Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort

Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort spans 2,400 acres between the Gulf of Mexico and Choctawhatchee Bay in Miramar Beach, and the name itself tells part of the story: developers combined “San” from nearby Santa Rosa Beach with “Destin” to the west when they formed the resort in 1973. The Links golf course opened the following year alongside the first residential neighborhoods and a bayside hotel, and the resort celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023, a milestone that highlighted just how much the property has grown from that original footprint into one of the largest resort communities on the Emerald Coast.

Today the resort counts roughly 30 neighborhoods holding about 1,600 residential and hotel units, organized into four resort areas: Beachside, Village, Bayside, and Lakeside. Visitors booking a stay will recognize names like Beachside, Bayside Villas, Lakeside, Osprey Pointe, and the Village & The Grand Complex, each offering a different style of villa or condo and a different distance from the sand. Beachside puts guests steps from the Gulf, Bayside and Lakeside face Choctawhatchee Bay and the resort’s internal lakes, and the Village sits at the center of the action near Grand Boulevard’s shops and restaurants. Hotel Effie and Tops’l by Sandestin add hotel-style accommodations to the mix.

Golf built the resort’s early reputation, and four courses remain in play today. The Links Golf Club, a Tom Jackson design from 1973, runs alongside Choctawhatchee Bay and represents the resort’s original course. Baytowne Golf Club, also Jackson-designed, opened in 1984 and underwent a renovation in 2005. Burnt Pine Golf Club, a Rees Jones design that opened in 1994, operates as a semi-private club. The Raven Golf Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and opened in 2000, has hosted PGA Champions Tour and Korn Ferry Tour events over the years, giving Sandestin a tournament pedigree alongside its resort-course variety.

Water access defines the resort just as much as golf. Sandestin fronts more than seven miles of combined beach and bay shoreline, and the private beach club gives resort guests and members a dedicated stretch of Gulf sand. Baytowne Marina, a 113-slip facility on Choctawhatchee Bay, anchors the resort’s boating and fishing activity, offering everything from evening dolphin cruises to bay and deep sea fishing charters that depart right from the docks. Pontoon boats, WaveRunners, kayaks, and paddleboards are all available for rent at the marina, making it easy to get out on the water without owning a boat.

Beyond golf and the water, the resort maintains 15 tennis courts on clay, a dedicated pickleball club, a fitness center, and 19 swimming pools spread across its various villages, plus Spa Lilliana for guests who want a slower pace. Dining options run from casual marina fare at the Marina Bar & Grill and Fat Tuesday Daiquiri Bar to the more refined restaurants inside Hotel Effie, including Ovide and the rooftop Ara Pool & Lounge. The resort is pet friendly in select accommodations and runs a kids program called Club KZ, while the nonprofit Sandestin Foundation for Kids channels resort fundraising into local charitable causes. With golf courses, a working marina, miles of beach and bay frontage, and enough neighborhoods to suit almost any group size, Sandestin functions less like a single hotel and more like a self-contained beach town, one that has spent more than fifty years building out the amenities to match its “Your Place in the Sun” tagline.