After golfing yesterday with friends in Orlando I drove a couple hours the other way on Sunday to meet up with another friend. This friend and I played at The Golf at South Hampton on Sunday and then mixed in some other Jacksonville area courses later in the week. More on those courses later though!

Because I was headed from Central Florida the more southern location of South Hampton appealed to me. From Jacksonville it is about a half hour south to South Hampton – so not too bad. Thankfully, we had an afternoon tee time but with the darn time change I never was able to shake off that lost hour of sleep. Anyway, we paid our green fee of ~$50 and played alongside a funny single which made for an enjoyable afternoon.

South Hampton is a Mark McCumber design that opened in 1999. Like most courses built around this time, South Hampton is a residential course and plays through a neighborhood – although you wouldn’t know that from my pictures! From the pics the course looks like it has a more natural setting, but many holes are lined by homes. However, the homes are set back and not really in play.

Overall I thought South Hampton turned out to be a decent course. Although nothing really stood out to me as unique. Normally when I played a course something catches my attention (the design, conditions, setting, etc). However, I never got that feeling while golfing here and walked away from the round hoping for more.

I played the black tees which are 71.3/133/6452 and the design is repetitive, but interesting to play and fair. Most fairways are large and offer plenty of space to drive the ball. There are many large, deeper bunkers that guard the fairways and greens. It seemed like every tee shot had a bunker at the same yardage and I personally would have preferred a few more chipping areas around the greens (instead of bunkers).

While there isn’t a signature hole at South Hampton the final five holes are the course’s best. These holes loop around a wetlands area and give you a taste of Florida golf. There are a couple tough holes in this stretch as well! If you have a close match going then I’m sure the 14th through the 18th will determine the winner. I had a good round going and limped home with a couple ugly scores on the 15th and 18th. Darn!

The 16th (a 369 yard par-4) ended up being my favorite hole at South Hampton. Just from the scorecard it would seem that it isn’t all that difficult of a hole. However, the tee shot is intimidating because most of the tees are tucked back into a group of trees. There is trouble left and the drive plays through a chute. Water and some bunkers add to the visual trickery. If you can navigate the tee shot fine then the approach allows a chance to score.

The conditions were good, although apparently it is still early in the season for this area. I would have guessed that everything would have been more lush, but the grass was still greening up. The fairways were firm and fast and the greens were quick. It turned out to be one of those rounds where the ball just kept rolling! The tees were chewed up in spots.

For whatever reason South Hampton didn’t really resonate with me. Looking back, I think I would have enjoyed the course more if I played it during peak season or if more natural elements were left along the routing. For the price though, South Hampton gets my recommendation – even if it has some underwhelming qualities.

Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):