Deer Creek Golf Club — Attraction in Deerfield Beach

Golf enthusiasts will be happy to know that the Greater Fort Lauderdale area is also packed with a plethora of golf courses that are accessible to the public. Deer Creek Golf Club in Deerfield Beach is one such course. Deer Creek is an upscale public golf facility with an 18-hole championship course designed by Arthur Hills. Deer Creek is known for its undulation and rolling landscape and the consistently fast and smooth TifEagle putting surfaces. The course opened in 1971 and has hosted many prestigious professional and amateur golf tournaments including the 2003 USGA Senior Open Championship, 2002 USGA Amateur Championship, and the LPGA Tour’s Mazda Classic from 1979-1984. Other accolades include “Best Golf Course in Broward” (South Florida Sun Sentinel), “Four Stars” (Golf Digest Magazine), “Top Two Golf Courses in South Florida” (Golf Magazine), and “Top 100 Courses for Women” by Golf for Women Magazine.

In addition to a challenging golf course, Deer Creek has one of the best practice facilities in the area with a full-length driving range, putting green, sand traps, and chipping areas. Deer Creek offers several challenging holes, but nothing can make or break a round quicker than the last two. Number 17 is a short par 4 that plays 335 yards from the White tees and features a large pot bunker in the middle of the landing area off the tee. If you can fly it, by all means do so but don’t push your tee shot right, or you’ll be faced with a small cluster of palm trees about 120 yards out. Your approach shot is to a small angled and elevated green guarded in front by a bunker. A back-left pin position can be tricky because the green is tough to hold and slopes to the back left. Anything long will be a tough up and down.

Oceanic at Pompano Beach Pier is dedicated to capturing the energy of the Pompano Beach revitalization. Oceanic is owned by LM Restaurants who also own the Beach House next door. Oceanic offers indoor and outdoor seating and the ocean liner-inspired design provides an open interior with expansive and uninterrupted ocean views. Oceanic offers superior steak and seafood dishes. Their Brussels Sprouts appetizer with a horseradish and maple sauce is a must-try. After your main course, be sure to try one of Oceanic’s fabulous desserts including Key Lime Crème Brulee or Fat Elvis Pie, an interesting selection that combines all of the King’s favorites: peanut butter (ganache), banana (cream filling), and chocolate, all on a graham cracker crust.

Celebrity Chef Fabio Viviani now has his own restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. Riviera by Fabio Viviani is located in Hotel Maren on A1A and is part of Hilton’s Curio Hotel Collection. The food is considered coastal Italian cuisine; to me, it was simply delicious, probably the best meal I have ever had in almost 20 years of writing about golf travel. The signature meatball appetizer (Polpetti Di Fabio) was incredible, the Salt Spring Mussels were plump and delectable and my wife’s Mishima Reserve Wagyu Steak was the best I’ve ever tasted. I’m surprised she let me have a bite! If you’re there for Sunday brunch be sure to try their new Tootsie Roll drink. It’s the perfect breakfast drink.

While in the area, you’ll need a place to lay your head at night. I strongly suggest Cottages By The Ocean on SE 3rd St. in Pompano Beach. Not only are they centrally located to several public-accessible golf courses, but they’re also a block and a half from the beach and all kinds of restaurants and nightlife. These 1940s-era cottages and one-bedroom bungalows offer full kitchens with range, refrigerator, and microwave, a complete living room, and a king-size bed. They’ve also got you covered if you're headed to the beach with beach chairs, wakeboards, and beach toys. Owner Elaine Fitzgerald likes to greet each guest personally and when you see her ask her for some restaurant recommendations. She’s been in the area a long time and is well-connected. She has several similar properties in the area so if the Cottages By The Ocean are booked, check out her...

My recent experience at Deer Creek prompts me to share some observations and concerns, with the hope that future couples considering this venue may benefit from our insights. We initially chose Deer Creek based on its outstanding reputation and commendable reviews, but unfortunately, our experience did not align with these positive accounts.

