Youth Baseball: Nations Baseball National Tournament (Part 7)

Nations Baseball Premier National Championship - Gulfport, Mississippi - What to do besides play baseball

We had a good time in Gulfport, Mississippi watching our team compete in 7 games at the Nations Baseball Premier National Championship. That is a lot of games in 5 days, but we still had time to do some other things - besides eat that is.

Swim / Beach - Gulfport, MS is right on the Gulf of Mexico. The kids had a good time wading in the warm waters of the gulf. The kids could actually walk out about 1/4 of a mile and the water would still be waist high. From the beach it made me nervous, but it was really nothing to worry about. The kids enjoyed the swimming pool and the condos better.

Putt - Putt (Mini golf) - There is a family fun center on border of Biloxi and Gulfport on Beach Boulevard called Big Play. They had two 18 hole mini-golf courses.

Big Play Mini-Golf

Golf - There are lots of golf courses in the area, the players dads played on two. One was perhaps, no it was, the worst golf course I have ever played on, yet we had a blast. The first course we picked we chose alphabetically. This is not a recommended way to choose a golf course, but we were calling at 7pm on Monday night for a 8am Tuesday morning tee time. We were concerned that we waited too long. Googled "Golf Gulfport" and the first listing was Bayou Vista. I called and much to my surprise I secured two tee time 8:30 and 8:40. When we arrived we found out why it was so easy to get a tee time. The golf course is situated between the runway of the Gulfport - Biloxi International Airport and a sewage treatment plant. The club house is a trailer that is falling apart. Many of the greens were not green at all. I would not recommend this course, but we all have entertaining stories to tell about the worst golf course in America.

One story - Hole 6 (I think it was hole 6) is a dog leg right. You need a decent drive to turn the corner to have a look at the green. Unfortunately,  I teed my ball too high and popped up my drive. I had a choice to make pitch the ball down the fairway past the corner, or cut the corner over a huge sewage tank. How could you not take that golfing challenge. I needed a club to get the elevate the ball quickly, yet long enough to reach the fairway. I chose the 6 iron. That was the wrong club, the ball did not get high enough quick enough and hit the tank with a thunderous bang. Luckily, the ball did caromed into the fairway. If I did hit it in the tank, I was told I could lift clean and place it.

We also played at The Oaks. The Oaks is a really great course especially for the money $49 (Summer rate, greens fee and cart.)  The Oaks name is a apropos.  Lots of trees line each lush green fairway. The greens are tricky.

Go Karts - Big Play also has a really fun Go Kart track. We had a blast racing against each other.

Big Play Go-Karts

The Main Point

There are fun things to do besides eating and playing baseball in Gulfport, Mississippi.