Roll Call: Duval

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Oak Marsh in Amelia is legit, probably my favorite accessible course in the area.

ABCC where they held the web.com tour championship is also awesome. It’s fully private though.

St. John’s CC is usually in really good shape with fast greens. Not a super interesting layout but the conditions are always nice. Eagle Landing is similar in that regard - very well maintained for the price.

Interested to see how jax beach turns out after the renovations. To me though they need to step up maintenance bigtime or the renovations won’t matter. I live at the beach but never play there because the conditions are always awful. I know the NLU guys like playing it though. The course was always in such bad shape that I could never really appreciate the layout.

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I agree with you 100% on Jax Beach. I’m not going to let my hopes get too high because I feel like they’re going to cheap out on maintenance.

Don’t get me wrong, Jax Beach will always have a place in my heart since it was where I learned the game (RIP Hugh McCracken), but the conditions have been awful for so long it’s hard to justify spending my time and money there, especially when compared to place like Eagle Landing and Oak Marsh.

And I’m not looking to start any trouble, but I just don’t get the Hyde Park thing. I get that it’s an interesting, old school layout. It’s also in terrible shape most of the time and fails to drain on certain holes after any significant rain. Maybe if I had the time to play a lot more I would appreciate a goat track; at the moment I’d rather play a boring course in solid condition.

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Oh man, you’re gonna get the boys fired up talking bad about Hyde Park. I completely agree, although it’s been a long time since I’ve played there and my knowledge of architecture was spotty at best then. I did not much like hitting a good drive on one of the holes and having the ball nail a power line and bounce back behind me though…

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Gotta say, that’s just a lack of local course knowledge. Gotta use the proper #traj and hit under ‘em.

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Different strokes for different folks!

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This was way before I knew what traj was and was a kid that didn’t pay attention to stuff like that…

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Posted in another thread but this group may be experts:
We’ve got a group of 8 that does a trip at end of February each year. We’re eyeing Jax this year - stay in Jax Beach, drive up to 45 min to a course. Course recs that are public or allow public for a day without a lot of hoops?

From this thread and others on here, I’ve seen and dug a little in to World Golf Village, Southampton, St John, Hidden Hills, Eagle Landing, Amelia Plantation and Oak Marsh.

Budget - We like to get 18 a day for Thurs-Sat booked for 8 and let the individuals add on a morning/afternoon for 36 or quick 9s, Sunday morning at their discretion. We go decent quality/value 2 days, and one slightly better for Fri or Sat. This allows a budget breaker like TPC for those that want to add on.

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Jax Beach Golf Club should be on your list, for sure. The re-open is this weekend and all 18 greens completely re-done, new bunkers, new tees, best value you’ll find.

Ponte Vedra Inn & Club has two very good courses, Ocean ($) and Lagoon. Lagoon is short, quirky, and scoreable, which might be a great afternoon option close to where you are staying. Ocean can be a beast when the wind is blowing even though it’s not incredibly long, but has some of the best holes in the area, wide fairways, big bunkers, lots of undulation. Really good option.

King & Bear at WGV is solid. Good conditions, several good holes, plenty of stuff to do/see in St. Augustine. I’ve not played Slammer & Squire but I’m told I’m not missing much.

Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass is a much better value than the Stadium course, but I can understand why people coming from out of town would want to play the kahuna. Still, DV has excellent conditions, a bunch of good holes (par 3s in particular) and the same top-tier hospitality without the price tag, cart path only, and 5.5 hour round.

St. John’s Golf and Country Club is another solid track for a good price that always has good conditions. Eagle Landing is the same. Nothing that will blow you away but you’ll get good-enough golf for the money. SJGCC is in the same general area as King and Bear, so you may want to loop in K&B and SJGCC together.

Oak Marsh packs a good punch and the drive out there is great, especially early in the morning. Resort pricey, but lots of Dye-isms and plenty of marsh holes that give some good panoramas.

