Peninsula Golf & Racquet Club - Lakes/Cypress Course

Great staff, nice course, enjoy the practice facility and the course is in good shape after the latest hurricane.
Greens challenging and quick.

Peninsula Golf and Racquet Club is located on the beautiful Fort Morgan peninsula between Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. The course has received 4 ½ stars by Golf Digest as one of the “most memorable and enjoyable” courses in the southeast. Peninsula was designed by Earl Stone and encompasses 27 holes that wind through 800 acres of beautiful live oaks, cypress trees, lakes, and natural vegetation. Each nine-hole layout is unique in its own respect with holes on each that stand out. Don’t be surprised if you encounter some official gulf coast wildlife such as alligators, sandhill cranes, and eagles.

Rumor has it that Peninsula Golf Course is built on about 14 feet of sand, so it drains well. This is evident when you look at the back yards of some of the homes behind the tee box on Number 7 of the Cypress Course. Cypress finishes with a nice one-two punch on holes 8 and 9. At 569 yards from Tee #2, Number 8 is the longest hole on the entire property and the #1 handicap. Trees line both sides of the fairway and create a narrow landing area off the tee. Keeping your layup shot right of the 150-yard marker will take the water on the left out of play and set up the best angle into the green. Don’t be too long with your approach shot or you’re likely to find one of the bunkers back there.

Number 9 is a par four with a slight dogleg left and plays 402 yards from Tee #2. Longball hitters that can play their tee shot down the left side will leave a downhill approach shot with a short iron into the green. It’s another challenging finishing hole.

The Lakes Course features back-to-back par 5s at Numbers 6 and 7, with beautiful Mobile Bay in the background as you play the latter. A good drive on the 486-yard 6th hole will create an opportunity to go for the green in two. Once you hit the corner of the dogleg, you’ll find the fairway flanked on either side with bunkers, so accuracy on both your layup and approach shot is essential. Number 7 plays 500 yards and features a large landing area off the tee. Big hitters can try and get home in two but need to beware of the hazard to the left and out of bounds to the right. There’ a great view of Mobile Bay just beyond the green. The green is wide and not real deep, so selecting the correct club is essential.

The greens on the March Course were recently renovated and roll pure. Most memorable is Number 9, a 514-yard par 5 that is a three-shot hole for just about every level of player. The wetlands that need to be carried off the tee will require a shot of about 170 yards from Tee 2 to a narrow landing area with trees down the right side. Standing over your next shot, you may wonder where the fairway went. With wetlands on the left, favor the right side and you’ll have no problem. That will leave a short chip shot into a large, well-protected green.

Craft Farms is home to the only two Arnold Palmer golf courses in Alabama that are accessible to the public: Cypress Bend and Cotton Creek. Both courses challenge golfers every step of the way with the natural beauty of Baldwin County serving as a backdrop. You’ll play down Bermuda fairways, around massive live oaks draped with Spanish moss and towering pine forests. You’ll also find plenty of water hazards in the form of numerous lakes, creeks, and wetland areas that give way to Tifdwarf Bermuda greens.

With 27 holes of golf at Peninsula and another 36 holes at nearby Craft Farms, either one is the perfect venue for your next outing or tournament. The staff at either course will help with everything from pre-planning and setup, to food and beverage and the awarding of prizes. The tournament staff will see to it you and your guests are well taken care of while the culinary team will create a menu that tempts your palettes.

Speaking of palettes, Chef Kurtis Krum heads up the culinary staff at both Peninsula and Craft Farms and uses his creative expertise to create delicious dishes from scratch. After all, how many golf courses bake their own bread? It makes the fresh sandwiches taste that much better!

I had the opportunity to speak with Jamey Davis the Superintendent at Peninsula Club about what makes his property so special. Jamey said that the course being built on a sand dune is both a blessing and a curse, the blessing being they could get 8 inches of rain in the morning and because it drains so well, be able to have carts out in the afternoon. He also talked about how unique the property is with the Bon Secours wildlife preserve abutting the property to the east, historic Ft. Morgan to the West, Bon Secours Bay to the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south.

This is just an overview of what’s in store for you and your group at either facility. For more information, check them out online

We come to peninsula every year with a group of 12 guys and will continue to come every year. All the employees at peninsula always do a wonderful job taking care of us. The course is always in great shape. They have an amazing restaurant with great food and drinks. If you’re looking for a place to have a golf trip this is it.

Not only do we love the course, but we continue to choose Peninsula for our annual golf trip for the entire experience. The consistent staff always treats us well

Played today and the course was in good shape but the greens are not good and the price to play was not worth it. You can drive 5 miles to the west and play a really really good golf course for less money. Don’t pay $100 to play this course.

Played with my 3 sons and we played in under 4 hours on a fairly busy day. Course was in phenomenal shape and the green were rolling quick and true. The greens on the Marsh 9 were some of the best greens I've played on. Staff was extremely friendly and helpful. Out of the courses in the area that we played that week this one was the best all around. Highly recommend to anyone visiting the Gulf Shores area.

Amazing course with an even more amazing staff. Thank you to the “sarcastic wonder” (Michael) for the very gracious welcoming and great insight around the area. Definitely recommend to all other golfers in the area. Will definitely be back to the course!

First time playing down in Gulf Shores. We played Kiva Dunes the day before and were told by people at Kiva and on reviews that, Kiva Dunes was the superior course. After playing them both I can honestly say that I don’t know if one is better than the other as far as layout, scenery, conditions, and playability. Both are beautiful and really fun to play.
Peninsula’s conditions were perfect from tee to green. Also, I thought the greens ran just a hair faster at Peninsula (which I like).
Where the Peninsula Golf Club pulled ahead was in the staff. Austin in the pro shop was absolutely top notch. He went above and beyond to make sure our experience was great. Mission accomplished!
Also, the beverage cart team and the rangers were all great and genuinely cared if you were enjoying yourself.
We shall return!
I highly recommend spending a morning or afternoon there playing the greatest game in the world.

For $00 it was a rip off. This is a $60 course at BEST. The fairways were thin and the greens slow. We made the turn and the hustled us of to the back nine as soon as we arrived at the club house. The Lakes nine is a joke. Trees in the middle of the fairway, no GPS, and you really need it if you are a first timer.
This was our second round in two days and this was the worst. Stay away from this golf factory. All they want is your money and they want you out of there as fast a possible to run another foursome around.
Never again.

On our recent trip to Gulf Shores, we golfed several courses but this was by far in the best shape.

Honestly, the Peninsula Golf Club is really a beautiful course, but it would be hard for me to recommend it to anyone playing it for the first time...no GPS, no map of the course, no map of the holes...unless you drive up to see the hole you're playing before you play it, there are too many blind shots for the average golfer. You have no idea about water, marsh areas, hazards, etc...I believe my group hit 7 balls into hazard areas that we could not see from where we were.

Again, the course was beautifully maintained, and the staff is very polite and courteous...but without some map and distance to where you need to go, this is not a very "fair playing" course without some course knowledge.

Played in a 2-some at 2:00. Was able to move quickly through the Lakes course. We started on the Cypress course until hole 6 when several foursomes arrives to play in a tournament. We called the clubhouse and they said there was a mixup and they allowed us to play the Lakes again and then play the Marsh for free. They were very friendly and professional. The courses were challenging but fair.