The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island

The Golf Club of Amelia Island is truly a beautiful course. The front nine has a lot of trees and lakes - the back nine features a lot of wholes hitting around or over marsh land. It's a course one can play many times and it's almost always in great shape.

Lots of grass leas areas in rough and fairways. Some traps have dark, hard-packed sand. Tee times every 7 or 8 minutes, leading to large backups. Playing partner, a guest at the adjacent Ritz (which does not own the course) said he could not believe this was a Ritz course and that he was very disappointed. On the positive side, fairways, tees and greens are over-seeded in winter, not true for other local courses and greens are in good shape.

Paid $190 per player and had some expectations given the price and that the course is at the Ritz. First the positives; the back nine is clearly the better nine and the greens were rolling good The bad: played the front nine in 75 minutes but was clearly not fast enough for members behind us who hit into my group 3x. Front nine feels like it was forced into a small piece of property within a neighborhood. First tee is across the road where you need to pay attention to cars who do not yield to golfers. Driving range is several hundred yards past 1st tee. For $190 I expect better than a couple of muddy, random practice balls scattered around. Golf carts had no scorecards and needed to drive back across street to get a card at clubhouse. Conditioning of fairways and tee boxes were very spotty with abundant brown spots. The layout had several 90 degree doglegs and some holes where large trees block approach shot into green even when in the fairway. Having played this course would recommended saving $100 and play Oak Marsh

Played as part of a tournament and glad I finally did. Course was challenging yet fair, fairways and greens impeccable, and the holes were very visually pleasing. Recommend for any levels if you can get on since this is a private/resort course.

This McCumber/Littler design is not long but has plenty of trouble with water, trees, bunkers, and marsh to catch any errant shots. It gets off to a tough start with a tight par 4 and and sharp and long dogleg left par 5. Water is in play on much of the front nine and the marsh features on the back side. The wind off the Atlantic adds to the challenges. Carts feature GPS, and the staff are all helpful and friendly. While private if you stay at the Ritz you get access.

The conditions of this course are impeccable. The Ritz Carlton is right on site, so the golf course is only playable as a guest at the hotel, or as a member. I was able to play it through a one-day event hosted by the FSGA. The golf course is not very long, and based on the tees for this tournament, I was hitting 4 iron off of the tee for most of the par 4s, which for me is about a 200 yard shot. Still, I enjoyed this course, and it would be nice to return and play this course again some time. If you are visiting here, it's definitely worth your time to play a round here.

The only way to access this private club is through a stay-and-play at the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island.
The 6,696-yard course used to be long enough and strong enough to host a major event, the 1998 Liberty Mutual Insurance Legends of Golf. It's still kept in tournament condition with pure greens and a beautiful setting within the marshlands of the island.
A career day can be had from the short 6,156-yard blues if guests can stay out of the wetlands, especially on the back nine. The Mark McCumber/Gene Littler design is so roomy and comfortable that losing a ball is more pilot error than architectural cruelty.

Great course. In very good condition. Staff are wonderful. Love playing here.

We thoroughly enjoyed this experience. The course was in spectacular shape and the staff was friendly and helpful. We will certainly return and will recommend this course to all of our golfing friends.

This was the first time playing this course, and as expected, the experience was a great one. The course was in great condition; the layout was formidable; and couldn't ask for a better experience.

An excellent layout. Spacious, but not a pushover by any means. Very well maintained. I really like this course.