By Lisa Tucker McElroy
I’m out on the driving range, practicing my swing. Dragonflies are buzzing by, the air is crisp, and the sun is shining so brightly that I have to keep stopping to pull my visor down over my eyes. It’s fall in northeastern Florida, the golf course is perfectly groomed, and I’ve just figured out how to keep my head down and my elbows tucked when I drive the ball. It’s hard to remember a better day of golf, a better day for golf, or a better day, period.
My kids are loving it, too, even though they swore up and down that they wouldn’t. Ages six and eight, they’ve protested every time my husband and I - we’re both golf lovers, students, and optimists – have tried to get them to play over the past year or two. They weren’t game for the game on this particular day, either – not until they met the golf pro, that is. He put Ponte Vedra visors on their heads and knelt down to show them how to grip the club, connect with the ball, aim for the blue flag.
Suddenly, they’re hitting the ball farther than I am, horning in on my lesson, and begging for another bag of balls. Yep, it’s a pretty good day for family in the fall in Florida.
Do I mind that my kids are gloating because they’re better golfers than Mommy? Not a bit. I’m thrilled, in fact, because if they like playing golf at the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, they’ll want to come back here – and this Jacksonville-area resort and club is a place I want to return to again and again.
The Ponte Vedra Resorts – the family-oriented Inn and Club, and the romantic Lodge and Club – lie on the Atlantic coast of Florida, near Georgia and Jacksonville (don’t even ask about the uber-Georgia-Florida rivalry that permeates this place, embroidered golf pants and golf-club covers complete).
If you thought Florida was all about Miami and Palm Beach, think again. In this tiny beach corner of Florida – a good five-hour drive from those southern cities you know so well - you’ll find championship-level golf, unbelievable cuisine, and the widest wide sand beach you’ve ever seen.
And this place is heaven-sent for family, our family in particular. Why? Because my husband and I really love the kind of family vacation where we can be active and outdoors, with and without our kids. Take today, for example. We wake up to a view of the ocean right outside our window, a pristine white sand beach, sandpipers running up and down and digging for crabs in the sand.
We have a family breakfast at the over-the-top buffet- complete with individual china pots of hot chocolate for the little girls - in the Inn’s main building. Then we ditch the kids at the on-site nursery, free to guests who want to get out and play 18 holes without dragging the rug rats along.
Secure in the notion that the kids are safe and happy, my husband and I tear up the golf course.
The Ponte Vedra boasts two 18-hole courses, both on the water (and near the gators!). The Lagoon course is recently renovated, and it’s now pretty special. The course, although not especially long, places a premium on accurate drives and thoughtful approaches. Water is definitely the dominant feature with a mosaic of lakes and lagoons threatening golfers on eleven holes. Tall pines, palms and ancient, sprawling oaks form the contours of this lushly landscaped course. Fairways are narrow, kept in immaculate condition and the greens small and fast.
The Ocean Course is more challenging, probably too much so for beginning beat-by-my-kids golfers like me. But it’s so beautiful that I give it a try anyway, driving the cart and hitting a few shots while my husband goes to town with all fourteen of his clubs. What makes it hard? Well, the ninety-nine strategically positioned sand bunkers, for one thing. I’m pretty sure my ball ends up in about ninety-eight of them. I’m not too great on approach shots, either, and you have to be on this course – suffice it to say, I’m way over par. Like way over. Like maybe
I’ll just stop keeping score over.
But it doesn’t matter. The kids are having fun back at the nursery, I’m outside on a beautiful Florida day, and I’m wearing a madras golf skirt and sipping a cold drink. I’m on a golf course that is consistently rated high for both playability and beauty. Hard? What the heck. This sure beats the Philadelphia drizzle.
Keep in mind that the Ponte Vedra isn’t just for golf lovers. After golf, I have the best facial of my life at the newly renovated, 30,000-square-foot spa – and then I relax by the private spa pool, which has several different specialty bubbly spots (who knows what they are or what they’re supposed to do – I’m loving every minute) and a waterfall, to boot. All this, while my husband chases our kids around the family pool, complete with water slide and a one foot entry designed just for little ones. Those pools are just two of the four that dot the resort – there’s also a lap pool, a kids’ wading pool, and a general use pool, plus a Jacuzzi.
The food on property is also pretty amazing, particularly at the Seahorse Grille, a fine dining restaurant overlooking the ocean. What’s terrific about the Seahorse is that it serves all the food an adult with a gourmet palate could ever want – my lobster is sweet and even better because they’ve done the hard work of shelling it for me – while offering pasta and butter for my kids. A lounge singer croons in the background, and older guests sway on a tiny dance floor. The moon comes up over the water, and soon all we can see out the window by our table is moon and black where water would be. When my kids are falling asleep in their seats, napkins still in their laps, an understanding waiter brings desserts – even chocolate lava cake – wrapped up for them to take home.
We hitch a ride back to our room with one of the ubiquitous staff-driven golf carts –the college-aged staffer even helps me carry the little ones up to the second floor and deposit them on their sofa bed. Sure enough, they then wake up, but that’s OK – someone has to eat the chocolate lava cake.
Come morning, it’s time to walk the beach. With little kids, we’re up before the lounge chair crowd – it’s mostly dog walkers and joggers at this early morning hour. But this is the time for shells, and we find five or six perfect sand dollars, some shiny pink shells we’ve never seen anywhere else, and one perfect conch for our mantel at home.
The kids build a drip castle while my husband I sit in the Adirondack chairs the resort puts out along the beach. We read the paper and watch them race a poodle into the waves. We rock, paper, scissors for who has to get up and get the coffee. We’re that relaxed, that comfortable, that engaged in the space – until the kids splash us with sandy water, that is.
And that’s when we come back to golf, and our lessons, and our kids’ killer drives. Twenty minutes into their first lesson, they’re hitting straight and long. The sun is shining. There’s not a cloud in the sky. Our family is together playing golf.
Oh, yes, we’ll be back.
TIDBITS
Matthew’s Restaurant:
Head into Jacksonville for dinner at this very special spot, founded and run by rising young chef Matthew Medure. Not to be missed: The tomato and gnocchi soup, the pork tenderloin (the best my very picky husband has ever had), the short ribs, the dessert soufflés. Begin and end with a chocolate martini, then pick from the extensive wine list for that something special to accompany your meal. www.matthewsrestaurant.com
Jacksonville Zoo
This beautiful zoo has something for everyone, including the only walking safari in Northeast Florida and its very own baby pudu (a type of Chilean deer). The zoo also has an extensive botanical garden. www.jaxzoo.org
St. Augustine, Florida
About a 45-minute drive from the Ponte Vedra, St. Augustine is known as the nation’s oldest city. There’s a charming town center with cobblestone streets and lots of boutiques and restaurants to explore. www.oldcity.com.
Getting There
Getting to the Ponte Vedra Inn and Club is much easier than you’d think. From Philadelphia, New York, or Dallas, it’s only about a two-hour flight. Fly into Jacksonville International Airport, then rent a car and drive toward the beach. While the reservation agents at the resort will tell you it’s twenty minutes from Jacksonville, plan for more like forty.
The Ponte Vedra Inn and Club
200 Ponte Vedra Blvd.
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
Toll Free: (800) 234-7842
www.pvresorts.com
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