Raven at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort

Best course I have played. Course is challenging but not over the top hard. Fairways were excellent. Greens were fast so stay below the hole. Staff were friendly. Would play again for sure!

While on vacation, I wanted to play a round with my adult son, and we got a tee time that worked for us at Sandestin’s Raven course. Online booking was easy. We checked in and everyone was friendly. The driving range was fine (although it was lacking flags at enough yardage intervals). Overall, the course was very pretty and well-maintained. My first criticism was the greens. They are “Tifeagle” grass (which I’ve never played before), that were spongy, bumpy and VERY SLOW. You had to whack your ball and hope that it didn’t hit some unseen bump to get it to the hole. I wouldn’t have submitted this review if that were the only issue. When we pulled up to the first tee about 2 minutes before our scheduled tee time, the group in front of us was sitting in their cart waiting for the group in front of them to clear the fairway. We waited probably 5-7 minutes. This wait continued to get a bit worse as we progressed through each of the first 5 holes. Upon reaching the tee box at #6 (a par 3 island green completely over water), there were FIVE separate groups all lined up waiting. After waiting for 15 minutes, I called the pro shop and asked for a marshal to come prompt the groups in front of us to increase their pace of play. I never saw anyone. The rest of the round became a waiting game. We waited at least 10 minutes on every tee box. I placed a second call when we reached the turn and asked them to send a marshal again. I never saw anyone. When we got to 18, 4-3/4hours after teeing off (with no turn stand to slow down the round), there were at least six groups stacked up waiting to tee off. We had to make a dinner reservation with our family, so we just skipped 18. As we drove past the 18 green, there were approximately a dozen guys standing on the green taking a group photo. This was the cause of our frustration. According to one of the other groups we were playing behind, the course management had allowed multiple groups of five or six players from this large group to play together. My son and I dropped well over $300 to play at Raven. It could have been a lovely day with great golf. But, the fact that the course allowed a large group to stack up over-sized groupings and then did literally nothing to remedy the situation created a very frustrating round of golf. I wouldn’t have left this poor review if they’d just sent someone out to speed things along, but they did nothing, which led to a very frustrating experience in which we couldn’t even finish our round.

One of the gulf coast must play tracks. Great condition but very challenging. Staff was great and it was a fun round.

This was a great course to play, and I will play it again next time I'm down here, but if you are renting golf clubs make sure to bring a brush to clean the clubs, as they are always really dirty every time rent them, nice clubs, but dirty.

I really like the course. Just wish I would have known the greens had been punched.

Freshly aerated greens made putting a real challenge. Everything else was great but that. If I would have know in advance we probably would have played elsewhere.

Great greens, beautiful layout, superb maintenance

I like the course a lot with the exception of hole 13 I think improved maintenance is needed.

Very enjoyable round! Beautiful scenery, green in great condition. Not too fast or slow. Would definitely play again

Course was in great shape! It was challenging but fun at the same time. Would definitely play again!

Right out of the gate the staff member checking me in alluded to the fact that he was not happy that I booked with Golf Now. The beverage cart was seen one time in 18 holes. This was the 4th time I have played this course. My previous experiences have been very good (which is why I returned). I felt the course was not at all in the shape it had been in previous years. The range tee was not well manicured as it had been in years past. The greens were spotty and had weed growth in places. Certainly not the type of conditions one would expect from courses at this price point. Rated it 3 overall simply because of good past experiences but could have easily rated it a 2.

Our group had high hopes for this course. A group of five (5) were allowed to play together. They were more concerned with their beer intake than playing golf. So much so, that after over four (4) hours of being on the course we decided to leave as we left the 15th green. As we passed the fabulous 5 on the 18th tee, we saw them standing, talking and drinking on the tee. The Fab 5 had no less than 8 balls in the 18th fairway and in no rush to leave the tee box. As we were leaving we past 3 other groups, two other groups had passed us during the round to leave as well. No course Marshall or Ranger on the course. Voiced our concerns at the pro-shop. Sorry, nothing we can do. Sorry, we will not plan to play there again.