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Deceivingly Challenging Golf Club at BridgeWater
By Lilliam Larsen
 Sometimes I'm one of the last people to try out a new course in my own town, Lakeland, FL. The 18-hole links course at The Golf Club of Bridgewater,
opened in 2007 and designed by Steve Smyers, is a recent example. I talked my husband Larry into coming along to try out one of the newest courses in our city, which had been
described as quite challenging.
The layout is a maximum of 7,193 yards from the black tees and shortest at 5,245 from the green tees, but the challenge remains the same. Deep sand
bunkers are prevalent on every hole providing quite a bit of practice time in getting out of the sand!
And the course is, indeed, challenging! For example, hole number 4 is a favorite of few
and a menace for most. It has a narrow driving area and an equally narrow 12-foot elevated green surrounded by water on the left and a 12-foot deep bunker on the right.
Your second or third shot has to be very precise to reach the green without getting in trouble.
We played on a Saturday afternoon and had practically the entire course to ourselves,
allowing us plenty of time to study each hole before taking on its challenge. What I liked most is that there are no homes bordering the golf course, although it is located within a
growing residential community. This semi-private club with championship golf, in a beautiful setting, is very accessible to both Orlando and Tampa.
No matter how you are playing this challenging course, the beautiful wild landscape
around the fairways and greens make for an enjoyable and memorable experience.
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