Oaks at Ft. Walton Beach Golf Club

Played yesterday with my wife and a friend

Fun round. Pace was slow but not horrible

Conditions decent for winter

Course is in ok shape but it is winter

Pace of play was ridiculously slow at first due to an inexperienced older mixed 4some

I skipped a hole to get past them and things sped up for a little while then log jammed again

Took over 3 hours to play 18 as a single which is ridiculous

There are rangers/marshals on the course but didn’t see them try to help speed things up. Maybe a good teaching point

Course was in okay for time of year. Not sure why that waited until mid afternoon to cut and roll the greens

for the average golfer this is a challenging course. fairly long. wide fairways. a nice layout

My wife and I decided to play what we assumed would be a nice, relaxing round on New Year's Day to de-compress from the hectic holiday season- what occured instead was quite possibly the most miserable golfing experience of our lives.

The good: The club offers cheap buckets of balls ($2.00 for 30 isn't bad) with a nice wide open driving range, and they give everyone a nice little booklet that outlines each hole and gives tips to play. That is- unfortunately- the last good thing I have to say about this place.

What transpired was nothing short of the most agonizingly rude round of golf I have ever had the misfortune of participating in. There was no marshall out so we kept being hit into by players behind us (we were not playing slow, but this was our first time on this course and everyone knows that that can cause a little bit of a delay.) Additionally, the group ahead of us was playing quite slow, but as etiquette dictates, we waited until they players were at least making their approaches to tee off on the 5's and long 4's.

That is not the courtesy afforded us by the players behind us. At one point, while we were trying to putt, one person litereally hit onto the green then proceeded to huff and puff when i turned around to see where that had come from (I thought "there is no way this came from someone behind us, must have been a lucky chunk from another hole" NOPE). So we let them play through, whatever. This proceeded to happen 3 more times. Groups behind us literally teeing off while my wife was making her 2nd shot. We ended up letting multiple players play through (also, I have never in my life seen so many single players, why dont they make them group up to regulate pace of play? Oh that is right- no Marshall).

Other things that we witnessed: random non-player walkers who just stood along the fairways like spectators, a guy who was just randomly playing holes willy-nilly where it looked like he could jump in, brown and threadbare greens, broken bathrooms, and an over abundance of wannabe pros who clearly just got new clubs from Santa and were trying to show everyone on the course how big their britches were. To top it off a group on an adjacent hole picked up my ball, pocketed it, and drove off even as I hollered at him.

We finally called it quits after thr 8th hole, but because they don't have cart paths throughout, we got lost trying to return to the clubhouse.

Overall, the setup of the course is nice and open. Interesting water features, and the greens fee desk employees were nice enough when checking in. We will likely never return to Ft. Walton again but if we do, we certainly won't be playing here again.

I really enjoy playing both The Pines, and The Oaks courses. The Oaks is the most challenging, so I especially enjoy playing The Pines after I’ve been beat up a little after having recently played some of the more difficult courses in the area. The Pines is shorter and for me, not being a real long ball hitter, I can still reach some of the holes in regulation. My only issue is the value because I don’t think they should be charging over $30 to play either course. Neither course is a $40+ dollar golf course in my opinion, especially for a municipal course. It is also difficult to take advantage of their twilight rate because they don’t adjust the start time with the time change, so there is typically not enough daylight to play an 18 hole round of golf unless maybe if you’re playing as a single. Nor do any of the online golf deals allow you time to play a full round unless you’re willing to pay near regular price greens fees. Overall I think both courses are enjoyable, and ideal especially for the weekend golfer, and local youth who are learning the game.

First time playing FWB Oaks course. Found it to be very challenging as well as a tight driving course. There are a few holes where you can let the shaft out but most of the time par or better requires an iron off the tee. I played on a day where I only encountered one other group and they let me play through. Very nice and courteous. Great day on these links.

The course is in great condition. The greens are a little fast and run true

The fairways are in good condition

Play was steady.

Absolutely the best municipal golf facility around these parts! You will not be disappointed...even if you play as poorly as I did!!

Beautiful day for golf. Staff was very friendly and the course wasn't crowded. The greens were in great shape and the bunkers were raked with plenty of sand. I will definitely play this corse again.

I haven't played this course for a couple of months and I am very pleased to say it was in a lot. Ore enjoyable today.