Grand Slam Tennis Tours
Great seat & vacation pkgs to the 2009 French Open
grandslamtennistours.com
Longboat Key Club/Resort
On Florida's SW coast;home of New 20-court Tennis Gardens
www.longboatkeyclub.com
Here's what others have had to say about Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort and Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa.
"Team Sandestin is the Best Ever!!! Chris, Todd, Patrick, and David are exceptional. The Energy that each of the Pros bring to the court is top notch! After the week was over I couldn't wait to get back to the court and show off my new moves that I learned from Team Sandestin! I recommend Sandestin to anyone who wishes to improve their game and have fun doing it. Worth every penny!!!"—D.L., Int., May 2009
"Just got back from a week vacation to Sandestin Resort. Great tennis facilities. Outstanding Pro's, especially Patrick, plenty of clinics and round robins. Great Southern hospitality from the ladies who work at the pro shop as well as throughout the resort.
Would recommend staying in one of the beachside condo's or the Hilton and enjoying the sugar white sand beaches."—D.M., Adv. Int., May 2009
"The resort experience was wonderful. The staff and tennis pro's were the best!! Thanks for teaching us what we needed to learn."—T.R., Low Int., April 2009
"WE have been several times and it is worth the cross country flight. Chris Petty and his staff are remarkable. They have great drills and technique. The junior camp is superb. I met two moms that have fantastic athletes and both drive over an hour each way just to take their kids to drills, that is un heard of in the south where there is so much tennis. All three families that I sat down with talked to have been coming to Sandesting for a number of years. It is just a great testimonial to the tennis staff there.
In march just before the regular drills in the afternoon, I noticed that the pros were out with a bunch of high schoolers. I asked a mom if they had changed the time, she said no that this is whole entire tennis team, boys and girls, from a high school in Kentucky down for a week long camp on their spring break.
Well you get the point about the tennis.
The village is also great. Designed by the same peopel who did Whistler. Lots of entertainment, pedestrian friendly, lots of restaurants. Don't forget the beach, white sand and turquoise water. BAsically it is all here!!"—M.D., Int., April 2009
"We brought our family here for Spring Break and to have private lessons and clinics. We found the facility beautiful, the staff friendly and knowledgable, and a focused but relaxeda and fun atmosphere here at Sandestin. We would love to come back and recommend it without reservation.
The staff was also helpful to set up match play for our junior players with visitors and locals."—M.W., Int., March 2009
Rate Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort or Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa
Sandestin begins along the sugar-sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and extends north across a peninsula to Choctawhatchee Bay. It has devoted attention to tennis 
ever since it opened in 1975, when it became the first modern resort to give its guests the opportunity to play on grass courts. Although the grass has been replaced by clay, it still has a handsome 15-court tennis complex a short stroll from the Village of Baytowne Wharf, which is a focal point of the resort even though it borders the bay and not the beach.
The resort and its residential developments now cover some 2,400 acres. It begins as a series of 20-story buildings erected just behind the high sugar-white sand dunes that line this part of the Gulf Coast. From there, the resort extends northward completely across the peninsula to Choctawhatchee Bay. Highway 98 slices through the middle, separating the smaller Beachside development from Linkside and Dockside. Among them these three developments encompass four golf courses, a fitness center with massage rooms, a marina, two complexes of shops and restaurants—the newest of them the Village of Baytowne Wharf—and more. Lodging ranges from rooms at a modest hotel to four-bedroom condos. Also within the complex is a beachfront Hilton hotel.
The opening of the Village of Baytowne Wharf in the summer of 2002 added a new dimension to this already feature-rich resort. Designed for pedestrians, this complex of shops, restaurants, night clubs, condominiums, and a convention center takes its architectural clues from all over the South. Narrow streets, their concrete embedded with sea shells, lace a village tricked out in white-washed brick, cedar, and wood painted in an array of moss green, canary yellow, blood orange, slate blue, gray, and white. There are hints of New Orleans' French Quarter in the grillwork of balconies and of Charleston in brick-lined courtyards. Arcades with ceiling fans shade cedar benches, porches have rocking chairs. Entertainers perform in the streets, clowns paint children's faces, and even many of the shopkeepers seem to have come straight from central casting right down to their appropriate costumes.
