Heading to Santa Rosa Beach for a week with the in-laws in early October. Would like to start planning out my golf. Any recommendations?

Thanks.

We played Kelly Plantation when we were in Destin. Great course.

The best courses in the immediate area are undoubtedly Kelly Plantation, The Raven at Sandestin, and Regatta Bay, but you will pay for them. There are some decent deals on GolfNow, especially if you can play late and play fast.

There's a ton of good golf beside those as well. Santa Rosa Golf & Beach Club has a good course (though I haven't played it in years). The other Sandestin Courses, Emerald Bay, Seascape, and Indian Bayou are all pretty solid.

Across the bridge in Niceville we have Bluewater Bay CC, Rocky Bayou CC, both Eglin AFB courses (open to the public). Shalimar Pointe and the 2 Fort Walton Beach Munis are ok for bargain golf (Shalimar was in pretty bad condition last time I played it though I've heard it's gotten better). And I always tell people that Blackstone in Mossy head (probably 45 min north from SRB) is some of the best bang for buck in the area with rates from $39 (weekend morning) down to $25 after 2pm M-Thu.

In Panama City (20-30 minutes east) the best is easily Camp Creek. Two good courses at the Bay Point Resort also (including a Nicklaus design), and Shark's Tooth and Hombre are also supposed to be good but I haven't played either of those.

If you are driving over and can plan a stop in Mobile for Magnolia Grove (Robert Trent Jones course), you won't be disappointed.

Santa Rosa Golf Club is fun track. Older course with some tightness.

I like playing in the afternoon and they usually have reduced rates at that time. And it's not crowded.

besides the Raven, Sandestin has a couple other courses that are pretty good- Links and Baytowne. Links is shorter and tighter and has some good holes along the bay. Both are probably in the $60-$70 range. Raven is a great course, the champions tour played there back in 2006-07.

Great, thank you all. Looking forward to the trip!!!

I love the Sandestin Baytowne course. Got a really good deal on golfnow for around $40 last time, I think, or cheaper.

I am staying in seaside fri-tues and kelly plantation and regatta bay look a little too far to make the drive (~30 mins).

Camp Creek and Sharks Tooth are closer, are those open for public play?

well just called, camp creek is now private.

cab,

Have you played KP before? I played it a couple years ago & was not overly impressed. Not a bad course, but nothing memorable.

However, if you head to Sandestin or Destin, I highly recommend stopping here just before you get to Sandestin: http://www.yelp.com/biz/donut-hole-bakery-cafe-santa-rosa-beach.



[This message has been edited by proudaggie02 (edited 4/30/2014 10:06a).]

thanks, will have to hit that up. I think we are going to just play a round at sandestin. Trying to figure out which course.

If you're talking about this friday-tuesday, cab, you probably want to call the courses first and find out the condition. We just got up to 26" of rain in the last couple days in some areas and there may be some significant course closures.

Shalimar Point GC




Destin

The red velvet donuts at Donut Hole are heavenly