Destin & the Panhandle Golf Courses & Tee Times

Who runs public golf in Destin & the Panhandle

Most of the golf around Destin is resort and daily-fee. Sandestin's Raven, Baytowne and The Links take outside play, while Burnt Pine is the resort's most exclusive club. Kelly Plantation says it is open to the public. The cities run their own golf. Fort Walton Beach runs Fort Walton Beach Golf Club, with its Oaks and Pines courses, through a newly established Golf Course Department. Pensacola owns Osceola, a Florida Historic Golf Trail course that was fully renovated in 2011. Tallahassee bought Hilaman in 1981, reopened it in 1982 as an 18-hole par 72, and also runs Jake Gaither, a nine-hole par 36.

Public courses worth knowing in Destin & the Panhandle

• Sandestin - Raven Golf Club: Robert Trent Jones Jr. layout, par 71, 5,060 to 6,931 yards through marsh and pine. Hosted the Boeing Championship on the PGA Champions Tour in 2006 and 2007.
• Sandestin - Baytowne Golf Club: Tom Jackson design and, per Sandestin, the only Emerald Coast course that runs from the beach to the bay. Five sets of tees, 3,002 to 6,804 yards.
• Sandestin - The Links: Sandestin's original course, a Tom Jackson design with five holes along Choctawhatchee Bay and the Baytowne Marina. 4,897 to 6,710 yards.
• Burnt Pine: Rees Jones course next to Raven, the one place his and Robert Trent Jones Jr.'s courses meet. Ranked #14 in Florida on Golfweek's Best Courses You Can Play list for 2018-2019.
• Kelly Plantation Golf Club: Fred Couples and Gene Bates design over 7,000 yards on a former turpentine plantation on Choctawhatchee Bay, with bunkers and tees redone by Bill Bergin Golf Design.
• Bay Point - Nicklaus Course: Bruce Devlin's 1986 Lagoon Legends, reworked by Nicklaus Design and reopened in 2005; the only Nicklaus Design course in Northwest Florida. The fifth tees off to an island fairway in the Grand Lagoon.
• Emerald Bay Golf Club: Bob Cupp design running through a gated community on Choctawhatchee Bay between Destin and South Walton.
• Osceola Golf Course: Pensacola's city course, designed in 1926 by Wild Bill Mehlhorn while he was the pro at Pensacola Country Club. On the Florida Historic Golf Trail; renovated in 2011.

Booking tee times in Destin & the Panhandle: the local rules

At Sandestin, resort guests can book tee times up to six months ahead, and golf packages and group times up to 13 months. Everyone else, including Club Members, gets a much shorter window, so check the course page before you plan around a date. Burnt Pine's page lists its outside rates for resort guests only, after 1pm in summer and after noon in winter. Fort Walton Beach books its city courses through fwbgolf.com, and Osceola in Pensacola takes tee times by phone at 850-453-7599.

Why tee times in Destin & the Panhandle are hard to get

Golf in Destin & the Panhandle peaks in winter, when seasonal residents and visitors arrive. From roughly November through April, weekend mornings are the hardest times on the sheet to get, and even weekdays fill up.

Most public courses open their tee sheet a set number of days ahead, often 7 to 14, and many municipal courses give residents or card holders an earlier window. The best weekend-morning times usually go the day they're released. Leagues and outings take blocks of the sheet before the public ever sees them.

When tee time cancellations happen

A full tee sheet rarely stays full. Many courses let you cancel without a fee up to 24 or 48 hours before your time, so spots tend to reappear in the last couple of days. A bad forecast shakes more loose, and a foursome that drops to three opens a single. None of it is announced. The time just shows up again on the booking page, and whoever looks first gets it.

How to get a tee time in Destin & the Panhandle

Doing it by hand? Here's what works.

1. Know the booking window. Find out how many days ahead each course releases times, and whether residents get an earlier window. Be ready the morning it opens.
2. Look again 24 to 48 hours out. That's when most cancellation deadlines pass and spots come back.
3. Be flexible on group size. Singles and twosomes fit into gaps a foursome can't.
4. Try twilight and weekday afternoons. They're the last to fill and often cheaper.
5. Keep a quicker course in your back pocket. Nine-hole and executive courses are easier to get on and play faster. Around here that includes Edgewater Beach Resort and Nature Walk Golf Club.

Read the full guide to getting a tee time when everything's booked