Darkness isn't a handicap at the Golf Garden

DESTIN, FL - You don’t have to choose.

You can have your day at the beach and golf too.

The last tee time at The Golf Garden of Destin is 9:30 p.m.

The Golf Garden, a 9-hole executive course located just east of Destin on Emerald Coast Parkway, offers night golf from spring break through Labor Day weekend.

“We have quite a few come out for night golf,” said General Manager Jodie Lang, noting that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are their busiest days and nights.

The Garden, which has seven par 3s and two par 4 holes with the longest at 365 yards, opens at 7:30 a.m. daily.

“People are surprised that we have lights on the course,” Lang said.

“It’s just fun,” she said playing at night.

As for disadvantages, Lang said, finding your ball can be a little harder sometimes at night and even bugs can be bothersome on occasion, but nothing that repellent spray can’t take care of.

But for some, neither darkness or bugs can keep them away.

“We play here every year,” said Don McKinney of McKinney, Texas, who has made the trip to Destin with family for the past seven years. And The Golf Garden is always a must.

“We take advantage of it when we can,” he said as he walked off the green of hole No. 5 at The Garden Friday night.

“It’s a lot cooler and you can’t get sunburned out here at night,” he said.

McKinney said back home in Texas they try to play about twice a week, and it is always during the day with the temperatures hitting more than 100 degrees on occasion.

“This is the fourth time to play this week,” McKinney said. “It’s a blast.”

“We don’t get to do this back home,” said his son Tye McKinney. “It’s real relaxing ... a lot of fun.”

For Matt Grillo of Dowling Park, Fla., and Robert Peacock of Jacksonville, Friday was their first night to play at The Garden.

“This is going to be a treat,” Grillo said as he got ready to tee off at hole No. 1.

The guys said playing golf at night allowed them to spend time with family during the day at the beach and still get in their time on the links.

“We didn’t want to take four hours out during the day,” Peacock said.

Although this was Peacock’s first time to play night golf at The Garden it wasn’t his first time to play after dark.

He said a disadvantage can be “ball visibility” but “with the tees and greens lit we should be fine.”

McKinney said he has found that “depth perception is different at night ... the shadows mess with you a little bit.

But I think the ball carries better at night.”

Cost to play at The Garden is $15.50 to walk and $22 to ride for nine holes. For more information, call 850-837-7422.