Sometimes you pay for convenience. Example: when your bachelor party is on South Beach and you’ve been out until 5AM the night before, you don’t mind forking over $120 for a round of golf less than 15 minutes from your hotel. Normandy Shores Golf Club is one of just a handful of courses actually situated on “SoBe,” and its location alone is worth the relatively steep price. I would have loved some better scenery for $120, but the course itself is well-designed, well-maintained, and perfect when you’re recovering from the night before/need to get back to the pool or beach without wasting time on transit.

The golf club is based on Normandy Isles, a mini-island at the North end of the beach, and as you pull into the parking lot, you’ll notice the gorgeous Biscayne Bay to your left. Unfortunately, that’ll be your only look at the Bay – or any other natural bodies of water – for the next few hours. The course is ordinary in beauty, with its most striking views being the hi-rises of Miami, which lurk behind the clubhouse. There are some eyesores as well: slightly dilapidated apartment buildings line holes 10-13 and I’m pretty sure I saw a large crane (not the flying kind) behind the 11th green.

All that said, Normandy’s facilities are solid and well-planned, including a driving range within walking distance of the first tee, and a restaurant/halfway house that you can easily access at the turn. Another plus: the range balls were included in our greens fees. The staff was helpful and the pace of play brisk. A staffer in the Pro Shop informed us that if our round took more than four hours, “somebody must have died.” Well, our round took 4:15, but no ambulances showed up: we just were not very good.

Ah, Christmas break in Boca Raton. Sunshine, bagels, and slow moving white Cadillacs. If you’re among the throngs making the pilgrimage from the Northeast to Boca in December, you know exactly what I’m talking about. We visit our grandparents, kibbitz with relatives, crowd into delis, sprawl across the beaches of Delray, and generally try to postpone the impending freeze that awaits us back home. Of course, it’s also an opportunity to get in some last rounds of golf before the clubs get packed away until April. And with honorable mention to the great Tony Dell’s, I’ve found the new staple of my annual trip to Boca: Osprey Point Golf Course.

Osprey Point (not to be confused with the Kiawah Island course of the same name) is a relatively new 27-hole facility, complete with driving range, gorgeous layout, and affordable price. The course just opened for play in November 2010 and is located at the extreme western edge of town (all the way down Glades Road), accessible only after driving through South County Regional Park (don’t panic if you see multiple dog parks and an amphitheater).

What jumps off the page about Osprey Point is the disparity between price tag and quality. Osprey’s most expensive round is $57, and that’s in the extreme situation, for out-of-towners on weekends and during peak season (Jan 7-March 31). We paid just $48 for 18 holes and a cart on December 30th (80 degrees and brilliant sunshine the whole time). For that kind of dough, you might not expect much – but pleasant surprises await.

I heard great things about Polo Trace.  ”A hidden gem!” I was told.  ”Three straight par 5′s – crazy!”  And then I went to the course’s website.  ”One of South Florida’s premier golf courses!”  Ok, I added that last exclamation point for fun.  Point is, based on the hype, I didn’t blink when I was asked to plunk down $79 to play Polo Trace. I did, however, raise an eyebrow when I read that the rate jumps to $119 during peak season.  That’s double what two other courses I enjoy in the area – Osprey Point and Westchester – charge.  So I expected some sizzle.  Some bells and whistles.  A departure from the usual average Florida course (wide open, palm trees, housing communities…you know the drill).  Boy, was I disappointed.

The three par-5′s in a row is kinda cool.  The course is a challenge, I’ll give it that.  Greens and fairways were just fine.  But start-to-finish, you do not get what you pay for at Polo Trace.  We were greeted by an unfriendly, unhelpful attendant in the Pro Shop, who apathetically grunted that it was a ridiculous $10 to buy a driving range token.  No other options.  Strike 1.  Then our token got STUCK in the machine at the range.  Strike 2.  We had to race back to the Pro Shop and argue for our money back (we won), but never got to hit any balls.  All this stress before we even put a tee in the ground (and not surprisingly, our first drives ended up in the water).  Strike 3.  By the time we hit the turn, I had lost two boxes of balls (I told you the course was tough), and was too numb to fight my overpriced, soggy $12 tuna sandwich (Strike 4?).

While “first class” isn’t generally associated with organizations that have affiliates in Port St. Lucie, Florida (READ: The New York Mets), PGA Country Club is an exception. The private club of nearby PGA Village (which features three other terrific public courses just down the road), PGA Country Club is top notch: solid amenities, practice facilities, food, maintenance, and an attentive and friendly staff. Most importantly, it’s not the stereotypical Florida golf course: pine trees line fairways which are actually NARROW (novel concept in Florida), and there’s an elevation change here and there. In fact, if you took a nine-iron to the head and lost track of your bearings for a moment (here’s hoping that doesn’t happen), you might think you were in Carolina.