By concentrating so many diversions in one place, the village provides an alternative to the beach, including one of the best spots to watch sunsets. It has more nightlife, too, with live music at the Famous Door, a branch of the Bourbon Street landmark, dueling pianos in Rum Runners, and more than half a dozen restaurants and food outlets, including a branch of Starbucks for the latte-addicted. A free on-property shuttles make it easy to commute from the village to anywhere else within the resort, including the nearby tennis complex (though it's a mere five-minute walk away anyway).
Pro Shop: 850-267-7060 or 850-267-7110
The new tennis complex has also infused new life into the programs, in large measure because there are now some 200 active local members—many of whom live there year round—to provide continuity. It has also given the staff people to draw on when resort guests need games.
Tennis Staff. Tennis director Chris Petty played his junior tennis in Alabama, then went on to the University of South Alabama. He's been at Sandestin since 1995 and heads a strong and personable staff.
Tennis Programs. During the busier March-to-November season, the tennis center offers one or more clinics a day. The staff also runs more than half a dozen men's or women's days or mixers each week, the liveliest of them a Saturday mixer, which often attracts 35 to 40 players. There is also some kind of event each month—a tournament, round robin, exhibition, or club challenge—often geared to members but frequently open to guests. Sandestin also specializes in special packages for teams.
Courts & Fees. A gray shingled clubhouse with covered decks on both ends overlooks the courts. There are 12 clay and 3 hard courts altogether laid out in 2s and 3s with a pond on the far side. Wooden fence posts, netting rather than chain-link fence, and newly planted palm trees, oleander, and shrubs make it a very appealing place to play. Between each pair of courts are green benches and water jugs in the shade of an overhead awning. The pro shop itself is one of the largest specialty shops in Northwest Florida and carries a full line of racquets, clothing, and accessories. Court fees: $12/person/hour (guests who rent through Sandestin get one free hour/day; however, from Mar. 1-July 31, that free hour is only available after 11 a.m.).
Caveat: Check the Sandestin calendar. Some of their big weekend team tennis events tie up every court from early in the morning until 4 or 5 p.m. from Friday through Sunday noon. If an event is scheduled for the weekend you're planning to visit, phone the pro shop before making reservations to find out what impact the event may have on your ability to book court time, clinics, or lessons.
Many activities within the resort are free to guests who book through the resort. That includes complimentary use of on-property transportation, bicycles, boogie boards, kayaks, canoes, and special children's, family, and teen programs. It provides one hour of free court time daily, allows adults unlimited access to the health club, and secures discounted resort rates on a variety of activities, including greens fees and additional court time.
Beach. Towering dunes, some almost 30 feet high, border a broad white-sand beach along this stretch of the Florida Panhandle. On calm days when the Gulf of Mexico is aquamarine in color the beach is even more beautiful. All of the construction within Sandestin has taken place behind the primary dune line; unfortunately, that includes nine 8-to-21-story structures that loom above the dunes and leave no illusions about the proximity of civilization. Chairs, umbrellas, cabanas, watersports equipment (including kayaks, boogie boards, and canoes) are available from a shack on the beach. Note, however, that there are no lifeguards, either here or at any of the other resorts along this coast.
Golf Courses. There are four golf courses within the resort as well as a golf learning and performance center and an 18-hole family oriented putting course designed to reflect Florida's various natural environments. All the carts have GPS systems to show your position and distance from the hole and from them you have the ability to communicate with the clubhouse for everything from dinner reservations to booking additional tee times.
Links Course: Located along Choctawhatchee Bay, this oldest and most scenic of the Sandestin courses has five holes that border the bay—wind can thus be an issue—and water on 13 of 18. Still it is manageable if you play smart golf, and it has great sunset views and opportunities to spot dolphins.
Baytowne Golf Club: These 18 holes wind through a variety of terrain, from elevated views of the Gulf of Mexico to fairways carved from pine forests. This is the most forgiving of the four, making it the best choice for high handicap golfers.
Burnt Pine Golf Club: A Rees Jones-designed private course (available to guests only on a limited basis), these 18 holes are challenging but fair. Its rolling fairways and strategically placed bunkers invite golfers to craft an approach for every hole. Golf Digest named it one of the Top 30 courses in Florida.
