LouisvilleDrew

We played Baytowne on Thursday 6.24.21 and our tee time was at 11:42. We showed up to the property around 11:00 went through the normal check-in process, hit a few complimentary range balls and rolled a few putts. Pretty standard pre-round stuff. At approximately 11:30, we headed towards the first tee and met the starter there and handled our business with him - so far, so good. After taking care of our business with the starter, we made our way to the first tee box where there was a twosome waiting to tee off. "No big deal" we thought. We figured the twosome would play relatively quickly and wouldn't hold us up at all (we were a foursome after all). Wrong. We didn't end up teeing off until approximately 11:50. This was a little frustrating considering you have assigned tee times and a starter who should be there to at least see that everyone tees off at their assigned time to help with pace of play. I was willing to look past this as I thought once we got the round going, things would be fine. Wrong again. We waited, on average, between 5-10 minutes on every single shot from that point until the 12th tee. Dreadfully slow.

After our 3 hour round front nine, one of the guys in our group called the pro shop to see if we could speed things up just a little bit. Once we got to the 12th tee, a gentleman from the clubhouse came out and spoke with the twosome in front of us and the foursome in front of them (they were all together, although playing as a foursome and twosome). After he said whatever he said to them, he came back and instructed us that the guys in front of us were willing to let us play through and that they had even threatened to quit their round (mind you, we had no idea what he said to them that would illicit such a response). He then proceeded to tell us that the whole course was backed up and that the people in front of us were not the issue and that there was really nothing he could do. Wrong answer - if the course is backed up, there is a group somewhere on the course that is the root cause - find them and tell them to play faster. Moments later, the twosome and foursome in front of us drove back down the 12th hole and told us that they were quitting.

From this point, we played holes 12-18 in 1 hour and 10 minutes and did not run into a single group until we were hitting our approach shots into 18 green. I'm not sure why the gentleman from the pro shop acted in the manner in which he did and told us that the whole course was backed up. The carts are GPS enabled and I would imagine that you can pretty well tell exactly what hole every cart on the property is on.

Nevertheless, as we pulled up to the pro shop to return our carts from 18 green, the cart attendant asked us how our round was and was just trying to make casual small talk. We told him that it was pretty slow but once the group in front of us called it quits, we played pretty quickly. He told us that we were the 4th group that day who had taken issue with the pace of play and encouraged us to go and talk to the pro. Given the response we received on 12 tee when we tried to get the pace of play to be a reasonable 4.5 hour round, we chose to pack our things and not waste our breath.

Other than the absurd treatment noted above, the course conditions are what I would consider below average for a $112 price tag. For example, there were numerous tee boxes with crab grass taking over and the fairway bunker on 8 did not have a single granule of sand in it. Ironic considering the beach is no more than a mile away, but I digress. The layout of the course is a fun one that definitely lends itself to a good score if you're striking the ball well.

That being said, we played at another course about 15 miles north of Santa Rosa earlier in the week that was 10 dollars cheaper and 10 times nicer. We also played it in right at 4 hours.

If you choose to play Baytowne, I hope your experience is better than the one that my group and the many groups behind us had that day.

Played this course while on vacation on 6.21.2021. I hadn't played here before, but I remember checking it out online on previous trips to the Destin area. I remember always being kind of hesitant because it's about 10-15 miles north of Santa Rosa and we always thought this was kind of out of the way. Well, with the traffic situation in Destin and Sandestin, if you're staying near Santa Rosa or Rosemary Beach, this is a no brainer, as you'll likely make your trip faster here & back than you would going further into the Destin area.

This course really was a great all around experience. The course itself is very well manicured and each hole presented a unique challenge, which I really enjoy. The tees range from under 6k yards to nearly 8k yards, so whether you're a bomber or a little shorter off the tee, you can find a set that fits your eye.

The only knocks I have on Windswept are the range and the clubhouse. I would expect for a $100 green fee to have some range balls included. I think that's a fair ask for that price tag. The only other thing I found lacking at Windswept was the clubhouse. It just seemed to be a little underwhelming given how nice the golf course is. But let's be clear, neither of those things impact the quality of golf when you get out on the course. I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone and I will happily play it again the next time I am in the area.

This was the first time I've played Victoria, but everyone I spoke to who had played it previously emphasized the importance of getting off the tee - boy were they right. The fairways are wide, but if you miss them, you're toast. There is very little rough between the fairway and the native grass and if you're lucky enough to find your ball in the native grass (which I was on 2 occasions) it is strictly a hack job. This area of the country has not gotten any rain in about 2 months (not an exaggeration), but you would never know it. The fairways were lush and pure and what little rough there was was long and thick. The greens were okay. You could tell the staff was trying to preserve them as best they could, but when it's 96 degrees on October 1st and it hasn't rained in months, they staff can only do so much. I have played several different "tour level" courses and this one easily ranks up there with all of them. If they really wanted to, this could place could host a tour event no question. If you get a chance to play here, take advantage, but be sure to have your driver/fairway wood in check.

