houses to rent, four swimming pools, two restaurants and over a mile of waterfront. Peninsula Golf & Racquet Club Peninsula Golf & Racquet Club opened in 1995, with Earl Stone designing its 27 holes on 800 acres. Peninsula has three nine-hole layouts, the Lakes, Cypress, and Marsh. They also have an 8,000 square foot fitness center, eight tennis courts, plus indoor and outdoor swimming pools. Golf Shores Golf Club The third course on the island is Gulf Shores Golf Club, the oldest course at the destination. It was built by the father-son team of Jay and Carter Moorish in the early 1960’s; they returned for a full-scale renovation in 2005. The course was hit by Hurricane Sally in 2020 and is still somewhat in recovery mode but its sharp doglegs and numerous water hazards make for a challenging test. Full-service golf packages for these three courses, owned and operated by Troon, can be booked at: Coastal Alabama Golf. Craft Farms The largest golf complex is a short five-minute ride across the bridge to the mainland. Craft Farms offers two 18-hole Arnold Palmer Signature Designs, Cotton Creek and Cypress, plus a ninehole par-3. Palmer was just starting to dabble in course design, when he developed a close friendship with Robert Craft Jr. They worked together for the 1987 opening of Cotton Creek and the 1993 debut of the Cypress course. “Gulf Shores in November is as good a place to play golf as you’ll find anywhere,’’ said Dan Dorrough, now the head superintendent at Gulf Shores Golf Club after stints as an assistant at Kiva Dunes and Craft Farms. We made our first trip to Gulf Shores in 2012, but the community has grown drastically since then, with new and expanded attractions. Dining & Attractions The 6,150-acre Gulf Shores State Park is a haven for hikers, cyclists and Segway tours. The Hugh Gulf Shores Golf Club
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