Ocean Course at Hammock Beach, on the Palm Coast. Photo: Salamander Hotels & Resorts
opening in 1994 three years before its sibling, it is a links-style layout with lots of mounding and large sand areas besides marshes, lakes and rollercoaster undulating greens. Of the two it is the most popular with tour pros and low handicappers.
Unsurprisingly with a facility of this pedigree, there are extensive practice facilities including six putting greens, several with bunkers, a range with 10 target greens, a bunker for fairway bunker shot practice and a three-hole practice academy with a par 3, a par 4 and a par 5.
HAMMOCK BEACH
Our second golf foray is on the Palm Coast, about 45 minutes north of downtown Daytona Beach. Hammock Beach is a resort with two golf courses, by golf legends Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, both of which I played on my previous visit.
Sadly, the acclaimed Nicklaus-designed Ocean Course was a victim of Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, leaving the course completely submerged by seawater for seven days and killing the grass. As part of a huge post-hurricane renovation project at the resort, the Ocean Course have been restored to its former glory with all tee boxes, bunkers, fairways, greens and rough revamped and every blade of grass replaced by salt-tolerant Paspalum Platinum – just that costing $ 3 million alone.
Open for play in November, just over a year after Matthew’ s visit, we are given a tour of the course. It is already looking in great shape with some weeks to go, particularly the holes alongside the resort’ s two miles of beachfront after which the course is named. After winding through wetlands and around lakes, it includes six holes directly on the Atlantic and culminates in a glorious stretch of four finishing holes named the Bear Claw by Nicklaus himself.
I vividly recall being mauled by those holes from my earlier visit and I look forward to returning and playing the restored course and taming them. Having been named one of Florida’ s top courses before the hurricane, it is bound to gain even higher praise now.
We do get to play Watson’ s signature Conservatory Course at Hammock Beach. It may not attract the attention that its sister layout gets, but this is still a beauty of a course that is well worth playing in its own right and demands the utmost respect. From the championship tees it also has an eye-watering slope rating of 150.
Once again it is a real test that sorts the men from the boys and features 140 sand and coquina shell bunkers, waterfalls, streams and three sodfaced bunkers in homage to Watson’ s five Open Championship titles. On the few holes where lakes don’ t come into play, Watson has added huge waste bunkers that resemble swirling rivers of sand, notably on the dogleg, par-4 13th hole, where coquina waste areas run both sides of
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