March is a prime time for cold, snow bound, frustrated northern golfers to head to warmer southern shores to get an early start to their golf seasons. There are dozens of resorts and golf Mecca’s in the southeast, from Myrtle Beach to Miami, with interesting stops at points in between.
Typically a group flies in for a three or four day romp at a resort that offers lodging, multiple golf venues, a meal or two, and plenty of chits for the bar. I’ve been on several of these over the years and always had a blast.
But this year was a bit different. My better half and I have sworn off New England winters for good and have put down new roots on Florida’s First Coast in St. Augustine, Florida. Known as the oldest city in America, St. Augustine is the site of the oldest enduring settlement of Europeans in the New World, with a panoply of Spanish Conquistadors tramping through back then. The Vikings might have been in North America first but they were more interested in pillage, rape and terror than in building a city that would someday host Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. 
Besides the Fountain of Youth of Ponce De Leon fame, this area has become a notable golf destination, as it is home to the World Golf Village, that includes The World Golf Hall of Fame and two top tier courses, The Slammer & Squire and The King &Bear. But the real draw is TPC Sawgrass and it’s vaunted Stadium Course, annual venue of THE PLAYERS which is a short drive east to Ponte Vedra.
So it was relatively easy for me to entice some golf buddies to venture south to St. Augustine for a brief stay with the chance to take on the Stadium Course and mark it off the bucket list.
You need a couple of rounds to knock off the winter rust before taking on the ultimate test of precision golf that awaits at Sawgrass, so we first teed it up at the King & Bear. The blue tees measure 6506yards with rating and slope at 70.8/131 for this par 72 track. 6500 yards is a bit of a stretch for this geriatric short hitter anymore but my playing companions ate it up off the tee.
King & Bear is a high end club nestled in one of the gated communities of The World Golf Village properties. Many, if not most, of the holes are ringed with luxury housing. Residential units and plenty of water hazards are typical for Florida golf courses, although the manses here are anything but typical.
Also in great supply were the gator’s – we saw four of these prehistoric holdovers on the front nine alone. None were a threat. Although we were on gator watch as Big Mike played his approach shot on the 2nd hole from the margin of the water hazard. Not much mud splattered on his light green pants, we were slightly disappointed.
Fairways were wide, greens were smooth and quick, plenty of water and wind, and a good variety in the hole design made the $149 green fee worthwhile. One of the other highlights of the round were the frequent visits from the beverage cart. The two Rachel’s (one in training) did pretty well by and with our group as a copious amount of swing oil was required for my guests to ease out of their winter golf hibernation.
A late night of watching the NCAA tournament and a few adult beverages put us in good form for the Slammer & Squire the next day. The black tees played 6660 yards on the card but I swear played much longer as every shot seemed into the wind. With three par four holes in excess of 420 yards, this course was much tougher than King & Bear, although the slope was slightly lower. The routing here was a surprise with the majority of the holes cut though the forests and not surrounded by residential housing. Slammer& Squire didn’t stack up to King& Bear on the hospitality front however. The lone beverage cart on this jam packed course was as scarce as the truth from the Trump White House. One visit on the front side was all we got. We were so parched by the 14th hole, we enlisted the friendly ranger, Joe, to make a bar run for us. Joe was a double duty ace, who, while serving up our double’s by the 17th hole was also moving that dreaded slower than molasses group in front of us .
We made it into the bar just in the nick of time to order some eats . They close the kitchen at 5 o’clock on a Saturday, and the bar at 6. I don’t get that, with a course full of golfers ready and willing to spend some money.
Golfers on a golf trip like to unwind a bit in the evening, so we headed to the historic downtown district in St. Augustine for food and drink. For the oldest city in the US of A it was full of young folks having a good time. I’m pretty sure that I was the oldest guy in each of the five different gin mills we wandered into that night.
Night time revels like that were the perfect prep for taking on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass the next day. And the course didn’t disappoint. It was surely the highlight of the weekend (See my previous post A Bucket List Course). If you haven’t been, make a big withdrawal from your savings and buy a ticket. Worth every dollar.
Although, TPC Sawgrass was the trip’s highlight, the star of the weekend was my better half. She was a great hostess, keeping us in food and drink, whipping up gourmet breakfasts, and ignoring our raucous banter late into the night.
Here’s to you , Deenie.
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