Raven Golf Club: Robert Trent Jones, Jr. designed this newest of the Sandestin courses, riddling it with bunkers and fast greens.
Sandestin Golf Academy and the Hank Johnson School of Golf. Daily golf clinics and customized learn-and-play packages provide beginners and experienced golfers alike with opportunities to learn basic fundamentals, perfect their shot-making skills, and undergo supervised practice sessions to speed improvement.
The Dunes at Sandestin: An 18-hole, Astroturf putting course located just north of the beachside towers and intended for family fun.
Spa & Fitness Center. The Sandestin Health Club has three rooms: one outfitted with a selection of some two dozen pieces of cardiovascular equipment, including Nordic Tracks, treadmills, Stairmasters, and Precor Elliptical trainers. Another room holds an extensive exercise circuit of some 15 Nautilus stations as well as dumbbells and limited freeweights; and the third, an aerobics studio, is used for yoga, stretch, and exercise classes. One-on-one training is available and so are massages.
And ... Bicycles are available for use for free and there is an extensive network of bike paths connecting both sides of the resort (including a bicycle/golf cart tunnel under Hwy. 98). Kids can look forward to an ocean sailing school, a nature park, a treehouse, and nature walk. Add catch-and-release fishing, canoeing, kayaking, waverunners, parasailing, snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing charters, and sunset and lobster cruises and there's little reason to leave the resort—unless it's to visit the 100+-store Silver Sands factory-outlet complex 2 miles to the west.
During spring break, over selected holidays, and from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the resort runs a half-day program for children ages 4-6 and both half-day and full-day (that is, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.) programs for those ages 7-12. Activities include arts & crafts, beach and pool games, bingo, biking, fishing, scavenger hunts, and more. There is also a teen program during the summer months with volleyball on the beach, evening socials, movies, and other activities. In addition, during the summer there is a Children's Evening Out that entertains those 4-12 with games, pizza, and a movie.
There are some 1,200 units for rent in Sandestin, including condos, villas, and homes ranging in size up to four bedrooms. There are also 175 hotel rooms available at the Bayside Inn and 600 rooms and suites at the Hilton on the beach.
There are nine restaurants operated by the resort and three more in the Hilton, chief among them Seagar's, a pricey but locally well regarded place for fine dining. The resort's own dining options include the upscale cuisine of Elephant Walk overlooking the beach and the sumptuous and unpretentious Bistro Bijoux in the Village of Baytowne Wharf. And between the Market Shops and Village there are more than a dozen other options, from casual snacks, ice cream, and pizza to Italian cuisine, seafood, excellent barbecue at Jim N' Nick's, and New Orleans specialties.
For comparison's sake, also check out:
Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort
Lodging consists of rooms or suites at the Inn and an extensive selection of condominiums, ranging from studios to 4 bedrooms and locations as various as the beach, golf course, lagoons, and inland. Rates are higher on weekends than midweek, and highest in spring and summer, lowest late fall into winter. Discounts available for multi-day and weeklong stays. Rates include an hour of tennis time, access to the health club, unlimited bike use, boogie boards, kayaks, and canoes. Rates quoted here are for rooms and suites at the inn, studios, 1- and 2-bedroom villas; check with the resort for 3/4 bedroom villas and penthouses. See their website for rates on the specific days you're interested in.
Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa
Rooms and suites available; rates vary seasonally. Check the website for rates for the specific dates you want to travel.
Seasons. Year-round but busiest from March through October. Keep in mind that even those this is Florida, this is northern Florida and winters can be chilly—too chilly for the beach but often fine for golf and tennis.
Rates. There are two options: renting a room, condo, or home through the resort itself; or renting a room at the convention-oriented Hilton.
Travel Instructions. By Air: The nearest airports are Okaloosa County Air Terminal in Fort Walton Beach (VPS), 30 minutes west; Panama City/Bay County International Airport (PFN), 50 minutes east; and Pensacola Regional Airport (PNS), 90 minutes west. Rental cars are available at all three.
General Tourist Information. Visit the Emerald Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau web site or contact them at 1540 Miracle Strip Parkway SE, P.O. Box 609, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549-0609; phone 850-651-7131, toll-free 800-322-3319, or Fax: 850-651-7149.