Leading up to the wedding, we were pretty low maintenance. Hailey checked in every once in a while, we had a few questions but nothing crazy. However, around 10 or 11 days out we had final guest count due to the venue along with a final invoice. Hailey went on vacation during this time and nobody in the Deer Creek event staff could be reached. We sent many emails and copied multiple people to make sure they were going to the right place and did not receive a response. The phone would ring and nobody would answer, we left voicemails that were not returned. After a few days of not getting a response I had to send an email to the general manager to get someone from catering to reach out to me and finalize the details of the wedding. Finally after we heard back from Kylee the new Catering Manger, the ball started rolling in the right direction or so it seemed. She was underwhelming with her knowledge of how the venue operated or even the wedding industry as a whole. Even the smallest task seemed to rattle her and cause her to tailspin. We had to go sit down with her one night and go over all of the mistakes on the contract, and even after that the updated one still needed corrections. It was a battle to get the contract correct and finalized. Not to mention not what you want to deal with the days leading up to your wedding.

During the rehearsal, the day of coordinator was out sick so we had someone else from the venue step in. It was very clunky probably due to her inexperience leading these kind of event which is understandable, but it is a little bit of a problem to me that they do not have solidified backups to such important roles.

On the wedding day itself, despite adhering to specified timings in our BEO, there was a notable absence of greeters when we (the bridal party) or when guest arrived. The day of coordinator that Deer Creek provides per the contract was not present once again that day and the General Manager Marty expected other staff that had responsibilities in the kitchen and dinning room to pick the slack up. Fortunately our parents and vendors stepped up in place of the designated coordinator but there was still unnecessary stress felt behind the scenes knowing the coordinator was not there. The coordinator was very important the day of to be the liaison between us, the venue and the vendors.

My wife’s wedding dress encountered issues due to unclean floors throughout the venue, which made it extremely dirty before even reaching the ceremony. The bridal suite had cleanliness issues, including dead cockroaches and dirt under the rug. Marty the General Manager did offer to cover cleaning expenses but that is beside the point and does not really fix the issue nor did he tell us how he wanted to cover it and since stopped responding to my emails.

Despite these challenges, our wedding day was ultimately memorable, thanks to the exceptional performance of our top-tier vendors who displayed extensive knowledge of the venue and the wedding industry. It's unfortunate to note that our previous communication addressing these concerns also went unanswered from Marty.

In sharing our experience, our intent is not to discourage but to provide constructive feedback for the improvement of Deer Creek which they seemed to ignore and not want to grow from. We had high expectations based on the venue's reputation, and while our wedding day was special, it was in spite of the challenges faced at Deer Creek.

We believe in the potential of Deer Creek as a wedding venue and hope that our feedback contributes to ongoing enhancements, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable experience for...

First I would like to stress that the venue is an absolute gorgeous place to have a wedding and Giselle the day of manager was absolutely amazing!!! Giselle made my day extra special despite what I went through with the event manager Stephanie and the owner Marty. My review is based on the treatment I received dealing with those two. I booked my event 2 years in advance and was dealing with a wonderful manager by the name Bridgette. 2 months before my wedding when it was time to do my food tasting.. I found out Bridgette left. The new manager never introduced herself at all to me. 2 weeks before my wedding there was a discrepancy on what was told to me about the ceremony. Stephanie was completely rude and spoke to me as if I was a no body. She was extremely condescending! When I asked to schedule a meeting with her boss she called Marty had words with him in front of me and hung up. She said that his response was he never made and exception before and he will not start now. I said I asked you to set up a meeting with him. She calls Marty back and he refused to set up time with me and she said his response was it will be a short call. By that time I was furious about how I was being dealt with. Marty called me the next day and when I expressed my dissatisfaction on how I was being treated and that I am paying thousands of dollars to host a venue there. He said to me he host hundreds of events and he doesn’t need my money. When I asked to speak to his boss he told me there is no one above him but God!! I COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT AN ESTABLISHMENT HAS SUCH NASTY PEOPLE WORKING FOR THEM. When I asked him do you think that’s appropriate to say to a paying customer he literally started yelling at me!! I ended up hanging the phone up on him. Your wedding should be an enjoyable time in your life and these 2 ppl made my wedding HELL! I literally did not want to having a wedding anymore. Marty, you may host hundreds of events but if you do not change your attitude and you staff attitude that number can quickly change! This place does not deserve to have someone like Giselle. You can tell she really cares for her job and enjoys the type of work she does. Hopefully, Marty as the owner changes how he deals with his customers and trains his staff better although I believe he is to arrogant to see the flaws. Beware!! The new managers are nice when you are looking around but once you are locked in there attitudes quickly change or maybe its because they want certain clientele there now. If these two were there when I first booked I would have gladly taken my business...