Courses:
Grande Dunes
Arrowhead
King's North
Barefoot Dye
Lodging:
Barefoot Yacht Club Villas
8 golfers, mostly seniors
We lucked out with weather - low 70s to mid 80s every day. Only rained once for an hour during dinner.
First the courses - we played Grande Dunes first and it was in excellent condition. Tees, fairways and greens. Probably the fastest of the greens of the courses. We played from the senior tees and the course is right in front of you - no quirky, tricked out holes. Excellent practice facility with range, putting and chipping greens. We've played there multiple times over the years and consistently excellent - you can't go wrong adding that to your trip. Staff uniformly excellent. Pace of play was fine.
We played Arrowhead next which was a new course for the majority of us. Also, in very good shape, though greens not as fast. We played the Waterway and Cypress nines. A lot of different holes, doglegs right or left, more elevation changes, plenty of water. A lot of what I would call quirky or "character" holes. Have to play to spots. Fun though and one of our guys favorite course. Not sure I'd want to play it everyday but would be a good addition to any trip. We had a free replay to play another nine but course was booked - some of us were disappointed - the rest wanted to grab lunch and a nap. Pace of play good.
Next we played King's North, which we had played a couple of times in the past, but not since the renovation. Another course in excellent shape and I noticed a lot of the changes - very well done. I definitely think I like the changes on #18. Everybody liked the course. Staff excellent.
A little more open than say Arrowhead. A good mix of different kinds of holes.
Last we played Barefoot Dye, and maybe because we were getting tired, I don't know, it was our least favorite course and the general opinion was it was in the "worst" shape of the four. Don't get me wrong - still in good shape, but the other courses seemed better. And I'm glad we played from the senior tees - I remember it being hard from the regular tees when I was a "regular" kind of guy. We all noticed that the practice green was pristine and rolled great - the greens on the course not so much. Practice facility very good and staff excellent.
Our overall ranking was:
1. Grande Dunes
2. King's North
3. Arrowhead
4. Barefoot Dye
ALL the courses had good practice facilities and everyone we encountered was friendly, helpful and professional. We remembered to tip well.
Lodging: The Barefoot Yacht Club villas were great. Furnishings in good shape - sometimes the pictures are from 10+ years ago and don't match reality. We had 2 3-bedroom units, each had 3 bathrooms. 4 guys per unit with a good kitchen area, balcony, etc. Nice, large pool by one of the buildings we stayed in. If you want to be near the pool, pick Building 1. Obviously, centrally located.
Meals: a mixed bag
I should know better after going on 20+ trips, but if you want a "good" dinner, Barefoot Landing is probably not the place (except for maybe Umberto's). We did have good tacos at Taco Mundo, good burgers/sandwiches at Crooked Hammock Brewery but dinner at Flying Fish was very average. The comment about the shrimp and grits was "it's like baby food with some shrimp".
We did have an EXCELLENT dinner at Joe's Bar & Grille (basically across the street from Barefoot Landing). We've eaten there before - highly recommend.
The ice cream, especially the ice cream parfaits at The Crafty Cow in Barefoot Landing were excellent.
And if you like oysters, we made a trip one night to Tailgate Oyster Bar in Cherry Grove. From the outside kind of looks like a dive. Actually, from the outside kind of looks like a gas station. VERY casual place but oysters great. Including oysters rockefeller. VERY limited menu and canned beer. They do have entertainment out front a lot of nights. Very limited hours so check ahead.
Fun though - the kind of place where you sit at a large bar mostly and the servers have some attitude.
Sunday morning we stopped at Blueberry Grille at Barefoot for breakfast before we left - excellent place. Highly recommend. On weekends, get there early.
Overall, a very good trip - weather, golf, people, (mostly) food - excellent.
Regards,
Pete
