Is the Bobby Jones Golf Club due for a multi-million-dollar facelift? Sarasota city commissioners today will consider whether to create a master plan for the public golf course, as recommended by a study committee formed in late 2014.

The committee found that the city-owned amenity, in operation since 1924, was due for some $14.5 in capital improvements. That would include a renovation of both 18-hole courses and development of a new clubhouse and player development center, among other costs. The study group said the Bobby Jones property, one of the largest assembled pieces of land in public ownership within the city limits, should remain a public golf course. “It’s part of our recreation for the city,” said study group member Millie Small. “It is used by people who come back and come back, and they love it.” Small, who moved to Sarasota in part because it had a golf course named for golf legend Bobby Jones and so seemed a serious golfing community, said the course has proven popular for a range of golfers, from beginners up through professional players.

Study group member Rick Kyllonen, a regular player on courses from Bradenton to Venice, noted that golf courses open to the public are growing more scarce in the region. “A lot of folks come down here looking for affordable golf and not many places are totally open to the public,” he said. Tourists to Longboat Key often end up playing rounds at Bobby Jones because they cannot get onto the resort courses on the island, he said. And while the region enjoys high-end training like that at IMG Academy, the aspiring golfers not at that level also need a facility to develop a love of the game. And Kyllonen, for one, feels if the $14.5 million price tag makes anyone blush, a more modest commitment of revenue would suffice. He figures even an investment of $7 million, half the recommended amount, would go a long way at rejuvenating the course. 

Commissioners are slated to offer direction on the future of Bobby Jones at a meeting today at 2:30pm at City Hall. The first step would likely simply be hiring a master planning firm. City staff says funding for that move could come from $1.15 million in available funds raised through the penny sales tax.