Shell Landing

Davis Love III's 2000 Shell Landing Golf Club in Gautier — 15 miles east of Biloxi and a mile and a half north of the Mississippi Sound coastline — is the signature public-access course on the central Gulf Coast. Golf Digest named it #5 in America's Best New Upscale Public Courses in its January 2003 issue, the only top-five course from the South that year. Love routed the 7,024-yard par-72 course through rolling marshlands with wide, forested fairways and several holes playing directly alongside scenic tidal salt marshes. After two years of design and land-shaping work pre-opening, and a bunker renovation in the post-Katrina reinvestment cycle, the course strikes a balance between championship-length teeth and resort-friendly playability. Peak green fee runs $50-75, with twilight rates substantially lower. Pair with Fallen Oak (when available on member-guest days), Grand Bear, and The Preserve for a Mississippi Gulf Coast four-card casino-trip itinerary.