Raven Golf Club at Sandestin, Florida
The par five third hole at Sandestin Resort’s Raven Golf Club in Destin, Florida.
The summer of 2020 was an otherworldly time. I was engaged to be married, living in Dallas, Texas, training for a job, and had just finished my first fiction novel manuscript. Times were simple yet complicated.
Two of my then-fiancé and I’s very best friends, Luke and Allie, live in the Destin, Florida area, having just purchased a home earlier that year. We had a standing invitation to visit them, and so the two of us took them up on the offer. One thing you may or may not know about me at this point: I love road trips. The 600-odd miles is nothing to me. So, to make the long drive make sense, we made a six-day visit out of it. Our hosts were more than willing to oblige. It was a wonderful time had by all, as it always is with Luke and Allie. You guys rock!
Aside from the white sandy beaches and emerald green waters, Destin is a superb spot for golf. There are many notable tracks in the area, perhaps none more well-known than the Sandestin Resort. The property features 72 holes of championship golf. Ranking lists favor Burnt Pine as the must play of the resort. Being that BP is semi-private, I could not make a tee time when we visited in August. That left Raven, a Robert Trent Jones, Jr. design that opened in March 2000, as the definitive next best option. I paid less than $100 for a twilight round of golf on one of the best in an area where good golf courses have popped up in every direction the last 25 years. I would consider that a win. I played by myself—which I’ve oftentimes found to be very peaceful—and so I implore you to believe the photos featured are mine. They are.
Conditioning is great at Raven. Bounces are fair, and the Bermuda grass is honest. I am not surprised the course has hosted professional tournaments, notably back-to-back Champions Tour events back in 2006 and ’07. In the first edition of the Boeing Championship at Sandestin, Bobby Wadkins won with a score of 10 under par, and the following year Loren Roberts took home the trophy with a 16 under par total. Considering Champions Tour tournaments are typically 54 hole events, those are solid scores. In fact, Roberts’ 197 was the fifth lowest tally in any event of the 2007 season.
As far as favorites go, I particularly enjoyed the 203-yard island green sixth hole; it would be an excellent match play hole. The green has some interesting contours to it and there are bunkers left and right to scare the golfer even more on the daunting looking tee shot. Two is a possibility here, but so is five. The next hole, a double dogleg par five, is incredibly frustrating for someone who has not yet walked these grounds. There is a major carry required over the water hazard, which for better or worse seems common at Raven. Florida golf places a premium on keeping your golf ball out of the blue stuff. I have highlighted three Robert Trent Jones, Jr. designs thus far in my state-by-state quest—Wisconsin’s SentryWorld and Wyoming’s Three Crowns being the first two—and a recurring peril has been the implementation of water hazards on most holes. I’m sensing a theme here.
On the back nine, 14 and 15 are two high-risk, high-reward fascinating par fours. On the former, you can bite off as much as you can chew knowing full well there’s water everywhere left. Watching my ball barely clear the hazard and bounce in the fairway was the single most exhilarating moment of my round at Raven. The 15th is drivable for the longest of hitters but awfully penal if you don’t hit it straight. The 16A/16B is an interesting concept, to say the least. The golfer can play either par three and skip the other before heading to the penultimate hole. I was a tad confused to see 16A/16B written on the scorecard at the beginning of my round. Trust me when I say it all makes sense. There are a few holes on Sandestin’s Raven that are really, really good but also a few forgettable. Another gripe I have is the missed opportunity to utilize bay views. Instead, there are homes on several of the holes and that can take away from the golfing experience. Still, I enjoyed the variety of Raven and would play again without question. As I have made note of before, views are not everything when it comes to determining golf course merit but they can help improve the enjoyability of a round.
Heading back west once the trip had concluded, the two of us stopped at a wonderful golf course outside of St. Francisville, Louisiana, called The Bluffs. It was a fun afternoon at a very affordable price. In 2021, The Bluffs sadly closed the golf facilities. There is a rumor spreading throughout West Feliciana Parish that the course will reopen soon under different management. Perhaps there will be a Louisiana blog post to come!
Florida golf is famous throughout America. It’s hard to measure Sandestin Raven up to the giants of the Sunshine State like TPC Sawgrass, Calusa Pines, Seminole, or any of Streamsong’s offerings. That would be unfair to the RTJ, Jr. design, as its ambitions are not quite that high. It has been ranked, though, by GolfWeek as one of the best public designs in Florida. Top100GolfCourses.com has Raven ranked 75th overall in the state. Take Raven for what it is: a serviceable, upscale public facility that is one of the best in the region. For certain, the trip to the Florida panhandle is remembered more for the memories the four of us made. As far as the golf is concerned, the good outweigh the bad at Sandestin’s Raven course. It is a really fine resort offering, one that is not to be missed if you’re in Destin. Stop by the beach afterwards—you’d be crazy not to with those emerald green waters!