Amelia Island has four golf courses on the island and a fifth just across the water in Yulee. On the island you've got two at the Omni resort (Oak Marsh and Ocean Links), the semi-private Golf Club of Amelia Island (the old Long Point course), and the city-run Fernandina Beach Golf Club, a 27-hole municipal layout that's fully public. Add North Hampton over in Yulee and you can play a different course every day for most of a week without driving more than fifteen minutes.
That's a lot of golf for a barrier island you can bike end to end. The land does the heavy lifting. Live oaks hung with Spanish moss, tidal marsh that floods and drains twice a day, a maritime forest running right up to the dunes, and on a handful of holes, the Atlantic itself. Below is what each course actually plays like, what you'll pay, and when to go.
How many golf courses are on Amelia Island?
Four courses sit on the island, plus one more in Yulee on the mainland side of the Intracoastal. Two belong to the Omni resort (Oak Marsh and Ocean Links, 36 holes between them). One is the semi-private Golf Club of Amelia Island, formerly Long Point. The fourth is the municipal Fernandina Beach Golf Club, which carries 27 holes you can split into three different 18s. North Hampton, an Arnold Palmer Signature course, is the off-island option.
| Course | Where | Holes | Character | Who can play |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean Links | Omni resort, south end | 18 | Oceanfront and marsh holes | Resort guests and public tee times |
| Oak Marsh | Omni resort | 18 | Pete Dye marsh design, tight and watery | Resort guests and public tee times |
| Golf Club of Amelia Island (Long Point) | Mid-island | 18 | Tom Fazio, tree-lined with water in play | Members first, limited public access |
| Fernandina Beach Golf Club | Inland, by the airport | 27 | City muni, marsh and pines | Fully public |
| North Hampton | Yulee (off-island) | 18 | Arnold Palmer Signature, newer build | Public and semi-private |
The two resort courses and the muni handle the bulk of public play. Long Point runs members-first and opens to outside players on a tighter basis, so call ahead before you build a trip around it.
What is the best golf course on Amelia Island?
For the postcard round, play Ocean Links and its holes along the Atlantic. There aren't many true oceanfront holes anywhere on the island, and standing on one of those tees with surf on your right and the wind doing whatever it pleases is the thing people fly here for. For the better test of golf, the Tom Fazio course at the Golf Club of Amelia Island is the strongest design on the island, tighter off the tee and quicker to punish a lazy swing.
Then there's value. Fernandina Beach Golf Club is honest, well-kept municipal golf, 27 holes you can mix and match depending on the starter and the crowd. It won't make a calendar, but it'll give you a good walk for short money, and the marsh-and-pine setting has a quiet of its own.
My pick for a first-timer who wants to remember the round: Ocean Links, and tee off early enough that the wind hasn't fully woken up. If you're a low handicap chasing a real fight, go straight to the Fazio course.
What is the "poor man's Pebble Beach" on Amelia Island?
"Poor man's Pebble Beach" is a nickname golfers hang on affordable public courses that have ocean or dramatic coastal holes, the look of Pebble without the four-figure green fee. On Amelia Island, no single course wears that label cleanly. The oceanfront holes live at the resort's Ocean Links, which is not a cheap round, and the cheap round, the municipal course, runs through marsh and pines well back from the beach.
So if someone points you here chasing a budget Pebble, set your expectations first. The island's coastal golf and its affordable golf are two different courses. The closest you'll get to ocean-meets-fairway at a public rate is an off-peak or twilight tee time at Ocean Links, when the resort pricing softens. For pure value, the muni is the answer, and it has its own appeal: morning fog burning off the marsh, deer standing in the tree line, an osprey working a water hazard while you line up a putt. Just don't expect the Pacific.
How much does it cost to play golf on Amelia Island?
Plan on the municipal course being the cheapest round on the island, usually well under $50 for 18 holes, with lower twilight rates and a resident discount for people with a Nassau County address. The Omni's two courses are resort-priced and swing hardest with the calendar: figure somewhere around $120 to $200-plus a round in the winter-into-spring peak, noticeably less in the heat of summer, with the best deals on twilight times and resort-guest packages. The Golf Club of Amelia Island sits at the top of the range and is members-first, so public access is limited and seasonal.
Rates move with demand and the season, so confirm current pricing when you book rather than trusting last year's number. Two levers save real money here. Play twilight, since the back half of the afternoon drops the price at every resort course. And come in the shoulder months, because peak-season green fees on a barrier island are a different animal from a humid Tuesday in July.
When is the best time of year to play?
Northeast Florida's golf calendar runs opposite to the cold-weather states. The sweet spot is roughly March through May and again in October and November, when daytime temperatures sit in the 70s and the humidity backs off. Winter is the busy season here because the rest of the country is frozen and this island rarely is, though a north wind off the Atlantic can put a real bite in a January morning and stiffen every shot on the exposed holes.
Summer is hot, sticky, and prone to afternoon thunderstorms that build over the mainland and roll east around two or three o'clock, so locals tee off at first light and are usually done before the sky turns. One more thing the brochures skip: in the warm months, the no-see-ums and gnats come up off the marsh at dusk, and they have firm opinions about your putting. Bring something for them, or finish before they clock in.
What it's like to live near the courses
A fair number of the island's neighborhoods are built around golf. The resort's plantation side wraps homes and villas around Oak Marsh and Ocean Links, with community paths and club memberships available to owners. Long Point has its own gated enclave at the south end. Off-island, North Hampton anchors a golf community in Yulee with newer construction and lower price points than the beachfront.
If a fairway view or a short cart ride to the first tee is on your list, check how membership, cart access, and HOA dues differ from one community to the next before you fall for the view. A golf-front lot and a golf-club membership are two separate purchases, and buyers often assume they come bundled when they don't. Sorting out which is which, and what each one actually costs to carry, is the kind of detail we walk through with buyers at Salt Harbor Real Estate before anyone signs anything.
The short version: this island gives you marsh golf, resort golf, real oceanfront holes, and an honest municipal track, all inside fifteen minutes of each other. Book the muni for the budget, Ocean Links for the view, and the Fazio course when you want the game to push back.
Frequently asked questions
How many golf courses are there on Amelia Island?
There are four golf courses on Amelia Island itself: Oak Marsh and Ocean Links at the Omni resort, the semi-private Golf Club of Amelia Island (the former Long Point course), and the 27-hole municipal Fernandina Beach Golf Club. A fifth, North Hampton, sits just off the island in Yulee.
What is the best golf course on Amelia Island?
For scenery, Ocean Links wins because of its holes along the Atlantic. For the strongest test of golf, the Tom Fazio design at the Golf Club of Amelia Island is the most demanding layout on the island. For value, the municipal Fernandina Beach Golf Club gives you 27 well-kept holes for a fraction of resort prices.
What is the 'poor man's Pebble Beach' on Amelia Island?
It's a nickname for an affordable public course with ocean or coastal holes that evoke Pebble Beach without the price. No single Amelia Island course fits cleanly, because the oceanfront holes are at the resort's Ocean Links (not cheap) while the budget round, the municipal course, runs through marsh and pines rather than along the beach.
How much does it cost to play golf on Amelia Island?
The municipal Fernandina Beach Golf Club is the cheapest, usually well under $50 for 18 holes with lower twilight and resident rates. The Omni resort courses run roughly $120 to $200-plus in the winter-into-spring peak and less in summer. Twilight tee times and shoulder-season dates lower the cost at every resort course.