Santa Rosa Golf & Beach Club may be in the middle of nowhere, but there's a civilization of good golf once you arrive. (Click on images to enlarge.)
It’s one of those places that shocks you. Pull up the Santa Rosa Golf & Beach Club on your map app and you’ll likely furrow your brow. Located a half-wedge shot from Highway 30A, the Gulf Coast hotspot in the Florida Panhandle between Pensacola and Panama City Beach, the old club looks like it’s in the middle of a pulpwood forest. In fact, the only things you pass between U.S. 98 and the club’s entrance are Clark’s Service and Repair and row upon row of spindly pines.
Even at the entrance, you aren’t sure that you’re in the right place until you see the driving range on one side and a chipping area on the other. The modest clubhouse that sits atop a hill gives away nothing. It could be one of thousands of structures at clubs from Eustis, Florida to Eureka, California.
It’s not until you’ve unloaded, parked and walked to the back side of the c...