Sandestin Resort (Burnt Pine Golf Club)

Overview: Burnt Pine Golf Club at Sandestin moves through the pine forests, wetlands and coastal ground of Florida’s Emerald Coast. Rees Jones designed the 18-hole, par 72 course to change character during the round: the front nine works through wooded and marshy land, while the back nine opens toward Choctawhatchee Bay. The longest listed tees reach 7,001 yards, but the course’s identity comes from the sequence of environments and the way each setting changes the preferred line into the green.

History: Burnt Pine opened in 1994 as part of Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. Jones’s design used the existing coastal landscape instead of imposing one uniform style, and later work has focused on maintaining the course through Florida’s demanding climate. The resort’s current presentation calls Burnt Pine its most exclusive golf club, while still offering limited resort-guest play under its seasonal program.

Did You Know? Burnt Pine is one of the few Florida properties where a Rees Jones course and a Robert Trent Jones Jr. course sit side by side: Raven is next door at Sandestin. The two layouts are not versions of the same design philosophy. Burnt Pine emphasizes the meeting of forest, marsh and bay, while Raven uses a more overtly modern-traditional routing through similar coastal ground.