Best Course Loops In Jacksonville

The most famous facility in the area is the TPC Sawgrass and its Players Stadium Course. Located in suburban Ponte Vedra Beach, the TPC Sawgrass is the home of the Players Championship, the biggest tournament sponsored by the PGA Tour---whose headquarters is just down the street from the new, $17 million TPC clubhouse that was completed in 2007.
There are actually two courses at the TPC Sawgrass, with Dye's Valley on the other side of the practice range from the Stadium Course. Anyone who's watched a Players Championship and seen how the best professionals in the world can be humbled will probably still want to take a crack at the Stadium Course and its 17th-hole Island Green. But Dye's Valley is more playable, and, some people believe, more fun.
Also in Ponte Vedra is the venerable Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, a fixture in the area since the 1920s. Its two courses, the Ocean Course and Lagoon Course, offer a mix of bump-and-run and target golf, all with the ocean's surf within earshot.
Further north is Amelia Island Plantation, with four courses in its stable, including the Tom Fazio masterpiece, Long Point. South of Ponte Vedra is the World Golf Hall of Fame and its two courses named for the player-designers, the Slammer & Squire (Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen) and King & Bear (Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus).

There are dozens of good courses, but for a first-time visitor, Palencia, a few miles east of the Hall of Fame and just north of St. Augustine, is a must-see. The course winds through a hammock forest, and includes breathtaking views of the Intracoastal Waterway.
Past U.S. Amateur champion, University of Florida All-American and TV analyst Steve Melnyk runs two top-notch public courses, Windsor Parke in Jacksonville and the Championship Club at Julington Creek.
Orange Park, a suburb of Jacksonville, has a handful of good courses for the daily-fee player: Eagle Landing, Eagle Harbor, Fleming Island and the Country Club of Orange Park.
There also are the courses in the Hampton Golf family, a company owned by former PGA of America president M.G. Orender. North Hampton is an Arnold Palmer design in Nassau County, and South Hampton is a Mark McCumber design in St. Johns County.

If economy golf is your game, again, Jacksonville is the right spot. Start with a little history at the Hyde Park Golf Club, seven miles from downtown. Hyde Park was designed by Donald Ross, built in 1926 and was the home course for 10-time PGA Tour winner Mark McCumber. It's owned by two former PGA Tour players, Billy Maxwell and Chris Blocker, who are frequently on hand to give you a quick lesson or tell a few stories about the Tour in the comfortable lounge.
Other good courses at the low end of the price point are Jacksonville Beach, Deerfield Lakes, St. Augustine Shores, Cecil Field, Mill Cove, the St. Johns County Course and Bent Creek.