Raven at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort

After playing this course, I thought it was a solid course with some really small greens.

The price was $96. The tee times were 10 minutes apart. We never saw the group in front of us or behind us. The greens were aerated and putted fine. Much better than the Links course. Bunkers in good shape.

Some unusual things. Hole 16 is two par 3's. Depending on the day, it can be 185 yards vs 117 yards from the white tees. Signage was awful for this hole.

After Hole 6, the island green, you have to turn 180 degrees to get to hole 7. Snack shop not open on hole 10. They said their practice green was awful. Told us to putt on hole 18, next to 1st tee.

Even though the greens had just been sanded they still putted true. The rest of the course was in excellent shape. As always, the staff was a pleasure to deal with.

Love the layout and staff are so nice! Starter (Jon D) is a gem!

Greens were recovering from aeration but still rolled ok.

The integrity of the cups were not great and needed to be relocated with a more crisp cut. All in all an enjoyable experience!

Course had just been punched so putting a challenge. Overall a good experience

Overall, this is a track past its prime. The club house is adequate but not really a place to hang out or enjoy a beverage. I greatly appreciate range balls included in the round. There was a bev cart out on course, but the halfway house was closed on a Sunday prime time day. The greens were just aerated, and that wasn't really the issue. The greens were really shaggy and lumpy. I don't know if they are just letting things grow in and recover from aerating, but I've never really seen anything like that. Greens were really slow. Putts were jumping around and getting wobbly close to the hole. It was hit or miss if you made the putt or not. So, it's a nice layout. Tons of water. Good variety of hole types. But the greens just need a lot of work.

I understood the greens condition with the greens just punched but the overall condition , regular maintenance was very poor.

No one working the snack bar on hole 10, one cart person to provide drinks or food.

It was 93 degrees. Pace of play was terrible. No rangers making slower players to pick up the pace. ,

The course was recently aerated and it played very well, greens rolled nicer than I expected. It was HOT, heat index at 110 with an excessive heat warning in effect. Knowing that, it was very disappointing that the management decided to just have one beverage cart out to cover two golf courses, they called off the other cart. This course feels like it is run with a scarcity mindset and not a growth mindset. The $100 in labor cost for another beverage cart would easily buy loyalty from returning guests. Raven especially, once you go out there is nothing at the turn so having the one cart made it extremely difficult and dangerous honestly. They tell you not to bring any outside beverages but then do not provide ample opportunity to stay hydrated...that was VERY disappointing.

The Raven has been a favorite of mine for over 15 years while coming down to Sandestin. Over the last year to 18 months i have seen a steady decline in the course conditions at both Baytowne and Raven which are my go to's. The course is seemingly not being cared for in the way that it ought to. I get that it is august but this is a trend that is hitting rock bottom. the greens were as shaggy and bumpy as some of the worst courses out there and frankly on the verge of not being playable. There are weeds across the entire course with greens inundated with disease. It is truly a shame that it has come to this and I am saddened to see it

Paying $150 to putt on carpet is INSANE. I’ve played this course numerous times over the years and it was by far the worst condition I’ve ever seen. Seems it’s just a way overpriced tourist trap now. I will not ever be back

I always look forward to playing the Raven — in my opinion it's the best of the three courses at Sandestin. That said, a couple of things from today's round need attention.

It was early August with a heat index over 100 degrees, yet there was only one beverage cart covering all three courses. With just a single water fountain on the Raven, staying hydrated was a real challenge. To be clear, this is no reflection on the cart attendant, Lisa — she was working incredibly hard trying to serve everyone. The issue is staffing, not effort. On days this hot, one cart for three courses simply isn't enough.

The other issue is one I've noticed consistently across all the Sandestin courses: the maintenance crews don't pause their work while golfers are hitting. Today a crew member drove across the fairway during a backswing, and later drove right past the green while we were putting — AirPods in, completely unaware of play around them. Basic course etiquette from the maintenance team would go a long way.

On the positive side, the starters, the check-in team, and the beverage staff are always wonderful, and today was no exception. I'll keep coming back to the Raven — I just hope these two issues get addressed.

Positive: Course layout was exceptional. Wide fairways, with a variety of hole types island green, water, woodland, and residential. Golf carts are brand new with great tech, and free range time/ball prior to tee time. The fairways and rough were excellently watered and maintained.

Negative: The greens were disappointing. Not only were they patchy with what appears to be fungus, the actual grass around the holes were worn and torn up, which affect nearly every putt. Of note there is no clubhouse or food/beverage service at the turn which made for a long day of golf with minimal provisions. Overall - I would play again but only after they fix the greens.

The range is not ideal, you bit off of typical lawn grass. Nothing like the fairways! The layout was tough and fun! The greens are not anywhere near worth the price they charge. Crabgrass and patches all over the green. The staff In the shop said the greens were fast and they were the exact opposite. Slower than any municipal course I’ve played.

What's are left of the greens, are slow, grainy, bumpy, and plain out terrible. Some of the greens have more fairway Bermuda grass and weeds (Crowfoot) than the original dwarf Bermuda greens turf. They have dwindled to less than 50% of the size they were designed to. They should have been re-grassed years ago back to their original size. Some of the green-side bunkers are now 15 yards or more from the putting surface. Even the guy at the pro shop said that they were going to renovate the greens as long as 3 years earlier. Also, you can forget warming up. The range balls are included but the range was closed until after we teed off at 9:30 This is the 3rd time I played this course in 5 years and each time the range was closed for some lame reason. The pro shop guy says he has worked at many courses over the years and has never seen a range closed as much as this one. I guess as long as the public is will to pay big bucks for tiny, slow, bumpy greens and no range they will just keep doing what they do.

The Starter had the worst attitude I have ever encountered in 51 years of playing golf. I asked a few questions and he came back with a snarky response to every one of them. He treated me like a novice that knew nothing about Golf course operations. I worked in the Golf course industry for 5 years from agronomy, maintenance, operations, and management. He knew next to nothing treating me like an idiot. Worst start of the day you could possible imagine.

Greens hadn’t been rolled or cups changed in multiple days to the point the grass around the hole was rounded and dead. They appear to be losing a lot of greens and especially rough to Bermuda growing. Layout of the course was nice. They did have rain the day before which would cause the course to been in rougher shape.

My son and I had a blast. The staff were strict and the course was floating but the grass was pristine and the course was challenging.

Good course, rainy day but enjoying when rain stopped.

The layout of the course is really good with some easy par4s and tough par 5s. Golf shop staff was very friendly and started us off on the right foot. The course conditions were not great at all. You walk across the bridge to the driving range and it is loaded with crab grass. The greens are unfortunately well past being able to recover. The original mini dwarf Bermuda grass has been overtaken by the 419 fairway grass. The greens are a mess and need to be rebuilt.

Raven was fun as usual but weren’t allowed to hit balls on the range because we were waiting for the guys to finish mowing. 7:27 tee time and we showed up an hour early, kind of disappointed after we drive all that way down for the week and deal with that kind of stuff. Lots of sand on greens but otherwise great shape as it has been in years past.

The layout of the course is great, fairways were in good condition and not too narrow. The greens had been aerated and after the heavy rain were very bumpy.