We will be staying in Rosemary Beach in August and looking for courses in the area. There are some private courses nearby, not sure how hard they are to get on. Any suggestions for nice public or accessible private courses would be appreciated.

Your rental company might get you access to Camp Creek. We typically rent through 360Blue and it gives us access

But I'll second The Raven and Windswept Dunes.

Kelly is good, I met Tommy Tuberville at Regatta Bay, we played Raven and Burnt Pine at SanDestin.

I also played Camp Creek, but it is a lot harder to get on now.

I can get ya on Santa Rosa Beach Golf Club. Such a sick course. My friends who started Hammerback Golf Apparel did all their content at the club and the beach nearby. My son and I played last summer and cant wait to get back.

www.hammerback.com and you can see some of the course on the website.

The Raven, Links and Burnt Pine are pretty cool too. We have played a few Under Armor Junior Nationals events over the last couple years.

Buddy is a member of Santa Rosa. Very cool place and course.

SkierAg said:

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I can get ya on Santa Rosa Beach Golf Club. Such a sick course. My friends who started Hammerback Golf Apparel did all their content at the club and the beach nearby. My son and I played last summer and cant wait to get back.

www.hammerback.com and you can see some of the course on the website.

The Raven, Links and Burnt Pine are pretty cool too. We have played a few Under Armor Junior Nationals events over the last couple years.

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We go to Destin almost every year… I might try to hit you up for that next year. I've heard the renovation was GREAT.

Burnt Pine was mentioned earlier. I believe that one is private and/or you have to be staying in San Destin.

Raven is really well maintained golf course. I've only played it once, but I found it way more interesting than Kelly Plantation which I've played probably 5 times. And I probably prefer Kelly a little over Regatta.

I liked Windswept a lot. It's nice to get away from the crush and hustle/bustle of Destin/30A. Wider corridors of the tee in places and just more my cup of tea than almost anything else I've played in the area. I just looked and the pricing has caught up to the quality out at Windswept. It used to be a $65-$90 course and now it looks to be $100-$135 (still not crazy compared to some others in the area).

Another sneaky good one out there is Rocky Bayou. It's a country club, but they have some afternoon times they offer to the public. Old style layout, but it actually has some terrain. It's not amazing or anything, and it's in Niceville, so it's not super convenient to 30A.

We play windswept every time we come to 30A. Yesterday they gave a discount because they had sprayed for poa anna and there were some sand spots where they had put grass plugs in. The greens are always great and it's a big course hard to lose a ball unless you really spray it.
The greens should be great by next week.

Indian Bayou in Destin is a nice track as well. Santa Rosa Beach Club would be great if you can get on.

I'm here in Destin until Friday and looking to get two rounds in. The place we're staying at provides free passes to Windswept Dunes, Emerald Bay, Regatta Bay and Shalimar Pointe. Based on some of the comments above it sounds like Windswept should be in the mix but for the other round I'm not sure. I also don't mind paying out of pocket to play a better course than the other 3 options. Thoughts?

Of those 3, Regatta for sure. I've played Emerald, and it's fine, but it's not in the same league as Regatta. I've never played Shalimar, but the reviews have always been awful. Sounds like it used to be a good place but got really run down.

The only reason to not play Regatta would be if they just punched or something.

Edit to add… free/included golf at Windswept and Regatta is the answer. There's nothing down there that I'd recommend that you just had to go pay $ to play and turn down free golf (Kelly Plantation, Indian Bayou, Sandestin… all good, but not good enough to turn down free golf).

SkierAg, you mentioned you could get someone on at Santa Rosa. We will be in Rosemary Aug 18-22 and would love to play that course. Didn't see a way to PM you, my email is gwbrinkley at gmail or send me a PM.

I checked out the Hammerback site you mentioned, I bought a few things, nice stuff.

Ill shoot you an email with some details. Did you notice the course on the website consent? That is Santa Rosa CC. Awesome, did you use my JT20 promo for 20% off?