Windy Harbor Golf Club in Mayport, Florida

MAYPORT, Fla. -- Windy Harbor Golf Club resides within Naval Station Mayport, requiring a darned good reason to be there.

Thanks to the MWR program (morale, welfare and recreation), golf qualifies, but it does require some paperwork and a background check first. It is a military base after all. Knowing an active or retired sailor and getting him or her to sponsor you works, too.

Once cleared for landing at the club, you'll find a unique golf course with surprises throughout. Built in the 1950s and freshened up in 2000, this course doesn't follow typical golf rules. It's only 6,395 yards from the tips, but its many risk-reward options will keep you alert.

It's also an atmosphere you won't find in the civilian world. It's noisy, with the ambient hum of shipyard work, revelry at 8 a.m., the chop of helicopters and screaming F-18 Hornets. In the clubhouse, the service is efficient and friendly, but stay just a few minutes and it turns nearly familial. You get a glimpse of the brotherhood and sisterhood of the Navy.

Getting through the gate onto base might not be something you want to tackle each time you tee it up, but Windy Harbor Golf Club is a course that you'll never forget. The golf is good, the camaraderie is better. And if you're active duty military, you'll be treated like royalty, because at Windy Harbor you are.

Windy Harbor Golf Club - No. 10

Windy Harbor Golf Club isn't a traditional golf course, to say the least.

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Windy Harbor GC - No. 12

The par-5 12th hole at Windy Harbor Golf Club gives you plenty of room at the tee, but a marsh pushes in from the left at the green.

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Windy Harbor golf course - No. 13

Trees and bunkers gang up on your approach shot at the par-4 13th hole at Windy Harbor Golf Club.

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Windy Harbor Golf Club - No. 16

Water creeps in from the right at the par-4 16th hole at Windy Harbor Golf Club.

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Windy Harbor GC - No. 18

A very large bunker right of the green makes the final approach at Windy Harbor Golf Club a little daunting.

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Windy Harbor Golf Club - No. 4

The fairway disappears at the end of the par-5 fourth hole at Windy Harbor Golf Club.

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Windy Harbor golf course - No. 6

The sixth hole at Windy Harbor Golf Club is the first time a lot of bunkers get in your way.

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Windy Harbor Golf Club - No. 7

There are a lot of threats -- a marsh carry and bunkers left and back -- on the par-3 seventh hole at Windy Harbor Golf Club.

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Windy Harbor Golf Club - No. 8

The eighth hole at Windy Harbor Golf Club is one of the best on the course. It has it all: marsh carry off the tee, bunkers and a descent to the green with water behind it.

Lisa Allen/TravelGolf

Windy Harbor golf course - No. 9

There's no run-up to the par-4 ninth hole at Windy Harbor Golf Club. Landing it on the deck is your only option.

Lisa Allen/TravelGolf

• Windy Harbor Golf Club in Mayport: A mission far greater than golf