Rocky Bayou Country Club

Rocky Bayou Country Club is a member-owned, 18-hole private golf club in the Rocky Bayou area of Niceville, built on land that two Twin Cities residents fought to secure more than fifty years ago. The idea began in 1971, when County Commissioner Jack Nichols and amateur golfer Frank Edge set out to unite Niceville and Valparaiso, longtime rivals across Boggy Bayou, around a shared recreational project. They built a list of 115 potential supporters, and the plan gained real momentum when local landowner C. Walter Ruckel agreed to lease 215 acres to the club on favorable terms over a 99-year term. The club incorporated on April 7, 1972, and officially opened its doors on September 29, 1973, with the original by-laws adopted the following day and a 13-member board of directors set to guide it.

Course architect William W. Amick designed the 18-hole layout, and the Robert B. Werk Construction Company built it for $293,258, finishing the job in September 1973. That original course still occupies the property today, spread across roughly 115 acres of rolling Northwest Florida terrain with five spring-fed lakes and stands of oak and pine framing the fairways. Membership at the outset was organized into four categories, labeled A through D, priced at $350 each with a cap of 400 members total, a structure that helped keep the club financially sound in its early years while it built out the clubhouse, swimming pool, and tennis courts that still serve members alongside the course. The golf history here includes at least one statistical long shot worth mentioning: in 2015, member Kent Bankus recorded consecutive holes-in-one on holes 8 and 12 during the same round, a feat with odds estimated at roughly 1 in 67 million.

Public and visiting golfers do not need a membership to play. Daily rates run $109 for 18 holes and $69 for nine, both prices covering the greens fee, cart, and a bucket of range balls, and active-duty and retired military golfers receive a 10 percent discount off those daily rates. Tee times for the public go through the pro shop by phone at 850-678-3270, while members book through the club’s online Club Caddie portal. General Manager and PGA Professional Jim Phillips runs the golf operation day to day, supported by golf course superintendent Dennis Stein, who keeps the greens and those five lakes in shape through the Florida Panhandle’s heat and humidity.

Dining at the club runs through the Crooked Tree Grille, open daily for lunch with select Friday evenings featuring dinner specials under Food and Beverage Director Chef Dan Pettis. Like the golf course, the Grille does not require a membership to visit, so a family in Niceville for a weekend can play nine holes and stay for lunch without joining the club first. Membership itself is organized into several tiers designed to fit different budgets and levels of course access, including family memberships that let spouses and children use the pool, tennis courts, and course together, and prospective members can review the specific dues structure directly with the club before committing. Beyond golf, the club runs a full slate of member activities: a Men’s Golf Association and a Ladies’ Golf Association organize regular play and tournaments, and a junior golf program introduces the next generation of local players to the game on the same course their grandparents may have helped build in 1973. The club sits at 600 Golf Course Drive, open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., a short drive from both downtown Niceville and the Bluewater Bay area, making it an easy stop for visitors who want a round of golf as part of a longer Emerald Coast trip.