If you are on the west side of Florida in the Sarasota area – or will be traveling to the west side – you should make a point of playing River Strand. Its one of my favorite courses – 27 holes of challenging, fun, and unique holes that are always in the best possible condition.

If you’re looking to play better, consider taking some lessons from Corey Pion, River Strand’s Head Pro. I’ve had a chance to work with him on a few trips to Florida and he’s a excellent instructor. He takes the time to analyze your swing, and put together a program for improvement that is tailored to you, not just a bunch of generic drills and fixes. He’s an excellent player himself, so going out and playing 9 with him allows him to see what i do on the course (trust me its different than on the range!) but I can also see how he plays, watch his ball flight, see how he works around the course and learn from that. Playing 9 today with him was a lot of fun and I learned quite a bit.

I’m great on the range as most people are. But being on the course and having a pro like Corey verify my on course routine, alignment, swing tempo, is invaluable as I continue to try to improve.

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This was a 7 iron shot from the top of a ridge on #2. Hit this shot to within 12 feet, right at the pin.

Corey’s approach shot with a wedge on #1 Sanctuary

Hopped over the bank to snap a picture of this girl. Turns out the much larger male sitting 50 feet away wasn’t very happy and splashed into the water to scare us away.