Jacksonville Trip Report

[Argonne69]

The Golf Club at North Hampton (Front 9)

 

#1

 

 

The long par 5 2nd

 

 

The par 3 3rd

 

 

#4

 

 

#5

 

 

The par 5 6th

 

 

 

The par 3 7th

 

 

#8

 

 

#9

 

[Argonne69]

The Golf Club at North Hampton (Back 9)

 

#10

 

 

#11

 

 

The par 5 12th

 

 

 

#13

 

 

The par 3 14th

 

 

The par 5 15th

 

 

 

#16

 

 

 

The short par 3 17th

 

 

#18

 

[Argonne69]

Time to wrap up. It was a fun trip, but too short. The weather could have been better, but at the same time it could have been much worse. My last few mid-December trips to Northwest Florida, Dallas, Southern Mississippi, Austin, Southern Alabama, and Orlando have all been accompanied by frost delays, and temps in the 40's, so having temps in the 60's was nice, even with the wet conditions. Traffic on the A1A near Ponte Vedre is brutal, so plan accordingly if you're in the area.

 

My course rankings for the trip are:

 

1. TPC Sawgrass Player's Stadium: It's always fun to tee it up where the PGA plays, especially when the grandstands are up. The course is ranked #12 on the Golf Digest Top 100 Public list, but I would put it at ~25. Conditions were excellent, but the slow greens were painful. The course is score-able if one plays smart, but can be tough if the driver is misbehaving. The entire facility smacks of quality. As noted, the cart path only policy is BS. It was my 11th TPC course played, and the only one that doesn't allow carts on the fairways. As for value, that's an easy call. The course is way overpriced at $500. $250 would be a fair price.

 

2. The Golf Club at North Hampton: I was pleasantly surprised by the elevation changes on the course given that it's Florida. No, it's not mountain golf, but it's a nice piece of property. I liked the wide open feel, along with the generous fairways. A very good value for $60 on a Saturday morning.

 

3. Ponte Vedre Inn & Club Lagoon: Looking back at the photos, I was surprised by the amount of water on the course. Even though the course is short, it's still a tough test. The mounding on many holes helped distract one from the fact that it's a fairly flat Florida layout. It loses points from a value perspective, though. I primarily chose it because of its proximity to TPC Sawgrass. If you're not playing two a day, you can definitely find better value elsewhere.

 

4. TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley: 'Definitely disappointed in this one. I generally love Pete's layouts, but this left me wanting. Yeah, there were a number of distinct Dye features, but overall there were too many "meh" holes. This one was also overpriced.

 

5. Oak Marsh: The holes along the marsh (9, 12, 16, 17, and 18) were excellent. If I was only grading the five marsh-side holes, it would jump up to #3. However, the rest of the course doesn't quite stack up. The opening five holes are pretty boring. Six through eight are better. Most of the back nine through 15 are also meh. The narrowness does make it a challenge, though.

[Jungleland]

Great report as always, I share your feelings on the Valley course. When I've dug into that design in the past I always came away with the impression that Bobby Weed had far more influence over the routing and design then Pete Dye or Jerry Pate.

[iteachgolf]

If you want something different in the area I’d check out Hidden Hills. There’s a ton of great courses in the area and I’d say TPC Stadium sneaks on the top 5 at 5.

[Argonne69]

If you want something different in the area I'd check out Hidden Hills. There's a ton of great courses in the area and I'd say TPC Stadium sneaks on the top 5 at 5.

 

Top 5 in the area, or top 5 in the country? I assume you mean the area.

[iteachgolf]

If you want something different in the area I'd check out Hidden Hills. There's a ton of great courses in the area and I'd say TPC Stadium sneaks on the top 5 at 5.

 

Top 5 in the area, or top 5 in the country? I assume you mean the area.

 

The area

[Argonne69]

If you want something different in the area I'd check out Hidden Hills. There's a ton of great courses in the area and I'd say TPC Stadium sneaks on the top 5 at 5.

 

Top 5 in the area, or top 5 in the country? I assume you mean the area.

 

The area

 

Interesting. Does that include private courses, or just public? Golfweek ranks the Player's Stadium course as #1 in the (public) state.

[iteachgolf]

If you want something different in the area I'd check out Hidden Hills. There's a ton of great courses in the area and I'd say TPC Stadium sneaks on the top 5 at 5.

 

Top 5 in the area, or top 5 in the country? I assume you mean the area.

 

The area

 

Interesting. Does that include private courses, or just public? Golfweek ranks the Player's Stadium course as #1 in the (public) state.

 

Includes privates.

[OffTheDole]

Time to wrap up. It was a fun trip, but too short. The weather could have been better, but at the same time it could have been much worse. My last few mid-December trips to Northwest Florida, Dallas, Southern Mississippi, Austin, Southern Alabama, and Orlando have all been accompanied by frost delays, and temps in the 40's, so having temps in the 60's was nice, even with the wet conditions. Traffic on the A1A near Ponte Vedre is brutal, so plan accordingly if you're in the area.

 

My course rankings for the trip are:

 

1. TPC Sawgrass Player's Stadium: It's always fun to tee it up where the PGA plays, especially when the grandstands are up. The course is ranked #12 on the Golf Digest Top 100 Public list, but I would put it at ~25. Conditions were excellent, but the slow greens were painful. The course is score-able if one plays smart, but can be tough if the driver is misbehaving. The entire facility smacks of quality. As noted, the cart path only policy is BS. It was my 11th TPC course played, and the only one that doesn't allow carts on the fairways. As for value, that's an easy call. The course is way overpriced at $500. $250 would be a fair price.

