The Tee Club “Get Away Gurls” Golf Travel Adventure – Day 2
Our second day of golf at Amelia Island Plantation’s Long Point Golf Course started off cold. Temperatures had dipped into the fifties overnight and at tee time everyone was still in jackets. Spending a few minutes on the driving range and putting green helped warm things up. I was in the third of our four foursomes to tee off. By the second hole, the sun was higher and my jacket was off.
Long Point is a more challenging course than the Plantation’s River Course which we had played the day before. The fairways are longer, there are more dog legs and water hazards, but the big difference are the greens. The greens at Long Point are very difficult to read. There are very subtle undulations to what otherwise seems to be a flat surface and a straight putt is never straight. I was often just a hair to the right or the left of the cup, only once did my ball go where I expected. If you are going to play the Long Point Course, take a lesson in reading those greens first! They have a golf school right at the pro shop! Consider taking a lesson if you have the time.
Some highlights from the course itself: The sixth hole has a pond running along the last hundred yards up to the green which is tucked back and to the right. You have to stay left or the alligators will have your ball. (I lost mine to the creatures.) On the back nine there are two short par 3’s that are right up against the ocean. White sandy dunes drop casually to rolling waves, and the greens are surrounded on all sides by lush tropical greenery. When you play this hole be sure to take note of the wind direction. We were lucky and the on-shore breeze kept my ball from flying out to sea. With an off-shore breeze blowing, it is easy to loose a ball to the ocean. Throughout the course the fairways and greens are lined with environmentally sensitive areas from which you are not allowed to play. The tall reeds and grasses hide almost everything that goes in their direction and if you hit into the “brillo-like” rough, your ball can easily sink out of sight.
Only one glitch in the day for me; I lost my new “A” Calloway iron somewhere near hole number 12. The GPS unit in our cart had a feature to send a signal to the pro shop that a golf club had been lost and within just a few minutes, one of the course rangers drove out, took down the information and went off in search of my club. They could not have been more helpful. The club was later found.
It was a great day, though not a very great scoring day for most of our group. This challenging course is one we would all like to try again.
Staff at Amelia Island Plantation Long Point were very helpful, pace of play was a little slow, but that is to be expected on a Saturday morning, and the amenities were fine. The locker rooms were large and well supplied, the pro shop had more selections and the grill was fully staffed for lunch when we finished our round.
Tomorrow we finish our three day golf get away with a round at Amelia Island Plantation Ocean Links.
Click here to view the Photo Gallery of the Golf Courses at Amelia Island Plantation.
