Regatta Bay Golf & Yacht Club

Rating and Review of Regatta Bay Golf Club in Destin Florida

Regatta Bay Golf Club opened in 1998 and was designed by Robert Walker.  The owner of Regatta Bay Golf Club is an avid golfer and he wanted every hole to be unique, challenging, and dramatic – and Robert exceeded that goal.  He designed each hole a little different from the others, leveraged the natural plants and landscape to create hazards that blend in with the terrain, he made sure that the bunkers put a premium on accuracy, and he created several risk reward opportunities. 

Regatta Bay Golf Club is short by today's standards (5014 to 6798 yards) but challenging thanks to water that can come into play on twelve holes (16 lakes are within the golf course grounds), 59 strategically placed bunkers, some tight fairways, several dog legs, and a number of risk reward opportunities that can add several strokes to your score if you're not accurate.  It's critical that you pick the right tee box and there are 5 to choose from.  Take the course's virtual tour below and explore the course  hole-by-hole to figure out your plan of approach before heading out and carefully study the GPS before hitting and the greens before putting. Regardless of how you score, Regatta Bay Golf Club is a fun and exciting course to play and it's not surprising that it is consistently ranked as one of the best.  Some of the accolades include:

• Named one of Golf Digest’s “Top Places to Play in North America”
• Florida Golf News magazine voted the course “the #1 Favorite Golf Course in Northwest Florida”
• Emerald Coast Magazine named the course “Best of Emerald Coast”
• Golf Digest ranked the course among its “Top 200 Places to Play in North America,” as well as one of the “Top 15” courses in Florida

Some of the holes that we really liked included:

• #7 is a 457 yard par 4 with a blind uphill shot off the tee that needs to carry the hill and miss the huge multi-fingered bunker – then a downhill shot to a green with a long skinny bunker surrounding the green and protecting your shot from landing in the lake which surrounds three quarters of the green
• #8 is a beautiful and challenging 195 yard par 3 with a carry over the lake and a large bunker in front of the green plus two other bunkers you need to avoid
• #12 is a 483 yard par 4 with a risk reward shot off the tee to carry more of the lake on this dog right fairway – not only do you need to miss the lake but you've got to avoid 5 bunkers and then stay out of the lake and a 75 yard long skinny bunker next to the lake that goes around to the right side of the raised green which also has left and right bunkers
• #18 is a beautiful and fun signature hole – a 525 yard par 5 that dogs right off the tee then left along a tight fairway past a lake on the left that also guards the left side of the green with 4 bunkers around it – an excellent risk reward second shot if you think you can carry the lake and stuff it on the two tiered green in two – keep in mind that fellow golfers are sitting on the club house deck with a beer in hand watching what you do!

When we played Regatta Bay Golf Club the fairways were in very good condition but some had a few damaged spots that didn't impact play.  The fairways range from ample to tight and they are tree, bunker, or water lined with a couple having some nice homes along one side.  The rough was playable but didn't allow for much roll.  In most cases if you miss the rough you're wet, under the pines, or lost in native areas.

The greens are a tad small ranging from 19 to 33 yards wide and 24 to 38 yards deep.  They were in very good condition (with some minor insect damage), ran true and fast around 10 to 11, and have plenty of slope and contour.  Most are raised and some have huge puttable fringes and all are well guarded by 1 to 4 bunkers.

The bunker sand at Regatta Bay Golf Club is some of the best I've every played in – light, deep, and fluffy!  They range in size from small pot like bunkers to long and skinny – and they are pretty easy to land in.  From playing out of so many I took a lot of sand back to the car, condo, and beach! 

Bottom line – a beautiful 18 holes of golf with a little bit of everything that makes golf both fun and challenging.