If value plays a role in golf community quality, then it is hard to beat Sandestin, and virtually no place your vacation home dollars go further. Located on the famed 26-mile stretch of “sugar sand†beach in South Walton County in the Panhandle, one of the best beaches in the world, the region is a far cry from crowded and heavily developed south Florida. A huge development built by Intrawest, the company behind Whistler/Blackcomb and Copper Mountain, 2400-acre Sandestin contains 30-different sub-communities with thousands of homes and condos, and it has won endless awards from Golf Magazine and Golf Digest for its four high quality golf courses including The Raven by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and the flagship Burnt Pines, an excellent Rees Jones design that winds through pristine coastal terrain and forest with extensive wooden boardwalks and is also a Champions Tour venue. There is a large tennis club, spa, 98-slip marina, seven miles of beach and coastline, a shopping center, a large pedestrian retail village, 20 restaurants, and several hotels. Owners have to share the courses with resort guests, but that is part of the reason why the value proposition is so strong and there is plenty of golf to go around. As large, affordable communities go (homes run as high as $3-4 million, but condos start under $200,000 and the majority of residences are in the $250-$600,000 range), the quantity and quality of golf, plus the myriad other facilities at Sandestin cannot be beat, and the nearby beach and fishing and watersports are all superb. View the entire article here