Best courses to play in Gulf Shores, AL?

Renting a house in Gulf Shores in August for a family vacation. Want to get out and play once or twice. What are the best courses for reasonable money < $90 per round. I play off scratch to -1 and will be playing the tips. Thanks for any info.

You've got lots of good options. This thread should be helpful: http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/1068789-fastest-greens-in-gulf-shores-al/page__p__10091789__hl__+kiva%20+dunes#entry10091789

Not to far away,just into Florida is a beast of a course called Lost Key.It,ll test every shot you have !!

One of it,s nicknames is Lost Ball...as on nearly every par-4 or 5,a missed fairway / green results in a Lost Ball !!!!!
It is a super test,and when I played there a few years ago,it was in superb condition.
Goolge Earth gives a good view of the challenge it presents.

spent 8days there back in '95 - plenty of great golf options

also may want to check out the FloraBama Club for refreshments

1.Kiva Dunes
2.Peninsula
3.Craft Farms, both Cotton Creek & Cypress Bend

[quote name='jez' timestamp='1423159188' post='10890897']
1.Kiva Dunes
2.Peninsula
3.Craft Farms, both Cotton Creek & Cypress Bend
[/quote]

This.

Thanks guys. Ill definitely play at least 2 of those. Thinking Peninsula and one of the craft farms

[quote name='gooner64' timestamp='1423138368' post='10888903']
Not to far away,just into Florida is a beast of a course called Lost Key.It,ll test every shot you have !!

One of it,s nicknames is Lost Ball...as on nearly every par-4 or 5,a missed fairway / green results in a Lost Ball !!!!!
It is a super test,and when I played there a few years ago,it was in superb condition.
Goolge Earth gives a good view of the challenge it presents.
[/quote]

I can vouch for the "Lost Ball." It's a nice track but very tough if you're a crooked hitter. If the winds up.......it really earns it's nickname. On a side note, I played there over Thanksgiving weekend with Stewart Cink in a Foursome behind us....apparently a family member owns a home in Perdido and he plays there frequently.

[quote name='jez' timestamp='1423159188' post='10890897']
1.Kiva Dunes
2.Peninsula
3.Craft Farms, both Cotton Creek & Cypress Bend
[/quote]

I live in nearby Orange Beach and this is the correct answer in the correct order. Kiva is a real test, as you are almost always dealing with quite a bit of wind. Both Craft Farms courses are in phenomenal shape right now, especially the greens, but as a scratch you won't be tested much on Cypress, even from the tips. Cotton is a little bit tighter and longer, and as of last week the greens are a little slicker. You can't go wrong with any of the three nines at Peninsula.

If you don't mind a bit of a drive, Rock Creek is really unique for the area in that it has quite a bit of elevation change.

I hope you and your family enjoy your vacation.

Just saw that Kiva Dunes will be closing in July for a pretty serious facelift...replacing the greens, rebuilding the bunkers, etc. They're expecting the process to last about three months. http://blog.al.com/press-releases/2015/05/kiva_dunes_announces_15_millio.html

Perhaps not coincidentally, Craft Farms is bumping up its rates during the second half of the summer.

thanks for that link...kiva is one of my favorite courses, and the facelift sounds awesome, I felt like the fairways needed some new grass last couple of seasons....so much salt gets into that course from the wind

Just an update for anyone who comes across this. I played both Craft Farms courses on vacation. They were phenomenal. The facilities were top notch, the staff was incredibly friendly and accommodating, and the course condition was as good as any top 10 private club in most states. The greens are a proprietary grass called "sunday" and they don't mark up at all. It's damn near impossible to leave a divot on them. They rolled true and have ZERO grain. Cypress is the easier of the two and much wider. Food in the restaurant was very decent as well and priced normally.

I would play Craft Farms again in a heartbeat and i cant imagine having a better experience at Peninsula or Kiva.

Anybody got any intel on the situation at Kiva Dunes? When they announced their renovation earlier this summer, they named October 1 as the tentative reopen date. Well, that's about a week and a half away, and there's been no confirmation of a reopening or any announcement about new rates. I haven't been able to find anything one way or other on the Web or Twitter.

Heard yesterday that they are about 6 weeks away. You call them and I'm sure they'll give you a better idea.

Update. Heard from one of the guys out at Kiva that they plan to be open Oct 10. No. 18 has been changed quite a bit I understand. Along with some other modifications to several other holes.

[quote name='midirons' timestamp='1443063200' post='12359938']
Update. Heard from one of the guys out at Kiva that they plan to be open Oct 10. No. 18 has been changed quite a bit I understand. Along with some other modifications to several other holes.
[/quote]

Awesome. My plan (knock on wood) is to be down there two weeks after that. If that happens, and if Kiva is open, then I'll play and try to get some photos. Thanks for the detective work, man.

[quote name='midirons' timestamp='1443063200' post='12359938']
Update. Heard from one of the guys out at Kiva that they plan to be open Oct 10. No. 18 has been changed quite a bit I understand. Along with some other modifications to several other holes.
[/quote]

any insight into this, specifically 18? I never had an issue with 18 and I've hit a lot of shots left into the snake pit.

Kiva put out an update today, replaced the champion turf grass on greens with Tiff-Eagle turf, rebuilt and re shaped bunkers, re-leveled tee boxes, redid fairways, improved natural transitions between grasses and indigenous beach landscape.

Don't know specifics but i assume they redid that pit on the left. Will look into it and try and find an update.

I don't have any specifics either except they took out those 2 pot bunkers.

I pulled these photos of No. 18 from their website's most recent update. To this layman's eye, there don't appear to be any major changes. The only time I've ever played Kiva, though, we came up 18 in the dark, so I can't remember whether the fairway has always been that undulating. As a point of reference, here's the layout of (what I assume to be the former version of) No. 18: http://www.kivadunes.com/holes/hole-18/