Ah, to the Good Life.

Or, better yet, the Golf Life.

In interest of full disclosure, I played The Concession, Ritz-Carlton Members Club and Founders Club only as a personal favor to the editors at SARASOTA Magazine.

I didn't want to do it, as I recall. Hesitated. Wavered. Asked to renegotiate. Polled family, friends, neighbors and anybody who happened to say hi to me at Mattison's Bar and Grille on Wednesday nights. Consulted tarot cards and Googled "metaphysical decisions made easy," before going to a higher source-my guru, Don ("Make Me a Deal") Guercio, general manager of Blab Television.

"What are you, an idiot?" he shouted into the phone at world headquarters on Palm Avenue.

Tee times set, Guercio and I led a foursome into the lap of golf luxury, the stratified exclusivity of the six-figure memberships of Sarasota-Bradenton's latest jewels in the crown. It'll set you back $125,000 to join The Concession and $100,000 each for The Ritz-Carlton and Founders (the only equity deal of the three).

Other than that, about the only thing these perfectly coiffed courses have in common is their east-of-I-75 location. Caddies are provided at both The Concession and The Ritz. Founders has the only clubhouse open, although similar Taj Mahals are scheduled to be finished at the other two clubs sometime next year.

"It's all been very impressive," says Brian Henderson, Ritz-Carlton Members Club director of golf. "Assuming my neighbors are having the same success, there's room for more."

"We're not to the point Naples is at, with all their high-end clubs," adds Founders head professional Bob Irving. "But what's happening is other courses in the area are taking notice and making changes to their facilities. It's great for the area to have all these upgrades."

Those upgrades are snowballing as clubs and courses around the area compete for members and guests amid a growth boom. Laurel Oak Country Club brought in architect Rees Jones last year for a major renovation of its West Course. In April, venerable Sara Bay Country Club began digging up and reshaping its fairways and adding distance to the storied Donald Ross-designed layout. And Longboat Key Club-the only true resort golf destination in the Sarasota area for decades until The Ritz opened-recently brought in Ron Garl to renovate its Blue and Red nines at Harbourside. Plans are in the works to do the same on the White nine and Islandside course. And what's a resort experience without a new spa, which Longboat Key Club also unveiled earlier this year?

"Our members and guests have discriminating tastes and high expectations, and we take pride in exceeding their expectations," says Longboat Key Club general manager Michael Welly. "We're here to provide the best of everything Florida has to offer, and what we're doing in 2006 allows us to fulfill that promise to our maximum ability."

Sort of like me in fulfilling my vow to SARASOTA Magazine.

As guests at these three luxury courses, we had to behave ourselves. There was nothing about us that said, "Hey, look, we're prospective members!" But the great thing about these three championship tracts is they're so new, there wasn't enough daily play yet to clog up our round.

Maybe I'll be invited back. Or maybe, dear editors, I'll get another assignment. (Hint, hint.) If not, I can at least say I was on the cutting edge of the area's breakthrough into the ultra-luxe Golf Life.

THE CONCESSION

Back in 1969 Englishman Tony Jacklin faced a two-foot putt on the final hole of his Ryder Cup match against America's Jack Nicklaus at Royal Birkdale, England. Make it, and Jacklin would halve with Nicklaus and account for the first tie in Ryder Cup history. Miss, and Jacklin would lose his match and the Europeans would fall short in the final score. Either way, the United States would still keep the Ryder Cup, but Jacklin could suffer what surely would have been a haunting indignity of gagging a gimme in front of his home fans.

Pick it up, Nicklaus told him, conceding the tie.

"I don't think you would have missed the putt, but under the circumstances, I'd never give you the opportunity," Nicklaus said at the time.

"I think it was the greatest single sporting gesture in golf," Jacklin said afterward.

Flash-forward 37 years to the cattle pastures of eastern Manatee County. The two meet again to collaborate on a world-class layout. Indeed, no concession has been made in creating what is perhaps Nicklaus' finest signature design, right up there with his course in Dublin, Ohio, site of the PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament.

Fittingly, The Concession is an ode to that famous moment and takes you on a storyboard tour of Ryder Cup history. At the practice range, 40 individual bag stands list the date, year, captains and results from each biennial match between the United States and Europe. A plaque on each tee box on the course commemorates historic Ryder Cup events.