If you guys have any private club members in your group, it may be worthwhile to have one of your Pros call down to Atlantic Beach CC (great course super close to where you are staying), Jacksonville G&CC (among the best conditions you’ll find anywhere and a short drive), or Sawgrass CC to see if something could be worked out as a reciprocal. 8 guys might be hard to do but it doesnt hurt to ask about a Thursday when the courses aren’t as full. Depending on how elite your clubs are, maybe even try Timuquana, Plantation, or San Jose. Harder to get on but 3 of the top courses in the area.

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Very thorough reply, much appreciated and I’ll dig on in!

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North/South Hampton are both pretty good as well, I like North myself. Queens Harbor is also fun, though my parents live there and I am partial to it, but price is usually really good, and it has some very interesting holes/greens. If you could somehow get on Timuquana, Plantation, or San Jose, that is the trifecta, 3 amazing courses. Another one that isn’t well known is White Oak Plantation, it’s a private animal preserve with a 9 hole course that has 2 sets of tees that make it play like an 18 hole course. Have heard it’s amazing and you can call and get out with little problem. Everyone I’ve talked to that played it said it was amazing.

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Grew up in North Florida (Palatka) and had never heard of White Oak so I just googled it. Are they building a second nine? Check out google maps aerial: Dropped Pin
near Nassau County, FL
https://goo.gl/maps/YxZibkE4eNk

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Doubt it, has been there a long time and seems to have plenty of money to be able to do it, but the land is for the animals I think.

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Thanks for the recs, will hopefully have some fun anecdotes to report back with in March.

We landed on a warm up at Jax Beach, SJGCC, Southampton, and with your tip, had a guy have his pro reach out and got on at Atlantic Beach CC.

Now we may have lost our 8th on the trip, and could be following with a post of who on here wants to fill in on a team/4some in a “NLU Refugee” slot on various days.

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Jax Beach - greens were great and so was pace of play. Caught the winter rate of $20!
SJGCC - Played in a storm, but enjoyable track. Plenty of chances to put up a big number. Greens held up fairly well in the storms, gathered some puddles but that was expected, impressed not more given the volume of rains (the only idiots out there).
Southampton - Greens were real beat and unpredictable.
Atlantic Beach CC - Loved it, great facility, thanks for the rec.

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I can’t say that I was the biggest fan of Orange Park the one time I played it, but it’s never great to see courses close up shop like this without warning.

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Booked for Jax Beach Sunday morning before heading to The Gold Standard. Then booked SJGCC for Monday morning with possibly another 9 at Jax Beach before heading to the airport. Hoping the weather holds up for the weekend.

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Damn. I always seemed to be playing it in junior tournaments when I was there. I have a lot of memories on that track, including my most “NoLayingUp” moment ever. A few course highlights as well as my memories:

#13
GCA porn here with a large oak tree in the DEAD CENTER of the fairway. The Refuge is therapy for holes like this. 15 years later I now know that I wasn’t wrong for hating it, the architect was wrong for building it.

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#15
Par-5 with water right from 150 in. Great memory here: Hit a perfect tee shot. Should I lay up since I don’t trust my 3-wood? You’re damn right I should. Screw it. Pull the 3-wood, hit a slice into the pond. Damn. Drop at approximately 80 out in the right rough. Knuckle ball out of the rough lands about 4 feet short of the hole and trickles in for your run-of-the-mill birdie 4. Fortune favors the bold!

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#16
Tree-lined Tee shot calls for a draw and I’ve always struggled to turn it over. Hit an absolutely gorgeous tee shot that follows the shape of the hole perfectly and gives me 100 out. Green light. Promptly shank the wedge into the thickest woods you can imagine. Double Bogey. Golf is a humbling game…

16%20OPCC

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Hi Everyone!

My name is Wes and looking to play more this year! Always up for a game, I live in St. Johns County but work in Duval.

Possibly looking for a game at Jax Beach this Monday.

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Hey Wes, I won’t be around this Monday but I get out to Jax Beach quite a bit.

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Woh. I liked this course, sad to see it go.

#13 was dumb, but I am able to drive it and land my ball around the tree. With the runout, that’s a non-issue. My playing partners who always hit iron to lay up behind it confused the hell out of me. People watch pros hit irons and do it way too damn often, playing “smart” and getting themselves into more trouble than they should.