Raven at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort

Great course and a great day. Pace of play was not too rushed. Course was challenging but more forgiving than I expected. I hit the green on #6 so that made me happy.

I have played several of the courses and have not been disappointed. Will definitely try to play again.

The greens simply did not match the prestige branding promoted by the club, nor were they befitting of a $175 price. The holes appeared to have been cut many, many days prior to our round. As one of my playing partners said, “golf holes shouldn’t have hair on them.”

I am a member here and the course is in great shape. The greens were top dressed a few days ago, so there was some sand on them. But they putted nicely and rolled true.

Was told the raven greens were in the best shape since plugging them in early may (5weeks) they were bad with a ton of sand on them,. Course has a good layout but not worth the money

We visited Destin the week of 18-25 May, pre-sharks (as far as we know). I had prearranged a tee-time for myself, my son, my son-in-law, and a friend from Virginia to play the Raven on 23 May. From the parking lot attendants, to the welcoming gentleman behind the counter, to the nice young lady serving us beverages every few holes, it was a great experience. As for the course, it was in good shape, greens rolled true, the overall layout was nice, and the 6th hole was as advertised.

Would highly recommend..It was a little pricey, but worth itt if you’re not looking for more of a budget friendly round. Staff was great and very helpful.

First, let me say the golf course itself is a gem and when conditions are good then this course is worth every bit of the $150+ greens fee.

However, I played in June 2024 and the greens were incredibly slow, hairy, and grainy. Florida weather has been normal with little rain so there was no real excuse for a $175 course to have greens in that condition.

Next, the price comes with free range access yet there were no range balls available 30min before my tee time. Several other golfers were out of luck as well and asking why all the buckets were empty at 130pm.

Finally, the clubhouse was closed when our round ended around 6pm - so no bathrooms, no snack bar/drinks, no merchandise available to purchase.

All these things are acceptable for a $80 course - but at $175 I can’t recommend this course to a friend.

We really liked the layout of this course - lots of good golf holes. The course was really well maintained except for the greens which had been recently aerated (and thus they were not smooth or true, which really affected our putting). Pace of play was really good - the starter let us go ahead of a five some (not sure why that was allowed) which was appreciated.

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.