Take a break from all those fancy, high-priced restaurants when you’re visiting Jacksonville, and go visit Beach Road Chicken Dinners. Best restaurant in town if you’re looking for a hearty, Southern meal. It’s a Jacksonville establishment. It’s so old, it was built back when Atlantic Blvd. was the only road in town that led to the beach – thus, the name. They give you a mess of old-time, fried chicken, and then serve you heaping bowls of fixins,’ like mashed potatoes, gravy, cole slaw, and especially the cream peas. You want more, you just heap ‘em on your plate. You will never ... full post »

So Tiger Woods gets to celebrate his birth-month. The rest of us usually get only a day to celebrate, or mourn, our birthdays. Woods is taking almost the whole month of January to ease the pain of turning 30, probably on some secluded Caribbean island with his svelte, Swedish wife. I’ve heard some criticism of Woods for not playing the Mercedes, reserved for PGA Tour winners. I say, stop your belly-aching. It isn’t like he needs the money, and he can probably give the rest of the field a one-month head start and catch up without breaking a sweat. This isn’t ... full post »

It’s amazing the number of people who say they prefer the Valley course over the much more famous Stadium course at the Tournament Players Club in Ponte Vedra, a little south of Jacksonville. On a recent tour of the Jacksonville area – the First Coast as the PR folks like to say – I had more people tell me they enjoyed the Valley course over the heavily-televised Stadium, with its famous No. 17 island green. That includes pros and amateurs alike. I’m betting there are thousands upon thousands of people who don’t even know the TPC has two courses. I played ... full post »

I’m a fan of municipal golf courses. Always have been, always will be. I like the working man atmosphere, playing with the great unwashed. Of course, the down side are courses left un-attended, weeds sprouting in the fairways, pock-marked greens and bored bureaucrats behind the pro shop counter. That’s why it’s always a treat to play a really good muni, like Bent Creek in Jacksonville. Formerly known as the Golf Club of Jacksonville, Billy Casper’s management company has turned a decent muni into an excellent one. Casper poured $300,000 into it – a lot of money for a muni. It’s actually ... full post »

Jacksonville, Florida is a very under-rated golf destination. For the life of me, I can’t understand why it hasn’t achieved the status of a Myrtle Beach. It has nearly as many golf courses, is much easier to get to by car, and there’s more to do off the golf courses. It has some problems – there aren’t many core golf experiences – courses with no homes – because developers own northeast Florida and it is very spread out and hard to get around in the traffic – but the variety of courses is impressive. Look for more stories on Jax golf ... full post »

The loss of golf courses along the Grand Strand is starting to get scary. It’s one thing when lesser courses are sold for re-development, because that could be seen as simply market forces at work. Oversaturation and booming real estate value can explain that. But when premier resorts like Wild Wing Plantation are threatened, that’s something else altogether. The plantation was recently bought by a local group from a Japanese conglomerate, acording to Myrtle Beach Online, and the new owners say they may redevelop part of the four-course facility, one of the Grand Strand’s elite. The new owners told the publication they ... full post »

I loved Biloxi, Mississippi before Katrina, and I’ll probably love it after. The casinos are already re-building and some expect to be open before the new year, albeit in extremely temporary quarters. But, most if not all, will be building on land, within 800 feet of the coast. Before Katrina, they were allowed to be built only over water, which meant they had to be set atop barges. Walking into one always made me feel like a riverboat gambler, like Maverick. I entered with a crooked smile and the certain knowledge of my own destiny. Plus, I liked the way certain angles ... full post »

I’m not sure Annika Sorenstam is getting her just due, with all the talk going on about the hot young women golfers like Michelle Wie, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, et al. Here we have a woman who could turn out to be the best of all time, and it seems to me she should be getting more pub than she is, what with all the spats involving Wie, Creamer and Pressel and, yes Sorenstam herself. Sorenstam, who just won Player of the Year honors from the Golf Writers Association of America, won 10 LPGA events this year, giving her a career ... full post »

Ladies, just because you can’t get into Augusta doesn’t mean you can’t golf here. In less than a week, I’ve found several courses that, while not on a par with Augusta National certainly, are well worth your time. Mt. Vintage is a terrific course and a great value, with fireplaces burning in a century-old clubhouse. The River Golf Club, just across the Savannah River from Augusta, was built on an abandoned railroad yard and illegal dump, and is perfect for ladies, demanding accuracy over ape-like strength. Jones Creek is another excellent course, as is Bartram Trail. Green fees for the most ... full post »

It looks like the Grand Strand may lose another golf course. A developer told Myrtle Beach online that he plans to buy the South Course at the Deer Track Golf resort and build 500 homes on it. The sale is pending and if it goes through, plans call for the course to be closed the end of April, according to the publication. There is another course at the resort, the recently renovated Toski Links, that would remain open. Bill Clark of Bill Clark Homes told the online version of the Sun News he would build “mostly single family and some single-level ... full post »