At Bobby Jones Nature Park, the Marsh Is Built and the Boardwalk Depends on Donors

"We will have enough funding if indeed they're able to raise the funds to be able to build out the nature park," Sarasota Parks and Recreation Director Jerry Fogle told city commissioners in September, according to Your Observer. The group he meant is Big Waters Land Trust. The thing that needs funding is the second phase of The Nature Park at Bobby Jones: a boardwalk, a bird blind, overlooks and more trees on 110 acres along the eastern side of the Bobby Jones property.

Fogle's "if" describes where the park stands this fall. The marshes that filter the area's stormwater are planted and working. The boardwalk and bird blind for viewing them depend on how much a land trust can raise.

A Catch Basin Before It Was a Golf Course

The low ground between Fruitville Road and 17th Street was historically called Little Camp Sawgrass. Your Observer described it as a marshy area that served as a natural catch basin for stormwater. For decades it held a 36-hole golf course. The city closed the course in 2020, and nature began taking it back in plain view of drivers on Fruitville and 17th Street.

Restoration started in 2022. Golf course architect Richard Mandell of Pinehurst, North Carolina, cut the course back to its original 18-hole Donald Ross layout. He also oversaw the site work on the nature park, so the course and the park were designed to work as one water system. Stormwater flows in from the north and settles in new ponds and marshes where fairways and greens used to be. From there it drains into a tributary of Philippi Creek, then on to Sarasota Bay and the Gulf.

Big Waters President Christine Johnson told Your Observer that all of the stormwater from University Town Center passes through this land. "By slowing it down on this property, by making nature actually pull out those nutrients instead of dumping them into the bay and Philippi Creek, we are taking this ecosystem back to what it was," she said. She said controlling and filtering that stormwater was the land trust's main reason for accepting a permanent conservation easement over the whole Bobby Jones property.

Every trail in the park runs along wetlands that were built to slow and clean that water.

What Phase One Put in the Ground

The park opened to the public in December 2023. That was the same month the restored golf course opened for play, with trails running through a roughed-out landscape. City officials held a ribbon-cutting on Monday, July 13, 2026, to mark the end of Phase One. WWSB reported the work at more than 200 native trees and palms and more than 18,000 native shrubs and grasses, paid for with $1.67 million in park impact fees. Your Observer counted 12 species among those shrubs and grasses.

"It is just gorgeous. It's gorgeous for our wildlife and for our humans," Fogle told WWSB. At the same event, Mayor Debbie Trice remembered asking as a child whether she could walk on a golf course and being told she had to play golf to do it. She said the park now gives that open space to people who don't play.

The trails are crushed shell plus old golf cart paths that now serve walkers and cyclists. The City of Sarasota's park page describes the network this way:

1. Marlon Brown Eagle Trail, 1.57 miles. The main pathway, named for the former city manager who oversaw the Bobby Jones project.
2. Prairie Trail, 0.4 mile. The longest branch off the main pathway.
3. Hammock Trail, 0.12 mile. A short branch.
4. Osprey Trail, 0.07 mile. The shortest branch.

Trail access is beside the driving range. Your Observer noted that walkers and golfers share the route from Circus Boulevard, through the golf course entrance and past the practice range.

Who Is Using the Water This Season

The marshes are less than three years old, and Your Observer described them as already full of birds, plants and other wildlife. The eBird hotspot for the park is listed as Bobby Jones Golf Club, not as a separate nature park hotspot. It shows 122 species across 164 checklists.

Two checklists from the hotspot, about nine months apart, show how the season changes what you see:

The December list includes Eastern Phoebe, Black-and-white Warbler and Palm Warbler. The September list has none of the three. The wading birds, gallinules and Anhinga appear in both, which fits a marsh that holds water all year.

The September Vote, and What Phase Two Rests On Now

Phase Two would put people closer to that water. City officials described a bird blind and boardwalk, plus overlooks and more planting. Part of Big Waters' campaign is set to pay for up to 2,000 trees in this phase. In July, officials said construction should start in late 2026 or early 2027, with completion hoped for in the later part of 2027.

Then the funding changed. As Your Observer reported, the Sarasota City Commission unanimously passed a batch of penny-sales-tax reallocations in September. One of them moved $5 million from the Bobby Jones Nature Park to construction of the Bobby Jones Golf Club clubhouse. City financial staff said the surtax runs as a 15-year program with no fixed order of projects. They said reallocations like this one reflect changes in timing and need.

Here is the funding picture for Phase Two as Fogle described it to commissioners:

The two remaining sources add up to $5.1 million. On paper that is slightly more than the $5 million that was moved. "So actually, we have more money than we would have had just with the $5 million per the penny sales tax," Fogle said. The difference is that $3.5 million of the total is a fundraising goal, where the surtax money was already set aside. Vice Mayor Kathy Kelley Ohlrich voted for the change but told colleagues, "I'm a big fan of Bobby Jones, both the nature park and the golf course, but I don't like taking money away from one in favor of the other."

Ohlrich has history with this land. Your Observer reported that she was among the neighbors who pushed for the nature park for years before she joined the commission. Johnson told the paper that talks about protecting the property started in 2014 and work started in 2017. The conservation easement keeps the land protected permanently whatever the budget does. How fast the boardwalk and bird blind get built depends on Big Waters' campaign. The land trust's page on the park is where that effort is based.

Planning a Fall Visit

The park is open daily from dawn to dusk at 1000 Circus Blvd. The city lists parking and restrooms on site. The golf club lists the nature park as a leashed dog area. The trailhead is next to the driving range. The club's practice facility page says the range opens at sunrise most days and at 9 a.m. on Thursdays, after routine maintenance. That matters if you're timing an early walk around activity at the range.

The park sits next to Sarasota County's 17th Street Regional Park, which is being redeveloped as an outdoor athletic complex. A plan map published with the July coverage shows a future Legacy Trail connection into 17th Street Regional Park. The city has also posted a July 2026 concept package for the park's full build-out on its park page.

For now, the 1.57-mile Marlon Brown Eagle Trail plus the 0.4-mile Prairie Trail add up to about two miles of trail through the planted marsh. Several of the species on the December 2025 checklist were not on the September list.

I've lived in Sarasota since 2013, and a place like Bobby Jones is one I'm glad to tell friends about. That includes people who are still learning which parts of the city fit how they want to spend a morning. If you're getting to know this side of Sarasota, from Circus Boulevard and Fruitville Road out to 17th Street, I'm happy to share what I know about the area and the places nearby. Kelli Eggen is always glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.