BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. – Dec. 15, 2004 – Three of Bonita Bay Club's five courses are ranked in Golfweek magazine's top 100 list of America's Best Residential Golf Courses for 2005. The Definitive Guide to Luxury Golf Course Living ranks the Bay Island course at Bonita Bay Club West, designed by Arthur Hills within the Bonita Springs community, No. 68. The Sabal and Cypress, the two Tom Fazio courses at Bonita Bay Club East, are ranked No. 72 and No. 74.

Bonita Bay was one of nine communities nationwide to have more than one course on the list. Only Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, Ariz., with five ranked courses, had more. Reynolds Plantation in Georgia tied Bonita Bay with three courses. The top 100 list includes 21 Florida courses, but only one other Southwest Florida course.

The ratings are determined through Golfweek's America's Best rating system, which has issued annual ratings of U.S. golf properties since 1997. Golfweek has a team of 350 raters who search for outstanding course architecture and nominated nearly 2,000 courses for the 2005 list.

Criteria include overall routing, quality and consistency of feature shaping, the land plan, interest of putting surfaces and greens surrounds, variety and memorability of the par 3s, par 4s and par 5s, course conditioning, landscape and tree management and the "walk in the park" test, which means that judging is based not on player performance but on how pleasing and interesting the course is as an experience.

Golf course architect expert and author Bradley S. Klein directed the 2005 ranking process. In the introduction to the publication, he wrote, "Highly ranked communities offer generous real estate setbacks from playing corridors, maintain long views of the countryside that are relatively unimpeded by homes and other development, and uphold rigorous architectural control for thematic continuity throughout the property."

Earlier this year, Bonita Bay became the sixth property in Florida and the 38th in the world to be certified as an Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary. To win certification, Bonita Bay demonstrated excellence in environmental planning, wildlife-habitat management, resource conservation, waste management, and outreach and education. The three Bonita Bay West courses are certified as Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuaries, and the two east courses are Audubon Signature Sanctuaries.
Bonita Bay's five courses are among the dozen built and managed by The Bonita Bay Group, ranked the 20th largest golf management company in the nation by Golf Inc. in 2003.

Bonita Bay, the company's flagship community, was master planned in the early 1980s with just one championship golf course. As interest in golf intensified, The Bonita Bay Group added a second, and then a third within the community. The two Bonita Bay Club East courses were later added to provide club members with a pure golf experience with no residential development.

Bonita Bay, recipient of the Urban Land Institute's 1999 Award for Excellence, offers luxury high-rise condominiums in four towers along Estero Bay. More than a third of Bonita Bay's 2,400 acres are devoted to open space, nature preserves and recreational areas. The community's residents enjoy four waterfront recreational areas, including the Bonita Bay Beach Park on the Gulf of Mexico, and 12 miles of bicycle paths and nature trails. In addition to Bonita Bay Club, residents are eligible for social or boating memberships in The Marina Club, which offers waterfront dining, social and educational activities, and wet and dry slips.

The Bonita Bay Sales and Information Center is located at the community's entrance on U.S. 41 in Bonita Springs. To learn more, visit www.BonitaBay.com, or call (866) 314-2838.

Contacts:
Michael Lear, Director of Marketing, Bonita Bay, (239) 390-1199
Laurel Smith, Gravina, Smith & Matte, (239) 275-5758