Tee time is island time

Golfers enjoy a Gulf view at the Newport Dunes Golf Club in Port Aransas. We’ve got golf, and we’ve got it good.

The first-ever 18-hole golf course in Port Aransas, the Newport Dunes Golf Club, opened in 2008. It is an Arnold Palmer Signature course, which means the pro golf legend kept an eye on the project throughout design and construction.

The course, located south of Beach Access Road 1A along State Hwy. 361, is known for its environmental friendliness. The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America/Golf Digest recently selected Jim Brown, superintendent of Newport Dunes Golf Club, as the recipient of the Environmental Leader award in the national public category.

Newport Dunes also is in the process of achieving full Audubon certification as a sanctuary for wildlife by complying with strict environmental practices and policies.

The course developers, Texas Gulf & Harbor, Ltd., secured the services of one of the premiere golf course management companies in the country, Kemper Sports, to manage and operate the course.

The ambiance of the Gulf of Mexico and Mustang Island combined with this Arnold Palmer seaside masterpiece to make Newport Dunes Golf Club a world-class golf course destination.

The course is open 364 days a year, closed only on Christmas Day.

Newport Dunes is a Scottish links-style design featuring rolling fairways, deep stacked-wall bunkers, tightly mowed approaches and quick rolling greens. This par 71 course measures approximately 7,000 yards from the back tees a modest 6,500 from the regular men’s tees. Golfers are challenged with the coastal winds and uniquely sloped playing areas.

The first three holes, on the west side of State Hwy. 361, are connected to the remaining 15 holes on the east side of the highway by a golf cart bridge that provides enough clearance to allow the largest kinds of vehicles to pass under, including tractortrailers and motorhomes.

The course, open to the public, offers several levels of green fees from standard to senior, junior, military and twilight rates.

Newport Dunes Golf Club offers a deli and grill featuring sandwiches to go and other freshly prepared items. The club also offers an assortment of beverages to meet all golfers’ needs.

The golf course was named in Golf Links magazine’s Best New Golf Courses of 2008.