Shell Landing Golf Club
3499 Shell Landing Blvd, Gautier, MS
Shell Landing is a Davis Love III design that winds through the salt marsh above Graveline Bayou in Gautier, with water working its way into eight holes. It plays a legitimate 7,024 yards from the back tees for a fraction of what the coast's casino courses charge, and five tee boxes keep it honest for every handicap.
Interesting Fact
Golf Digest named Shell Landing's Davis Love III design the No. 5 Best New Upscale Public course in America in 2003 — the only course from the Deep South to crack that year's top five.
Course Layout
Love routed the back nine right along the marsh, and it shows: the par-3 17th, the signature hole, plays over 200 yards downhill across open marsh to a green guarded by three bunkers set well behind the putting surface — carry the marsh or take your medicine. The par-4 9th asks longer hitters to decide whether the creek crossing the fairway is worth the risk, and the par-5 3rd doglegs twice past fairway bunkers on its way to a pond-fronted green. Deer, alligators, and foxes turn up regularly along the tree-lined fairways. Golf Digest named it one of America's best new upscale public courses in 2003, and the layout still holds up more than two decades later.
Getting There
Gautier sits about 15 minutes east of Ocean Springs and 25 minutes from the Biloxi casino strip on Highway 90, which makes Shell Landing an easy add-on to a coast trip rather than a special expedition like the courses further inland. From the beach, take Highway 90 east through Ocean Springs, then follow the signs north to Shell Landing Boulevard. It's a short enough drive that golfers staying anywhere between Biloxi and Ocean Springs can tee off in the morning and be back on the sand by early afternoon.
Nearby Stay & Play
Ocean Springs is the closest lodging base, just down the road from Gautier, and a handful of budget-friendly options make it easy to pair a golf trip with a beach trip. Hampton Inn Biloxi/Ocean Springs and Days Inn by Wyndham Ocean Springs both put you within about 15 minutes of the first tee, and Super 8 by Wyndham Ocean Springs Biloxi is a solid value pick if you're traveling with a foursome and want to keep the room rate down.
Our Take
Shell Landing is the coast's best value round, full stop — a championship Davis Love III layout with greens that run as true as anything at the casino courses, for less than half the price. The back-nine marsh holes, especially 17, are worth the trip on their own. Play it in the morning before the wind picks up off the marsh, and don't skip the burgers at the Landing Grill afterward.
Details last verified August 2026. Always confirm current rates and tee times directly with the course.