Best golf courses near Seaside, FL

It takes vision to build a good golf course on a flat property, especially one with little variation in trees or landscape. It takes courage to build one without resorting to digging out lakes or creating big manmade features to dress up the site. Mark and Davis Love III, along with lead architect Scot Sherman, showed both at The Third, the third course at the large Watersound development in Northwest Florida. Located just north of the Shark’s Tooth course in an enclave west of Panama City Beach, The Third plays in isolation through corridors of a flat pine forest that could easily turn a round into a monotonous one if not handled creatively.The designers played their hand smartly by allowing the golf rather than eye candy to do the talking through broad, fast-running fairways and intriguing green complexes, some perched above roll offs and others playing at fairway grade. Everything is low-profile and simplified without unnecessary adornment, just tees, attractive bunkers and greens. The tight turf makes the game surprisingly links-like—you need to pick your line and hit it, and most putting surfaces set up for bouncing shots. That’s not to say The Third without its own kind of flair. Features like the Biarritz-inspired putting surface at the par-4 seventh or the wavy, 50-yard-deep green at the par-3 14th where hole locations can vary four clubs keep attention locked in.

Shark's Tooth fits nicely into the oeuvre of Greg Norman's Florida work. The course is located on the banks of Lake Powell just west of Panama City Beach and east of Highway 30A, with five holes that play along the marshy shore. Its design features the Shark's trademark wall-to-wall fairway cut, bright white bunkers that jut into the line of play, crushed coquina shell transition areas and slick-shouldered greens that fade into close-cropped chipping swales.

Located along the popular and stylish Highway 30A section of northwest Florida, Camp Creek is available to play for guests staying in the WaterColor and WaterSound communities. An underated course in the Fazio portfolio, the design explores several ecosystems including a sand and dunes section near the breezy Gulf Coast, holes that play around a series of internal lakes and a forest loop on the northside of the property with some of the course's best holes, including the reachable par-5 12th with a centerline bunker awaiting second shots, the short par-4 13th playing up to a tabletop green, the gorgous downhill par-3 14th nestled against water and the long, stout par-4 15th with a large, wavy green.

The Raven Golf Club at Sandestin is a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design that hosted a PGA Tour Champions event in the mid-2000s. Both the fairways and the greens have a fair amount of undulation, creating some uneven lies on approaches and testing lag putts. The course is highlighted by the par-3 sixth, which plays to a generous island green. There are bunkers on each side of the green, saving errant shots from finding the surrounding water.

About 30 miles northeast of Destin, Windswept Dunes plays through white sand dunes that give this Northwest Florida track a unique feel. Windswept Dunes is second-shot golf course, as the fairways are extremely wide, while the approaches can be a little more demanding. The layout plays over 750 acres and has a more rural feel than many of the resort courses along the Gulf Coast.

After routing players through the pine forests and wetlands of the Emerald Coast, Rees Jones wows golfers on the back nine with views of the Choctawhatchee Bay. Much like the differing scenery on each nine, players will be required to hit a different type of approach shot into each green. Unlike the other three courses at Sandestin, which are open to the non-resort guests, Burnt Pine is only open to members and resort guests.

One of four 18-hole layouts at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, the Baytowne course extends from the Choctawhatchee Bay to near the Gulf of Mexico. There are more elevation changes on Baytowne compared to the other three Sandestin layouts. The course offers five sets of tees, including one that plays just 3,000 yards, perfect for kids and beginners.

There’s plenty of variety at The Links course at Sandestin—sharp doglegs, split fairways and crossing water hazards abound on this risk/reward Tom Jackson design. Five holes play along Choctawhatchee Bay, offering terrific views. As is often the case in the area, strong winds off the Gulf are common.