galleries/images/small/46671.jpg)
![The Preserve Golf Club at Tara features some nice, natural settings, such as the surroundings at the fifth green.](/photo-galleries/images/small/46672.jpg)