Golf in the Panhandle

[Andy Silis]

I'll be in the Florida Panhandle region in early Nov. on business. Need to take a couple of accounts out for golf. Any suggestions from the group on where to play would be greatly appreciated. Courses mentioned to me have been Regatta Bay, Tiger Point and the Sandestin Resort layouts. Thanks in advance for your help.
                                 Regards,
                                              Andy Silis

[Robert_Walker]

Kiva Dunes at Gulf Shores is a Jerry Pate course. It is a good ground game course.

[Lou_Duran]

Camp Creek (Fazio) east of Sandestin is extremely good.  Mark Fine recommended Shark's Tooth (Norman, in the same general area), but I didn't have the time to play it.

[Keith Williams]

Depending on the area in the panhandle and your willingness to drive these are some possibilities:
Gulf Shores area
Kiva Dunes- a good Jerry Pate layout
Lost Key-an interesting Arnold Palmer course, often called "lost ball"

Destin area
Regatta Bay- a scenic and solid course
Emerald Bay- a heavily graded, somewhat interesting but overpriced Bob Cupp layout.  Conditioning is often questionable
Kelly Plantation- a Fred Couples design that I have not seen but have heard good things about.
Camp Creek- a newer Fazio layout near the town of seaside that I haven't played, but from what I could see from walking around the property looks to be a good course.

Panama City area
Hombre- a solid but typical florida layout, overpriced in my opinion
Club Meadows- at Marriott's Bay Point resort, a decent florida style track
Lagoon Legend- also at Bay Point.  This course used to be one of my all-time favorite courses.  Year's ago I thought of playing the course as more of an adventure than just a round of golf.  Really tough golf holes cut through the Florida jungle.  You had to focus on every shot and every hole was interesting and despite its difficulty, Lagoon Legend isn't really a very long course.  Since then the course has been softened significantly and houses are now in sight on nearly every hole.  The aura is different, but the course is still pretty tough and not too adviseable for high handicappers.

I don't know much about shark's tooth except that I heard it was going to be very private.

Hope this helps,

Keith.

[John_Conley]

Andy:

I spent a week there last summer.  Sandestin has the Raven and Burnt Pine, which are both terrific.  I preferred Burnt Pine, but half the people prefer the Raven.  Two friends, both novice golfers, have told me the other two courses there are very enjoyable, but neither is considered top-tier.

Pass on Regatta Bay.  Kelly Plantation was a little better, but one I didn't play - Emerald Bay - actually looked like it would register higher on the fun factor.

Camp Creek is great, and Shark's Tooth is supposed to be as good.  It just opened and is quite private.

For a hoot, go to Panama City Beach and play Lagoon Legend.  Great fun, and an example of the short-lived design patterns post-Dye TPC.  If you are closer to Pensacola, try Kiva Dunes, which I have not played.

I thought golf in that area was pretty expensive, at least compared to Orlando.  Most of the top courses were $125-175 in the late summer, which made Emerald a relative bargain at about $80.

[John_Conley]

Andy:

If you know how to use the archives - I don't - look for my thread on "CAMP CREEK" from last year.

[Andy Silis]

Thanks to everyone for their help! I'll be playing the Raven at Sandestin. According to my account in Destin, RTJ JR. considers that to be one of his best efforts (??) and spent more time there personally on site than just about any of his projects.

                                  Regards,
                                              Andy Silis

[John_Conley]

Read the Whitten review on the Digest site of the Jones courses at Sandestin.  I think you'll like Raven a lot.