There was one slight drawback to PGA Country Club: a dingy, crowded locker room and lounge. To make matters worse, the day we played, the club was home to a wedding, which spilled into that locker room. The groom and his friends used the space to shower and primp, making for a very uncomfortable situation for us (unless you’re into watching a guy you don’t know bathe in front of you, moments before his nuptials). A little pre-wedding nudity might have scarred me for life, but it wasn’t enough to sour me on this course.

Most Memorable Hole: I love the view from the tee-box at #10. You’re shaded by pine trees, driving onto a sloped fairway with traps and a substantial hill on the right, and a water hazard on the left. Your approach is downhill and with a potentially uneven stance. Fourteen is also special: short dogleg left with an elevated green.

Most Difficult Hole: #3 requires a bear of a drive towards a narrow, bunker-lined fairway. The green is guarded by daunting traps with steep lips – and it’s so big that if you miss, you might feel like you’re putting from Boca.

The Bottom Line: The quality of PGA Country Club is probably enough of a reason to drive the most boring sixty-to-ninety minutes of your life up I-95 (if you’re staying in Palm Beach or Broward County). Lord knows, the sorry excuse for a Major League Baseball team that trains there in February and March certainly isn’t (in case you’re wondering, this type of bitterness is cathartic for a Mets fan).

Guru’s Tip: It’s the little things that make a difference: you’ve got a cooler with complimentary bottled water on each side of your cart, plus towels. The staff is both affable AND knowledgeable: take the advice the rangers generously offer as they pass by.

18 holes and a spring training baseball game: the perfect day (particularly if you live in New York and “wintry mix” has become an all-too-common phrase in your conversations) . If you play those 18 at Abacoa Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, you can even walk to the ball field when you finish your round. Just how close is Abacoa to Roger Dean Stadium, February and March home of the Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals? We were confident that a solid drive with a little “helping” wind could have nailed one of Roger Dean’s giant light towers (some of which you can clearly see from various points on the golf course). Abacoa staff told us that ballplayers frequently play there: recent sightings include Cards skipper Tony LaRussa and Marlins pitcher Chris Volstead.

Sticking with the baseball theme, Abacoa is a ground rule double: you expect a lot at first, but end up only semi-satisfied. The main reason for this lack of fulfillment is the price. For $99 a round (during peak season), you hope for some type of unique experience. And while Abacoa is well-maintained, attractive in some spots, and a decent challenge (particularly with the nasty wind conditions which often prevail), there is really nothing that separates it from your average South Florida golf course. For a nearly triple-figure price tag, there really should be. What you’re paying for here is location, which, in fairness, you can’t beat if you’re staying in Jupiter or the Palm Beach area. We teed off at 8:30AM and missed just half an inning of the 1PM first pitch Mets-Marlins contest.

In addition to the great location, Abacoa has some nice amenities. The carts are modern and equipped with comprehensive GPS units, there’s a solid range on the way to hole #1 (although range balls are not free), and a good halfway house (manned by an incredibly friendly lady who stuffed us with just out-of-the-oven homemade chocolate chip cookies). The fairways and greens are in great shape and definitely a bit slick. Wide-open fairways lessen the challenge a bit, but are quite welcome if you’re erratic with your driver. There are a few holes with slightly rolling and sloped hills and a couple of (slight) elevation changes. Generally though, this is a pretty standard Florida track.

The bottom line: you could certainly do a lot worse than a round at Abacoa – and it is incredibly convenient because of its location. But a hefty price tag and a lack of personality earn it a solid but unspectacular rating.

Most Interesting Hole: #7 is a 423 yard dogleg par 4, with a giant oak tree planted on the right side of the fairway, about 100 yards from the green. If you don’t hit your drive in the proper spot, you’ll have to go over or around that tree on your approach.

Most Challenging Hole: The sixth hole is considered Abacoa’s number 1 handicap, but while it’s long (587 from the tips), it’s nearly dead straight and not overly impressive to me. I found #2 and #10 (which had similar layouts) to be much more difficult. Both are par 5’s that dare you to go over giant bodies of water to reach the green in two (accompanied by swirling wind).

Guru’s Tip: As is common with many courses, you may encounter some stray range balls on the first and last holes and have some trouble finding your own errant shot. Since we aren’t very good, this factored in on our drives on the first hole, and approach shots on 18.

Let me be clear because you may have doubts later: I like Westchester Golf and Country Club.  The fairways, greens, and tee boxes are in good shape.  The facility as a whole – which features a driving range and three nine-hole courses – is solid.  For $63 a round, you get great value.  As such, I’m giving it a strong rating and recommendation.

But then, there’s the small issue of mud.  Or shall I say “quicksand.”

If I were the first idiot to get swallowed waist deep by the loose dirt that permeates the out of bounds on hole #3 of the gold course, I’d consider excising this story from my review.  But according to course staff, I was number 15 or 16 – just in the last two weeks!

Yes, there are signs that say “Mud – keep out!” adorning the out of bounds on three gold.  However, to the naked eye, that mud doesn’t appear to be wet or dangerous.  So when I observed the lie for my errant drive – sitting in plain sight on top of some leaves – I thought I could retrieve the ball.  Heck I thought I could even play it.