We played this course on a Wednesday mid-morning and the weather was outstanding. It was a bit windy, but it was 80 degrees and very sunny. The course layout is fantastic. Scenic views and every hole was unique, which I always appreciate. We played from the tips at about 7,100 yards and this course was very challenging from that distance, but mainly for one reason. The greens, while massive in size, are pretty gimmicky. Every green was tiered and had crazy undulation. While this is fine for some holes, it got to be pretty annoying as the round went on. The green speeds were fair (my guess is they were rolling around an 11) and they were in great shape, but when you're putts remind you of putting on a putt-putt course, that's when it goes just a little too far. One other gripe I had is that for $95 mid-week, I would've expected the carts to have GPS or a yardage book to be provided. That is a pretty steep rate for non-gps equipped carts. I know these reviews generally only highlight the negative aspects of a golf course, which isn't really fair, so I'll touch on a few of the positives. As I mentioned before, the views were incredible. There are a couple of holes where you can see for miles, which was really cool. The course was impeccably manicured. Fairways were quick, rough was fair, and the greens were sharp. The practice area was great, as well. Huge driving range with 7 (I think) different locations to hit from. The putting green was massive - plenty of space for many people to warm-up beforehand. The pro shop was great - the lady inside was very friendly and if you're looking for a keepsake from this RTJ course, you'll certainly find it in there. All in all, I would absolutely play this course again (and likely will at some point), but just beware that the greens, while great in quality, are likely going to frustrate you at some point during your round.

I have played this course several times over the last couple of years. My in-laws live in Evansville and anytime we come to visit, this is always the place I like to play. It is links style course, which I'm a huge fan of. That being said, I played here on 8/11 (Saturday) and our tee time was for 11 am. I understand that is pretty much the definition of primetime on a Saturday, but what I experienced was truly remarkable. Our group was a 4some made up of 2 single digit handicappers and 1 guy who is about a 10 and another who is probably closer to a 20. I say this only to give context - it wasn't as if we were striping the ball down the middle of the fairway and hitting it tight on every green. We played the front 9 in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Just an unacceptable amount of time. I called the pro shop at the turn (9 green & 10 tee takes you to a halfway house instead of the clubhouse) to see if they might be able to send out somebody to get the group in front of us (a 3some) to pick up the pace a little bit. When I called, the guy in the clubhouse said that he was the only one there and there was nothing he could do. Nothing you can do on a Saturday morning/early afternoon to enforce pace of play? That is absolutely the incorrect answer. He should have had the bartender watch the pro shop while he took 5 minutes to ride out to the 10th fairway to speed things up. Or lock the pro shop doors for a few minutes. At this point, there were 3 (three!) groups waiting on the tee at 10 all because of a 3some of hacks kept searching in the weeds for their errant tee shots.

I love this course - I really do - but they've got to do something about pace of play here. You cannot have groups taking 5.5 hours to play a round of golf. That is a quick way to lose business. I understand that Saturdays are slower because there are more people there, but just have a ranger (or someone in the pro shop) come out every 15 minutes or so just to make sure people are keeping up.

Oh I forgot to mention that I played this course about a month ago and had the exact same issue. That time, we skipped 10 & 11 and drove over to the 12th tee and played the remaining 7 holes in an hour and 10 minutes. They really need to get the pace of play issue figured out here.

We played here on 8/2/18 for about $60. The course was in pretty decent shape, but this was our third round down in the Bradenton area this week and it was the most expensive and compared to the other 2 courses, it was not even in the same ballpark in terms of niceness. Don't get me wrong, this course is nice, but we made the turn in exactly 2 hours and the ranger came out and tried to hurry us and the foursome in front of us along, which rubbed me the wrong way. Additionally, the carts did not have GPS and there were a ton of tee shots where water & bunkers came into play and we had no idea how far away those hazards were... It just seems to me that for the price they were charging, they should've provided GPS-enabled carts or a yardage book. We played Waterlefe and Lakewood National earlier this week and both of those places are both nicer & cheaper. I'd come back here again, but would be hesitant to pay $60. I'd play the other two aforementioned courses 5x before I'd play here again.

We played this course on 7/31/18 for about $50 and this place was spectacular. We were running tight on time, so we were unable to utilize the range & practice greens, which turned out to be unfortunate, but this place was absolutely immaculate. The course is extremely challenging - I played one up from the tips and I only had 9 iron or less into a par 4 twice the entire day. They said the greens were rolling at a 10.0, but I have a hard time believing that.. They were extremely quick and if you got above the hole, you'd better pray you hit the back of the cup or else you're going to have a 7 footer coming back. If you're looking for a challenge, you're not going to find more of one for the price. This place was truly incredible. I will definitely be back.

We played here on 7/29/18 for our first round of our weeklong Florida trip. I booked our tee time online for $49 per player. When I booked the tee time, there was no mention of any specials... When we got to the clubhouse, the gentleman inside took our $50 and notified us that our round included a sleeve of ProVs - what an unexpected treat. Additionally, our $50 included range balls... So in essence, we paid $30 for the round and let me tell you, if you can play this course for that $50 price point, do yourself a favor and do so. It is absolutely incredible. There are water features on every single hole on the course, which makes it very challenging, but if you can control your golf ball and your distances moderately well, you can score here. The course conditions were absolutely fantastic. I truly cannot speak highly enough of this place... I just hope the rest of our trip includes places as nice as this!

I played here while on vacation during the week of July 4th. The layout of the course is great and the rough is very playable; however, the greens were in terrible condition in my opinion. They were extremely bumpy with poa grass coming through. For $100 I would expect the course to be in better shape. If the greens were smooth, then I would say it's worth the money. Otherwise, I wouldn't play it again.