Hamptons Golf Club, The

The Hamptons, located just off US-92 amongst a housing complex, is laid out to give your game a mostly complete workout. Although an executive course, it possesses some bite. The biggest focus here is on accurate tee shots, whether the choice is to hit driver or anything less. Over the course of these eighteen holes, too, my putting was firmly tested in spots. Part of the enjoyment of the round was the pleasant setting. Yes, houses run along the fairways; they are also complemented by mature Southern live oaks, majestic fan palms and cypresses, and towering pines.

Hazards and Course Difficulty:

Water dominates the list of troubles to be avoided at the Hamptons. It appears on nearly every hole, mostly in the form of modest to sizable ponds, along with a few streams. Other problems that you may encounter here include large bunkers, mounding (bordering the fairways and mostly at the sides of greens), specimen trees, the woods that often border fairways, lots of OB, and greens that range in size from small to middling. When they are more contoured or tilted, some of these putting surfaces may run fast downhill.

The Par-4s: Playable and with some challenges

The better par-4s here tend to run along dense woods on one side of the fairway and are sheer tests of driving accuracy, and most are threatened by ponds of varying shapes and sizes. A few bend a little but without any stronger doglegs. You don’t want to stray much from these narrow fairways, as OB also guards their sides with fewer or no trees—where houses populate the course’s periphery. The fairway roughs are also tight but not fearsome.

Tee shots here demand precise control, but, by contrast, approach shots were short and uncomplicated for me. On all eight of the par-4s, I enjoyed short approaches ranging from 100 to 25 yards. It quickly seemed clear that second shots—all played with lofted clubs into receptive greens—allowed me to swing confidently, even with a bit of abandon.

There are, nonetheless, some real greenside threats: these are mostly mounds, which are prominent on a few holes (but typically are held in check), and some large bunkers. The traps are used sparingly, sometimes appearing in front of or on one side of the greens. A few holes have flanking greenside bunkers. The greens themselves feature subtle contours; four or five are also tilted—such that downhill putts will challenge your touch.

The Par-3s:

The scratch rating of 59.4 against a par of 62 from the blues certainly suggests that the course falls on the side of easy—though it is not a pushover. What adds the stronger difficulties are the two top par-3s here, the 186-yard sixth and the 191-yard sixteenth. Here, rigor threatened to tighten me like a vise as I thought about the woods on the left and the road clinging hard on the right. Missing the green long, I found that pitching to and two-putting the sixteenth green’s well-sloped, raised surface was no picnic. The sixth green is both a larger and easier target to find, although the tee shot must cross a large water hazard that surrounds most of the green and its chipping areas. The layout includes six short par-3s in the 105–140 yard range, which may leave some players wishing for more differentiation in yardage. Real estate for golf on this property is, of course, in short supply.

Conditions / Other:

Greens proved to be smooth, and bunkers were good. Roughs were spongy and inconsistent, while everything else, including the fairways, was about average overall. Service was excellent at check-in from Barbara; this is a friendly place!

A Takeaway:

The theme at this short but tight executive track revolves around restraint off the tee and solid judgment on approaches. Its modest scale places a premium on placement and touch rather than power. Those who are willing to play with caution will likely be rewarded for that caution.

Enjoyed a great round of golf at the Hamptons. Beautiful little golf course that’s well designed and maintained. Will be back for sure!

Fast, true greens. Mostly par 3s. Leave your driver at home. Good practice for irons.

The course in fantastic condition compared to last year. Staff are friendly as ever and the 19th was inexpensive.

The greens were improved over what I had seen there before. It’s an executive course at Par 61, but still a challenge with a decent amount of water. A fun day of golf!

This is a fun course that I've played numerous times. While short, there is a lot of water (though very few forced carries), so offline shots can be severely penalized. This is a great place to work on your short game, and the greens are in great shape. During the snowbird season, finding a course in good condition at a reasonable price is a challenge, so it's always nice when there are a few rounds at summer prices while the temps are more pleasant!

Very personable, friendly, and accommodating service. The community and course was friendly and open to golf course patrons. The course was easy to navigate.

We have played Hamptons Golf Course many times when holidaying in Florida.

The course is made up of many short holes but you won’t find a nicer location with nicer staff anywhere you go in Florida.

The course is in lovely condition and the greens were just perfect.

If you want a testing little course to hone your short play skills on, you really will be hard pressed to beat Hamptons.

Nice, fun, short course. Great place to refine your short game. The course is in great condition and the staff is welcoming, friendly and helpful. I will play again soon.

It is a shame that poor management of the course is ruining this as a course worth playing. I have played this course many times over the last few years, and I don't know what happened over the last month (played twice). The final straw came this round when my son and I were pulled from the 10th tee box and told we were playing too slow after finishing the front 9 in 1 hour and 5 minutes. The real problem was they booked an 80-golfer scramble at 9 am but had tee times open and available until 9 am. I booked a 745-tee time and started precisely at 745. When we were pulled off of the course, we were told we could go back out and start on hole 4 in the middle of the large scramble that was being played. We were also offered a future round but not a refund for their mistake of not knowing how to manage a golf course. This is the second time in a row that I was pressured into playing fast and had a negative experience because they had booked a large league play in the morning. Clearly this is not an uncommon issue, and it has happened on different days of the week, so I have no idea when you won't run into this issue as the first time it happened on a Sunday and this time it was a Wednesday. The previous time we played a similar 1 hour front 9 and when we came around to start the back 9 we were apologized too as we were told we played really fast and they had just sent a slow group out on the back 9 which was absolutely true as we got stuck behind them and spent the rest of the day waiting. I don't know what changed from the one week to the next in an hour being fast and then an hour being slow. In the future just close the course to public play on days you are going to do these large scrambles instead of messing around and trying to do a cash grab for golf that you are not going to allow someone to play. I will not return to this course until new management is brought on, and they learn how to run the course in a way that allows golfers to be able to actually play the rounds of golf they book. Again, a shame that a pretty good course is being eliminated from being able to be played because of poor management.

Excellent condition , great setup to practice your short game.

Great course, very scenic and staff were friendly.

It's been a few year's sense we played the Hamptons.

What a disappointment !

The course is wet, rough is un-mowed fairways are a spongy mess , if not under standing water. There are patch's of tall grass in the middle of the fairway that haven't been mowed in a while.. The greens are recovering poorly from being punched. We Lost a total of 7 balls in the fairway ( plugged, or in tall wet grassy patch's that we couldn't get to without getting are feet soaked or just off in the tall weeds. There was one exception, on hole 4 the guy on the lawn mower stopped waved at me then picked up my ball and drove away with it... Won't be going back! wasted day and $40 Bucks.

Ed & staff made our time at the Hamptons a fabulous experience. Great service, food, course and people. Highly recommend to anyone in the area!

Staff is friendly and it sits in the middle of a nice community.