Hammock Beach
If you’d like an inordinate amount of golf crammed into your Florida golf vacation package, you may be interested in one called, “The Ginn Golf Challenge.”
For $630 per person (based on a group of four people), this four-day package includes three nights of accommodations and five rounds of golf, two at the Ginn company’s Hammock Beach Resort near St. Augustine (one night), and three rounds at its Reunion Resort near Orlando (two nights). The package is available until December 31, 2007. [Editor's Note: This Florida golf vacation package has been extended from January 1 until April 30, 2008 for $750.]
Why is it called, a “challenge?” Well, unless my math is off, this package requires you to play 36 holes on at least one day of your Florida golf vacation. If you don’t play on the day of arrival, you’ll need to double up on two days.
Not that you’ll need any arm-twisting, particularly with respect to the Ocean Course at Hammock Beach. When it opened in 2001, this Jack Nicklaus design marked the first time in 70 years that a Florida golf course was built with ocean frontage. The 9th and 18th holes, two tough and rolling par fours, parallel the sea and are separated from it by only a strip of low vegetation. In addition, the greens on the 8th, 15th, and 17th are all perched above the beach. Many of the inland holes are nearly as satisfying. The second course at Hammock Beach, a Tom Watson design, is called The Conservatory.
We have yet to publish our findings about Reunion Resort, located about two hours south of Hammock Beach, but its Nicklaus, Watson, and Arnold Palmer-designed courses certainly bolster the appeal of this Florida golf vacation package.
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