Forgotten Gulf dispatches form Mobile and Dauphin Island

Our own Gulf of Mexico fronting Isle Dauphine golf course was emntioned as one of the very exclusive club of Island/Gulf front courses on the whole Gulf of Mexico waterfront.  The course has recovered nicely from Katrina and deserves your play.

Link to article:

Florida, Alabama offer Gulf Coast's top island golf courses

By Tim McDonald, National Golf Editor, Golf Publisher Syndications | Monday July 23, 2007

There are plenty of top golf clubs by the Gulf of Mexico. Here are some of our favorite island courses, including Kiva Dunes, Craft Farms Coastal Golf Resort and Isle Dauphin in Alabama, and Florida's Lost Key Golf Club and Santa Rosa Golf & Beach Club.

Isle Dauphin Golf Club, Dauphin Island, Ala.: Semi-private Isle Dauphin offers unobstructed views of the gulf from the shores of Dauphin Island south of Mobile.

Opened in 1962, the 6,620-yard Charles Mattox layout is flat and easy to walk, with narrow fairways, water hazards on five holes and well-protected greens. It has a benign slope rating of 123 from the tips.

Kiva Dunes Golf Course, Gulf Shores, Ala.

Peninsula Golf & Racquet Club, Gulf Shores, Ala.

Santa Rosa Golf & Beach Club, Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.

Be sure to try lunch at Flamingo Fae's while at the course.

No, I am not talking about the quintessential restless heart of America, which we inherited from our immigrant forefathers who shared a pre-disposition for moving and being mobile.  I am referring to the enviable stasis which is found in Mobile, Alabama. 

A GRAND SOUTHERN COASTAL CITY

A recent section of "Mobile Bay Monthly" was lovingly devoted to the basic elements which are the fibers defining Mobile as a grand southern coastal city.  She has had her grand times and penniless eras, along with facelifts and tummy tucks, over her 300+ years.  Certain elements endure and provide the basis for this "what was old is new again" golden era. 

As I have experienced in Charleston, South Carolina this is a city which suffered mightily during and after Reconstruction, waiting for the inevitable return of respect and position.  Charleston found this rebirth several decades ago but here in Mobile the clock turns a little slower, if inevitably.

HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS

Historic neighborhoods are one of the best kept secrets of a grand old southern city.  They are the strategic locations which become the walkable gateways to a reborn downtown and waterfront as the rejuvenation progresses.

As with Charleston, SC and Savannah, Ga, Mobile's elite escaped the malarial summers to the coastal islands and up country farms and villages.  The tradition continues with many city dwellers and suburbanites having a 2nd home on the beaches and bays of Dauphin Island, Fowl River's winding tributaries and Mobile Bay's sheltering banks.

REQUIRED: A MOBILE GUIDE

If you are new to the area, be sure to find a great guide to show you the hidden gems, live oak cloistered beauties while extolling the new renaissance Mobile city is coming into.

Mother Nature really cooperated with us for the 4th of July Independence day fireworks display on the gulf front.  The events started promptly at 9PM and went on for over 20 minutes.  Folks all over the island were treated to a magnificent display.  The best views were in an arc from gulf front DeSoto Landing, Flamingo Fae's Tiki bar, along the mother dune at Orleans and over to President Jefferson Court back on the beach. 

The Park and Beach Board with the Town of Dauphin Island are to be commended for their winning efforts.