Golf Scrapbook Blog (The Other Ones)

March 2024 – Stayed and played at the Ponte Vedra Inn as part of an NBC Players trip. First, the weekend trip was phenomenal and NBC was the host of hosts giving us 17th-hole hospitality tent tickets, golf, dinners and everything imaginable. The folks there were awesome and I got to bring my buddies Scott and Rob with me for two separate days so both could enjoy parts of the weekend.

I’ll talk about the Ocean course there a little bit in a little bit. I’ll talk about the Lagoon course there and The Plantation at Ponte Vedra – where Rob’s parents are members and it’s right down the A1A – even a little less. I’ll start by talking about the logo shown above. If ever a typeface could cause physical harm to your eyes by just looking at it, The Ponte Vedra Inn found it. What is the typeface called, Twelve Vodkas Serif? The Inn and both courses were recently refurbished, yet couldn’t they have spruced up the logo a bit? And they plaster it everywhere around the website, vehicles, signage, etc. Just yuck!

However, despite the dated logo, the resort is very nice and the rooms are recently updated and mine had an awesome ocean view.

If you’re planning on coming down to the Players Championship and plan W-A-Y in advance, this is not a bad launching pad for you. While we shuttled back and forth in NBC vehicles, there were shuttles and Ubers to get you back and forth to Sawgrass. It’s certainly not walkable – the Marriott at Sawgrass is – but if you want to mix in some resorty type golf and nice restaurants – we ate at the Sea View Grill and Golf Course Dining Room on property – you could do a lot worse than staying here.

If it’s not around the players and you’re looking for a resort with two courses, you can now do a lot better than the PVI. The Ocean is the better of the two courses and we played the Blue/White combo tees (69.9/120) but that’s somewhat surprisingly low difficulty ratings as water is omnipresent with a few very intimidating carries and tight corridors to navigate. It’s a better than the average public course but worse than the average premier resort course. If it’s not around the Players, I would suggest you head up to Sea Island where even the second of the courses is a better track than here. The signature hole on the Ocean course is the island green 9th. From what I read somewhere on the internet (where everything you read is 100% true), this was Dye’s inspiration for the neighboring 17th.

So both days we played shotgun starts between our very small NBC group and some other company-sponsored groups at the resort. The NBC guys though held trump and both days we got out as a fivesome on the first tee. We didn’t play in any tournament or scramble so just enjoyed the Ocean course with Scotty and the NBC guys. On the Lagoon course the second day, Rob and I played with Mike and Caroline from NBC and her friend Annie – the latter two never played golf before but were both Division I lacrosse players and by the turn were playing awesome and as you’ll see, we introduced them to joys of listening to loud music on the course, bloodies and booze and the casual cocktailer putting stance (ala Johnny Cocktails). The Lagoon course from even the back tees was sub 6,000 and a solid notch below the Ocean course.

To the Ocean course, it’s watery. You face water right on the first three holes, with the second green tilting into the water and an intimidating though easy-to-carry watery grave staring you down on your drive on the third. The fourth was a dogleg with water now on both sides and a brutally tough water carry into the green. I splashed down after a good drive and ended up with a triple here. You have water that isn’t a huge factor on the par-three 5th and tight water right for your approach on 6 and after a two hole break you get the ninth island green – I left it short in the sand and blasted out and almost went off the back side. The back is a little less relenting with the water hazards and after a big fat 51 on the front, shot a really nice 41 on the back. Again, for an overall grade I give the Ocean a solid C+. It’s typical Florida resort golf, was well conditioned, but for the sheckles (though my rounds were comped), I’d venture elsewhere UNLESS you’re doing the Players thing. Then convenience is key.

The Lagoon course is a good tier below the Ocean course. There’s still a lot of water here though not as in your face as with the Ocean. You can’t stretch this out any further than 6,000 yards so even a good score here will leave you feeling like you didn’t do it on a real course. Getting to the first tee from the clubhouse is a driving adventure so make sure you listen to the starter when he tells you how to get to the tee. We didn’t and honestly lucked out on finding the first box.

The Plantation at Ponte Vedra is an 80’s residential Arnold Palmer design. I’m not a huge fan of homes abutting every hole and that’s what you get here but unlike Blue Bell Country Club up by me that Palmer designed, the homes aren’t actually in the line of play and while I think there may have been two or three roofies hit during our round, I didn’t feel overly cramped. You’ll also find water – in fact 16 holes feature some kind of water hazard or the other. Neat clubhouse and members, we golfed on the Sunday of the Players and on St. Patrick’s Day so not sure if it was the typical Sunday but there was a great vibe at the bar here! If you’re down here and thinking private golf, not necessary to trouble your pro. Play TPC Sawgrass – super expensive but a bucket list course. Add the other Sawgrass public course – heard it’s actually really good though never played. And if you’re down here then go ahead and play the PVI Ocean course to round out a long weekend. No need to use up a chit to get on the privates here.