Emerald Bay Golf Club — Attraction in Florida

We played at Emerald Bay recently and the course was in pretty good shape overall. We were told that the range may or may not be open when we got there early for our tee time. It was a little challenging because we were coming from a little farther away and being told before hand the range might be open or might not be open was a little weird. They were mowing.

We ended up getting to hit balls on the range and it was mats only. The mats were hard as a rock and were in rough shape.

Once we started the starter was super great and we ended up teeing off a little earlier than the tee time. Once we were on the course I would say the course overall was in really good shape. Tee boxes, fairways, and greens were great and the greens rolled true. There was lots of water and the bunkers were also in great shape. Didn’t really feel like the course had many “signature” holes besides the one on the back with the ocean as the back drop. Overall I really enjoyed the course and felt the conditions and pace of play were really great!

One more good thing is they had basically a 1/2 off Junior rate. Other courses in the area that I called didn’t have any Junior rate and that was one of the reasons I ended up coming here.

The biggest negative about the course and the reason I gave it 4 stars was the knats. I think this would likely prevent me from coming back. Probably one of the worst experiences I have ever had with knats. They were all over us the whole entire day besides the few holes by the bay. There wasn’t any breeze and maybe that was the culprit. But it was almost unplayable at multiple times for my son and I because we were getting swarmed by knats...

Emerald bay is a nice golf course nestled in a subdivision in between Fort Walton and Destin.From the get go, the bag drop attendants are friendly and are very eager to help you as far as directing you where to go, they load your bags and make sure to ask who is driving, which is always nice.

The pro shop is well stocked and the people working are very nice and it was clean and very well taken care of. We checked in and were told range balls are complimentary, which is always a plus.

The carts were in good condition and the GPS seemed right on target and you could tell had been adjusted for the days pin placements.

We started right on time and the course was well manicured. From the tee boxes that we played from it was pretty tight off the tee but the course is very rewarding if you hit the fairways. The fairways are receptive if you can battle the wind, which switches directions at a moments notice. The tee-boxes look like they have taken a good beating and could use some TLC, but not unusual for a course that gets a lot of traffic. The greens however had been recently punched and top dressed, and while I understand that is a necessity, some places it appeared to have been over done, making putting on some holes nearly impossible to get a good roll. Bunkers were well maintained and I would say standard condition for Florida golf.

Pace of play was surprisingly good considering the amount of people on the course which is always a plus and the rangers seemed intent on keeping people on pace.

Overall, a good course if you can get a deal, but definitely wouldn't bust the budget...

To whom it may concern,

I got to play your course yesterday for the first time, as I am a local resident of Santa Rosa Beach, FL. I have to say what a great course, and I was interested becoming a member. A few situation though....I got a golfnow deal for 1157am tee time yesterday (4/8/20) and it's sad they charge just a bit more to your price (not really your fault), but my group and I showed up and there's like 12 people or more on the first tee box at our tee time (plus they where 5somes), then the starter/outside guy said go off the 10th tee as the owner/manager he said was going off the front side with his group, so we could tee off on time (so I can understand that) but we showed up to 10tee and there's a group making the turn they where MAD that we where on the wrong tee (that was unpleasant).....while playing I notice alot of groups around with 5somes (I guess it's the thing there)......now when we got done with the 18th green we head over to the 1st tee and find 2 groups teeing off and a single lady golfer (yet again one of those groups a 5 some).....so about a 20min wait to tee off. Just kinda careless setup as a paying customer, also my friends in my group felt the same way, well hey look at it this way your CART GIRL (Melissa I believe was her name) got alot of business from us (easily $100+ in purchases) she was a awesome lady. But all in all on behalf of my group we felt pushed around, plus waiting and waiting on every shot with all those 5 somes around. I hope this could/can...