Blackstone Golf Course ready for play (with photos)

MOSSY HEAD – Ten days before its scheduled opening on Nov. 27, workers were busy putting the finishing touches on the new Blackstone Golf Course.

Carpet was being placed inside the 4, 000 square foot clubhouse as various vendors set up drink machines and other amenities that will cater to the hungry and thirsty golfer. And out on the course attendants were raking bunkers and preparing the greens for play.

On a cool fall morning with a chilly nip in the air, the rolling course laid out on a hilly terrain had much the same look and feel to a course in the mountains of North Carolina or Tennessee.

Bob Bonezzi, a local restaurateur and president of Bonezzi Development is the driving force behind the new course.

His reason for building the course was simple.

“I started the course with the idea of getting young people to play golf,” he said.  “That has been my passion all along -- getting young people to play golf, and getting more people involved in golf.

“Too many young people are playing golf on a computer instead of playing on a course. We have to get them out here playing golf because they are the golfers of the future.”

To that end Bonezzi is doing everything he can to make the course affordable and playable.

Green fees are $39 and include a cart. Military, retired military and anyone over the age of 65 can play for $34, The course also offers a late afternoon rate of $25 after 2 p.m.

Blackstone, which was designed by Bill Amick, has wide fairways and playable rough. And you don’t have to be a long hitter to shoot a low score.

“The course is just over 6,000 yards and it was designed for a 20-plus handicapper,” Bonezzi said. “It’s very golfer friendly. Its not a long golf course.

“It takes more of a premium on accurate shots. We designed it where we wanted a golf course that would have a broader appeal. There are a lot of tough golf courses out there, but there aren’t a lot that are player friendly.”

Located about a mile east of State Road 285 on U.S. Highway 90, Blackstone is less than a 20-minute drive from Niceville, DeFuniak Springs and Crestview. Destin is only 30 minutes away,

“It’s very close to a lot of markets,” Bonezzi said. And to answer the not so obvious question, to find a good piece of land to put a golf course on is just about impossible.

“This was the last great piece of property I could find, and I looked four years. It’s a great piece of land for a golf course.”