Amelia Island — Oak Marsh

Oak Marsh is a Pete Dye design from 1972, freshly rebuilt in 2025 by Beau Welling. Dye's original routing through the Amelia Island landscape stays intact; what changed is everything underneath. New TifEagle Bermuda greens, Bimini Bermuda fairways, modern drainage and irrigation, and bunkers rebuilt to current standards. Water comes into play on fourteen of the eighteen holes, which is the design fact you need to plan around.

You're playing 6,580 yards, par 72, slope 130. This is the most accessible of the six courses in the Sawgrass destination, and the moderate slope reflects an early Dye less inclined toward the psychological warfare that defines his later work at TPC Sawgrass and Kiawah's Ocean Course. The hazards are visible, the penalties are proportional, and the course rarely punishes a sensible miss.

The water sits as a constant strategic factor without ringing every green. Playing away from trouble usually leaves a reasonable approach. The fresh agronomy means surfaces putt and play to a standard that the previous condition could not match, so trust the lines and commit.