Jacksonville's Top 5 Golf Courses
 With
the plethora of daily fee golf courses in the Jacksonville area,
it's a miracle that this mid-sized city is still one of golf's best
kept secrets on the eastern seaboard. If it's home the Senior PGA
Tour and PGA Tour headquarters, it's good enough for golfers everywhere.
This coastal city is home to oceanfront golf and a number of designs
by today's top architects. With a total of 68 golf courses to choose
from, the editors and writers from TravelGolf.com settled on the
top five courses in the Jacksonville area based on the following
criteria: conditions, layout, service and scenery.
1. TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course (Ponte Vedra Beach)
Sawgrass is home to the annual PGA event, The PLAYERS Championship.
Its best known for the island green at the par-3 17th -- the most
photographed hole in golf. Contrary to popular belief, treachery
is not waiting around every corner of Pete Dye's most famous design.
It's target golf, and mental and physical stress will play a role
if the target can't be found. The Stadium Course is as fun and important
as Pebble Beach and St. Andrews. Every golfer should make their
way there at least once.
2. Ocean Hammock (Palm Coast)
Nestled next to the Atlantic Ocean, Ocean Hammock is an inspiring
golf course. Six holes offer ocean views. But it's not all aesthetics.
Architect Jack Nicklaus designed a monstrous tract with course and
slope ratings of 77.3/147 from the tips. With five sets of tees,
the course is manageable for all skill levels. Nicklaus built wide
fairways to compensate for a difficult prevailing wind. He provided
bailout options as plentiful as heroic opportunities.
3. Golf Club of North Hampton (Yulee)
If you're going to score at North Hampton, it's all about playing
the angles. That's the signature of most Arnold Palmer designs,
and this bold tract is no different. Every hole and every tee shot
is different from the last. North Hampton is quirky, brutish and
innovative -- crowned fairways, sprawling greens and 7,171 yards
to cover. The greens are large with three to four different places
for pins that vary so much, it changes the strategy and difficulty
of the hole. The overall arrangement is brisk and intelligent.
4. Amelia Island Plantation's Ocean Links (Amelia Island)
A crafty blend of tight and strategic holes, Ocean Links is not
the most difficult golf course off the tee. Pete Dye (early in his
career) and Bobby Weed used bunkers, varied green shapes and angles
to challenge approach shots. The greens are slightly crowned, and
flirting with tucked pins will make you pay. Once on the green,
negotiating steep contours make scoring difficult. Finding the proper
angle to approach the green is everything. Ocean Links only plays
6,108 yards from the back tees, but golfers who think its length
is a indication of its difficulty will lose their marbles.
5. Golf Club at Fleming Island (Orange Park)
Routed through the low wetlands popular to Florida, Fleming Island
is a strong charismatic course. Golfers will find every kind of
hill, depression, hump and swail they'd ever want to encounter.
The course demands high and accurate shots to strategically set
targets. Each hole is inviting and imaginative. At 6,801 yards from
the back tees, the course isn't terribly long. The back nine is
a one-of-a-kind for the "first coast" region - it's cut
out of a forest. The mixture of short and long par 4s is a true
test of a golfer's ability to stay within himself.
Up-and-coming
- The Slammer & Squire at World Golf Village (St. Augustine)
- Amelia Island Plantation's Oak Marsh (Amelia Island)
- Ponte Vedra Inn Ocean Course (Ponte Vedra Beach)
For golf packages and tee times, call 866-813-7494
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