ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA – There are lots of golf travel destinations well worth visiting – even if you don’t play golf. This is Part 2 of a series on that theme.
We had intended to bring our clubs to World Golf Village for a brief visit over the Thanksgiving holidays. Those clubs got left in our garage when the weather in Florida turned unseasonably cold.
The plan was to have our Thanksgiving dinner in St. Augustine, a bustling city at that time of year. Then we could enjoy the sights. St. Augustine has, arguably, the best Christmas lights display in Florida. A round of golf would have been nice, too.
St. Augustine is particularly a golf hotspot in March, when the PGA Tour holds its Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in nearby Ponte Vedra, but the playing options are always good in the area.
We had made previous visits over the years, but never one as extensive as this one. The options extended well beyond playing golf. Holiday festivities were starting.
We had a room booked at World Golf Village, a 36-hole resort that we had visited several times over the years. Once there we regretted we hadn’t brought the clubs along. The weather warmed up and the courses – called King & Bear and Slammer & Squire — looked enticing. Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer combined efforts to design the first one and the second honored legendary players Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen.
Our lodging was within the Village, at a condo at Blue-Green Vacations. It was perfectly comfortable – even without us having tee times. There was plenty to do in the historic city of St. Augustine, about 20 minutes away and it was packed with visitors.
We made use of trolleys to see the sites, but heavy traffic slowed things down – and that was just as well. Ours was supposed to be primarily a relaxing getaway – and it was. That wasn’t surprising because we had visited St. Augustine several times over the years. We were well aware that a Spaniard named Pone de Leon claimed Florida for Spain 1512. Spanish settlements needed to be built in Florida to protect the early settlers from pirates and hostile Indians.
St. Augustine became the oldest continuously occupied European settlement after Pedro Menendez came with 700 soldiers and colonists arrived. They founded the city in 1565 as America’s first colony but had trouble keeping it. Englishman Francis Drake burned the city to the ground in 1586 and a pirate, John Davis, battered it again in 1686.
Eventually Spain’s queen regent Mariana ordered the construction of a stone fort, and its remnants remain. Other historical features were slowly added. So were 43 miles of white sand beaches, and those two attractions bring over 5 million visitors a year to St. Augustine.
After all the wars for control of the city were over Henry Flagler, co-founder of Standard Oil, visited during the winter of 1883-84. He saw possibilities for development of the area and his projects made a major impact on the architecture and economy of the city.
Now there’s The Oldest House, a museum complex with gardens; the Villa Zorayda Museum; the largest retail shop in Florida; live pirate shows; airboat rides; boat tours; art galleries and plenty of dining and lodging options.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum, San Sebastian Winery, the Accord Civil Rights Museum, Pirate and Treasure Museum, The Jail, Potter’s Wax Museum and the old hotels and churches are all interesting.
Our favorites were the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park and Flagler College. Flager has a very nice looking campus and played a big role in the civil rights movement. Fountain of Youth provided a pleasant walk through a series of educational stops. We could have spent a whole day there.
As for the golf, it’s always an option. Royal St. Augustine joins TPC Sawgrass and World Golf Village as fine spots for those who want to hit the links in between stops at the multitude of other attractions.
World Golf Village had been the home of the World Golf Hall of Fame, but that was closed in 2023 and relocated to Pinehurst, N.C. That changed the atmosphere at the Village, though signage to the Hall are still there.
One feature that didn’t go away was Murray Brothers Caddyshack Restaurant. The Saint Augustine location was the first of a series of such restaurants nationwide. They were created by a group of six brothers from the Chicago area, the most famous of which is Bill – one of the stars of the iconic Caddyshack movies. World Golf Village’s Caddyshack opened in 2001 and is still going strong.