 

2. The Golf Club at North Hampton: I was pleasantly surprised by the elevation changes on the course given that it's Florida. No, it's not mountain golf, but it's a nice piece of property. I liked the wide open feel, along with the generous fairways. A very good value for $60 on a Saturday morning.

 

3. Ponte Vedre Inn & Club Lagoon: Looking back at the photos, I was surprised by the amount of water on the course. Even though the course is short, it's still a tough test. The mounding on many holes helped distract one from the fact that it's a fairly flat Florida layout. It loses points from a value perspective, though. I primarily chose it because of its proximity to TPC Sawgrass. If you're not playing two a day, you can definitely find better value elsewhere.

 

4. TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley: 'Definitely disappointed in this one. I generally love Pete's layouts, but this left me wanting. Yeah, there were a number of distinct Dye features, but overall there were too many "meh" holes. This one was also overpriced.

 

5. Oak Marsh: The holes along the marsh (9, 12, 16, 17, and 18) were excellent. If I was only grading the five marsh-side holes, it would jump up to #3. However, the rest of the course doesn't quite stack up. The opening five holes are pretty boring. Six through eight are better. Most of the back nine through 15 are also meh. The narrowness does make it a challenge, though.

 

I was going to disagree with you on your rankings, especially with Ponte Vedra Inn & Club Lagoon being higher than Oak Marsh, but I can see your point. Either way, it's nice to see someone else's take on courses I play a lot.

 

Glad you could make it out, though it has been a bit rainy lately.

[Imp]

Thanks for the heads up on the courses. I have the chance to play Mon and Friday at the end of Jan, and I agree, $550 is a bit too high for my blood to play a round, regardless of the course.

 

Thinking King/Bear and/or Slammer/Squire and one other. Suggestions (again, not Stadium Course)?

 

Is KB/SS worth it?

 

--kC

[OffTheDole]

Thanks for the heads up on the courses. I have the chance to play Mon and Friday at the end of Jan, and I agree, $550 is a bit too high for my blood to play a round, regardless of the course.

 

Thinking King/Bear and/or Slammer/Squire and one other. Suggestions (again, not Stadium Course)?

 

Is KB/SS worth it?

 

--kC

 

King & Bear is the better of the two layouts by far. Both should be in good shape.

[Argonne69]

 

I was going to disagree with you on your rankings, especially with Ponte Vedra Inn & Club Lagoon being higher than Oak Marsh, but I can see your point. Either way, it's nice to see someone else's take on courses I play a lot.

 

Glad you could make it out, though it has been a bit rainy lately.

 

I think ratings based on a first visit are generally going to change over time as one stop looking at the visual aspects of the course, and focuses more on the shot making requirements. Oak Marsh looks like it can be tough if one isn't positioned off the tee correctly. What appears to be a bland hole standing on the tee the first time might certainly change.

[pwa]

#17

 

 

Didja' hit the green? We gotta' know.....

[Argonne69]

#17

 

 

Didja' hit the green? We gotta' know.....

 

Lol. Yeah, but it was close. It was playing 125 from the blue tees to a center pin. I put a little too much draw on my gap wedge, and wound up back left near the walkway.

[jaxbeachpackerfan]

Very good write-up! I agree generally with your evaluations, except that, being a member at TPC Valley and quite biased, I appreciate the design, challenges and conditioning of the course more than you did. You did experience an extraordinarily wet period here, and that does affect the quality of golf considerably. When it's so wet, they just can't mow the greens. And, the Stadium and Valley just came out of overseed, so they've been letting the greens grow in, and they have been extremely and uncharacteristically slow.

 

I haven't posted my ongoing offer recently, I guess, but I'm willing to host anyone who wants to play the Stadium at a discounted rate and several wrx'ers have taken me up on it. Could have got you on for $350 and no requirement to take a caddy. Saves a few hundred.

 

Our group doesn't play Northhampton anymore. It's a great design, but the conditioning has been so bad the last couple of years we gave up on it. Last time we played it was last April, so maybe it has improved since then.

 

We like Oak Marsh a lot.

 

Iteach--we also gave up on Hidden Hills because of the conditioning. We also haven't played there since last May--has it improved lately??

 

Our group's course go-to list when we don't play the Valley (based on quality, accessibility and cost (we don't like to pay more than $60)) is:

 

1. Amelia National

2. St John's G&C

3. Oak Marsh

4. Southhampton

5. Slammer & Squire

 

Palencia is a good design, but it's conditioning too has taken a dive. King & Bear would be much higher on the list, but it's rare we can get a rate less than $99, and many of us balk at that (not me). Personally, I'd play Hidden Hills but I've been overruled. PV Inn & Club, Ocean and Lagoon, are great, but hard to get a group on.

 

There are several awesome private, but generally non-accessible, courses. Those are probably what Iteach is referring to, but I'm wondering how the Stadium falls to #5.

 

IMHO.

[gatorgolfer86]

Awesome pics here. Looks like an awesome trip

[tonypizzle]

glad you enjoyed your trip! i generally agreed with the report. i live in jacksonville and play all those courses so its nice to hear visitors' opinions!