Quail Valley Golf Club

[jnier75]

I was able to play at Quail Valley in Vero Beach this past weekend as a reciprocal. QV is where the FSGA's Florida Open will be played this year. I do not have the game to qualify for the tournament so when I found myself on a last minute trip to Vero I took a shot and was able to get on.

 

You enter the club through a tall black electric gate with a wonderful Members Only sign and drive on an uphill winding road to the clubhouse. The first thing I noticed was the rather large driving range with some short holes along the side which turned out to be a small par 3 course which I did not get to play. As you drive further up you begin to see their beautiful clubhouse. It's referred to as Shinnecock-style on their website. I dropped off my bag, parked and checked in. The head pro was there on a Saturday afternoon and was very nice, along with every other club employee I encountered. He invited me to check out the clubhouse on my own but I had my interests on the driving range, so away I went.

 

I hopped in my cart and took the short ride to the driving range. The teeing ground had 4 tiers the back being the highest and then each tier would be 5 feet below and a good distance forward from each other. It's a very large range with lots of targets to shoot at. On the opposite end is a large building that houses the training facility. After a quick warm up I went to the large putting green and got the flat stick rolling. Typically it takes me a while to get used to new greens. These were not overly fast so I settled in well enough, was even able to roll in 3 consecutive putts from 7 feet into the tiny hole that's only a bit bigger than a ball. Feeling confident I headed to the first tee to get my round under way.

 

Up until this point, I had been pretty sheltered by hedges from feeling the full wind gusts. The first tee is elevated and pretty wide open, there is where I felt the 20 mph breeze coming from the southeast side of the course. I told myself, this is gonna be interesting. The first hole played downhill downwind and I walked away with an up and down par. Hooray, I said, but my exuberance was short lived as I then quad bogeyed the par 3 second and plodded my way to a front nine 45 on some fair but interesting holes. At hole 10 I ran into traffic where I had to wait behind 2 groups to tee off. I waited on every shot up until hole 12 where I played through on a par 3. After that it was smooth sailing until hole 15 when the course bears it's teeth. 3 out of the 4 finishing holes play severely uphill(for Florida), 2 of which played directly into the wind. Tough holes but still fair, just a strong test of golf. The course finishes with the 18th approach shot uphill about 30 feet with a false front that repelled my chip back to me after I had missed the green just short. Finished with a back nine score of 49, disappointing as the green complexes got the better of me on the back.

 

After the round I loaded up my clubs and stopped back in to thank the pro shop guys and tour the clubhouse. I checked out the locker room which is filled with rich mahogany and is more lounge than locker room. The owner of the club is an exotic animal hunter and has a few trophies on display including a lion, polar bear and bull elephant head on the wall. Flat screens were everywhere and a full bar was the centerpiece. Everything considered it was on the verge of tacky but I think they pull it off well enough.

 

Overall, the course design was great with elevation changes, differing hole design and plenty of difficulty. I believe that if the wind is blowing the Florida Open scores will be rather high, if not there's a chance a few will break par depending how far they play it, it can be tipped out at over 7400. I had a blast playing it and did not feel ripped off by the $100 rate that I paid like at some courses I've played. If you ever find the chance to play, take it. My write up and pictures do not give it full justice.

 

Now for the important part, pictures:

 

Driving Range

 

 

Clubhouse

 

 

First hole

 

Downhill downwind, simple as long as you don't hook.

 

Second hole

 

Forced carry over water but lots of room to miss short. Just don't miss hit it twice :(

 

Third hole

 

I was playing the 2nd farthest tee box. The carry is roughly 200 yards maybe just a tad shorter. Off to the right is a bail out area, really interesting idea.

 

Fourth hole

 

Really downhill then an uphill approach shot. I love hitting off really elevated tees which you just don't see much of in FL.

 

7th hole approach

 

Best view on the whole course. Downhill shot to a pretty large green, all you see is water behind the hole and the clubhouse off in the distance.

 

9th hole

Forgot to take a picture but forced carry off the tee then you hit over a ravine of sort to the green. Very cool hole.

 

10th hole

 

Par 5, hard dogleg right. I had a little over 220 to the flag for my second shot but decided to play it safe and lay up. I suspect quite a few players will be going for it during the tourney.

 

16th hole

 

Downhill downwind par 3 playing at 220. Water is maybe 10 feet over the green, not a super tough hole but can play mind games.

 

17th hole

 

My ball barely made it over the water but was still able to get it to the green on the next shot. The green is elevated quite a bit so if you hit a long iron it's almost always over. This had some pretty tough greenside angles to add that little extra of difficulty.

 

18th hole

 

Great finishing hole. forced carry but large landing area. Way uphill second short with a 2 tiered green, great way to finish your round.

 

Obligatory Flag Blowing pic

 

If that was an ordinary fiberglass poll it'd be more dramatic.

[the_coondog]

Living in Vero and having played here a few times , Quail is just an amazing place that could stack up as well as any course in the state. Facilities, clubhouse , course are fantastic and the staff is always great to talk with. A must play, when the conditions are prime, there's not many courses better!

[bvmagic]

That course looks amazing! Thanks for the review and pics.

[krcno]

Very good review! Having played there numerous times, the pictures do Quail no justice. Very beautiful course.....Staff is very friendly and they make you feel very welcome. When the wind is blowing, the course gets a lot harder. Very fair course in my opinion. Well worth the trip if you are within a couple of hours away.

[krcno]

Any more reviews of this great place?

[thechief16]

I can confirm everything the original poster says. Great set up, staff was awesome and the course was in immaculate condition. I played from 6000 yards (whites I think) since I was playing with my old man and his buddies (in their 70s). Best course I have played in VB.