Hox

The course was in absolutely fantastic shape, the greens in superb condition. So with great weather and a course in excellent shape - you have to expect all tee times will be completely filled ... and they were. Surprisingly the round was played in 4 +35 , so kudos to the golfers for doing their best to "keep things moving".

We played this course on Friday the week of The Players (the day after The Players was canceled in March 2020).
With thousands of golfers visiting the St Augustine / Ponte Vedra / Jacksonville area looking for a course to play on beautiful day ... the Slammer and Squire like every other nice course in the area was very busy.
Still, the staff was on top of it and kept the pace of play moving right along. The staff was friendly and accommodating, even when it got a bit crazy out there.
The course was in great shape (to be expected in mid-March in North Florida); the greens were rolling true and the fairways were in excellent shape.
As most reviews have mentioned - it's not the toughest course in the area, but for a mid to high teens handicapper playing from the correct tees - its a good course to hit a wide variety of shots.
I'll definitely play this course again.

South Hampton golf course remains a great place to get a round of golf in. The greens are in great shape, the rest of the course is in good shape (considering it’s the end of December. Pace of play was outstanding considering the course was jammed packed. Played 18 holes in 4+15 with very minimal wait (under 30 seconds) on a couple oh holes.

When we booked our tee times with the course directly - they did not mention the greens had been punched and sanded earlier in the week. Nor did they mention it when we paid our fees, nor did they offer any type of discount. The front nine greens were OK, mostly playable with little impact from the maintenance. The back nine was a completely different story. Every green had lots of sand on them and the ball bounced like it was going across year's old asphalt. Only one drinking station per nine is completely unsatisfactory, considering the heat and humidity in mid-June. At least a third of the tee boxes were nothing more than weed patches interspersed throughout a pile of sand.
The real grip is the fact the course expects golfers to pay full greens fees under these extremely poor course conditions. I'd recommend staying as far away from this course as possible, unless you like wasting your time and money on a very poorly kept up course.

As most of the reviews state - you'll not find any better greens on a non-resort golf course than you find here.
The fairways are plenty wide to hit, but good luck trying to find your ball should you venture off the fairway much. There are so many leaves and uncut weeds just a few feet off the fairway throughout the whole course - you'll spend more time than you should have to trying to locate your ball.
Poor attention to detail gripe #1:
There is not a drop of drinking water on the course - This has been brought up to the staff several times the past few years. There is water available at the clubhouse and vending machines on the course (at least one per nine holes) but $3 for a sugary drink ... c'mon staff - spend a few bucks to put a couple of water jugs out there on each side !
Poor attention to detail gripe #2:
Who's bright idea is it to allow people to use the 10th fairway as a practice range during open play on a Sunday afternoon? I hit a fairly nice drive, clearing the crest of the fairway and staying right in the middle (to avoid all the afore mentioned leaves and tall weeds off the fairway) ... I drive up to find 75+ golf balls scattered throughout the middle of the fairway as a couple was using the down slope side of the hole as a driving range. If this was my first time on the course - I'd think - oh a couple of rude golfers. However - as this is my 5th or 6th time out here in the past few years - this appears to be a standard practice - to use the 10th fairway as a range. A half dozen to a dozen balls - OK - I can live with that. BUT 75+ golf balls ... it took me several minutes to sort through them all to find mine and of course the couple just kept hitting them out on the fairway as our group played through.

Great greens you have ... but poor attention to other course details and your course is only a half a step away from being a "basic public" course !

The course was in excellent shape, the greens were relatively smooth, with the balls taking just a few "errant" turns. The landing areas off the tee box are plenty wide although there well placed bunkers on most all fairways.
One area that could use some attention are the various bunkers. There was little to no consistency from bunker to bunker on the firmness of the sand.
As far as "non-golf items:
The carts are gas powered with a 5-10 second delay before they start moving,
There is plenty of water to drink on the course.
The front nine is carved out of farmland, the back nine winds through a housing area, however the houses rarely come into play.

I would play this course again

Course. Was in good shape for mid-Feb in Central Florida. Layout was challenging yet very fair, greens were. In very good shape.
I plan to add this course to my short list of courses to play in central Florida.

Even though the staff was very friendly, my first impressions was "this place needs a lot of basic upkeep work".
The paint on the tee markers was so faded there was virtually no difference between the black, blue or white tee markers. However, once we started playing the Forest course, I realized the layout was going to make this a nice round of golf.
The fairways were in decent shape, however as to be expected in the middle of a Florida winter, grass is not growing, so there were plenty of bare areas outside the fairway. Greens were in decent shape, the ball rolled mostly true on the greens. Just wish more golfers would repair their divots as almost every green had 9-10 divots requiring attention. Our 4-some spent 2-3 minutes on each green just fixing divots.
In general with some water the course conditions would drastically improve ... especially since it appears the course is getting a lot of rounds played.
I'll return later in the spring to see if conditions improve before I add this to my regular rotation of course to be played in the Tampa area.

A very pleasant surprise for a public course in town full of golfing options.
From the extremely friendly staff, to a course in excellent condiiton which offered enough challenges for this mid-level handicap golfer, to a fantastic clubhouse .... Hibiscus was a true gem.
If you discount it just because it's a public course - you'll miss out on a great golfing opportunity.
I'll definitely play it again next time I'm in Naples.

This is a very good course to play. Fairways have ample landing room, greens are smooth, firm and relatively flat. Heavy rains in previous days required most holes to be cart path only, however the fairways were still very playable. The course is well worth the money paid to play.

Staff is very friendly and helpful. The course was in very good shape. The layout from the Gold tees was challenging but very playable. Couldn't ask more for the money I paid. Will definitely make the drive from Tampa to play again.