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I played TPC Prestancia in mid-November. I had had the opportunity to play one of two courses 5-6 times and I really enjoy both layouts.

Prestancia has two things I covet in a golf facility ~ two 18-hole championship courses and a great driving range.

The third thing it has is a very warm and welcoming staff and members who are friendly and welcoming to guests.

Prestancia has two courses, and the only difference is one is somewhat harder than the other. The Stadium Course is slight harder, but the Players Course is equally enjoyable to play.

My trip was a working vacation, so I was only going to be able to play once or twice. As a TPC member anywhere, you have reciprocity to the other TPC courses around the country.  

There is a group in Florida called TPC Passport and 98% of TPC members contact them by email and they work with the other courses to find you an appropriate tee time. TPC members can contact them two months ahead, but they can only confirm your exact tee time 2 weeks in advance. 

It is a great system and allows me to play on courses around the country where I otherwise would not have access.

Prestancia is only seven miles from where I stay in greater Sarasota, so it is extremely convenient.  My guests came from 2 hours away, so we settle in on a 10:16 AM tee time.

Prestancia is a gated community, so you need to show an ID at the gate entrance. I check in, give my name and tee time and I am cross-referenced to the tee sheet and allowed to enter.

There are beautiful homes in the community of various price levels – from condominiums in the low $700K to single family homes in the mid 7 figures.

I left my home early so I could take a nice slow drive through the neighborhood and take it all in.  I finally arrive at the clubhouse and leave my clubs at the bag drop.  

The course is very busy, and the general mood is high energy and general friendliness. I checked in at the pro shop. They recalled that I have played here before and reminded me that we are playing on the Stadium Course.  As I am speaking to the pro shop employee, an individual comes up to the counter and interrupts us.  I stand there in bemusement and finish my business after he is done.  I found it odd that a member acts so rudely.

I headed to the large range to hit balls and realized that the individual who did not wait his turn in the pro shop was actually not a member, but a PXG sales rep who was at the end of the range trying to demo and sell their golf equipment.

Because I had not picked up a club in a week, I have been spending too much time on Facebook looking at swing tips. I have time to try a lot of them.  Most do not work, but I finally find my swing and I leave the range with a confident approach to the round.

One interesting thing I noticed on the range was a young lady next to me with a great looking swing but was hitting terrible shots.  She was extremely frustrated. Her father was on the other side of me hitting balls like a Touring Pro.  He stopped his session and gave his daughter a fifteen-second reinforcement lesson. She started striping the ball. Golf crisis averted. Frown replaced with smile. It was a fun moment to observe.

We teed off exactly on time. As a threesome, we waited maybe once or twice but never saw the group behind us.  Expectation here is a four-hour round and we finished a little under four hours.

The course has digital screens of each hole on the golf cart, and we always knew where to hit – and where not to hit.  I brought a 60 BV Titleist Wedgeworks wedge specifically for conditions such as Prestancia Florida golf.   

I find the course very visually intimating from the tee. However, access to the digital screens on the carts undermine that feeling because, like many of the screen maps, you can touch them and lay out your exact yardage on every hole. 

I hit my tee shots (a good one) about 250 yards. The screens allow you to map out every line and I was able to hit every tee shot with confidence.

I felt confident on the first tee and hit a booming hit shot to the right and proceeded to make dumb shot after dumb shot and started with a double bogey 6. The 2^nd hole is a 500-yard par 5.  I was pleased I was able to shake off the first hole and I hit a big drive and solid 3 wood to the front of the green.  I hit a short chip within a foot and now was one over after two.

I will play over 200 rounds of golf this year and cannot recall a round where I hit the ball so solidly and could not make a putt to save my life.

The two signature holes on the Stadium Course are the 9^th and 18.  The 9^th has water on the left and the 18^th has water on the right. 

I played both holes better than I ever have and had easy birdie putts on both and badly missed each of them. 

During the round, I struck the ball well, chipped decent and putted terrible. I seemed to have completely forgotten how to read Florida greens.  I was very satisfied with an 83 after putting so poorly.

After the round, we had a drink in the lounge overlooking the 18^th green on the Stadium Course.

Overall, I would give TPC Prestancia an A+ for:

General course conditions

Greens

Course layout

Staff and member friendliness.