Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Course, Hilton Head, SC

The Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Course at Palmetto Dunes is one of my favorite courses in the Hilton Head area.

The course is challenging, yet fair. It offers some great holes as it winds through Palmetto Dunes. While the front nine serves up some interesting layouts, the signature par 5, 10th hole (shown above) really sets the tone for the back nine which runs along canals and through ancient oaks.

Right after we made the turn, we had pelicans plunging into the ponds near the tee-boxes. They always seemed to time it so I was at the top of my back swing when they crashed into the water.

I highly recommend playing this course if you are lucky enough to find yourself in Hilton Head!

Founder's Club at St. James Plantation

Played the Founder's Club at St. James Plantation again for the first time in about 2 years. This is really a great course - but tough! It's a P.B. Dye design with some narrow landing areas and strategically placed bunkers. In addition, there are a lot of undulating greens. So even if you reach a green in regulation you will probably face a challenging putt (or 2!) unless you are in the right spot.
The course was in very good shape, although the greens were a little slow due to the extremely hot weather conditions, and spare rainfall that we've experienced this summer. Pace of play was pretty good, and they have a very nice clubhouse.
Other courses at St .James Plantation are the Player's Club, Member's Club and Reserve Club. All have a large membership and just a few packagers can book rounds on the courses. The Reserve Club is the newest of the 4 courses. It's a Jack Nicklaus signature design that opened in 2006, and will be going private in early 2008. The Reserve Club was voted "Best New Course in North Carolina" in 2006.
The courses at St James Plantation are a long drive from Myrtle Beach, but not too bad from North Myrtle Beach. They are definitely worth playing, and may work out very well if you are traveling from the north and can play them on your way in or out of the area. If you are making the trip to St. James during your stay, you may want to consider playing 36 holes.

Willbrook Plantation Golf Club

Was invited to play Willbrook Plantation a few days ago. This was the first time I played the course. I had heard good things about it and they were all true.
This Dan Maples design impressed me from the first hole to the last. Scenery was very nice, featuring large live oaks, ponds, lakes and a few marsh areas. There are also some historic markers pointing out items of interest from the days when the property was home to a couple of southern plantations.
My wife played with us and she really enjoyed the course, which has been ranked by Golf for Women as one of the top courses in the country for women golfers (ranked #31 out of 50 in the 2007 rankings).

Ten Myrtle Beach Golf Courses on America's 100 Greatest List

Ten Myrtle Beach area golf courses made the Golf Digest TM 2007 - 2008 list of "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses."
Think about that for a minute. 10% of the courses on the list are located on the "Grand Strand."
And, with about 90 public golf courses in the Grand Strand area, over 10% of them are on an authoritative list of the top courses in the country! That's a pretty good statement about the quality of the golf courses in the area.
Courses included on the list are:

#28 Dunes Golf & Beach Club
#41 Tidewater Golf Club & Plantation
#46 The Heritage Club
#53 Barefoot Resort & Golf – Davis Love Course
#62 River’s Edge Golf Club
#73 Tiger’s Eye Golf Links
#76 King’s North at Myrtle Beach National
#86 Caledonia Golf & Fish Club
#87 True Blue Golf Club
#92 Barefoot Resort & Golf – Tom Fazio Course

These are all great courses, but I think there are several other courses in the area that are as good as (maybe better than?) a few courses on this list. Among the missing, are Thistle, Oyster Bay, and The Player's Club at St. James Plantation.
There are probably many other courses around the country that you could put up against some of the courses on the list, and say that you think they're better. But when it comes down to it, it's pretty hard to come up with a list that everyone will like.

Dunes Golf & Beach Club

Dunes Golf & Beach Club certainly lives up to its reputation as the top golf course in the area, and one of the Best in the U.S. (it appears consistently on the top ranking lists).
The course opened in 1948, and has hosted the Senior Tour Championship and U.S. Women's Open.
I played the course on June 22, 2007, and found the conditions to be perfect!
This Robert Trent Jones layout is challenging, yet fair. The par 5, 13th hole (named "Waterloo") is the signature hole on the course. It plays 590 yards from the tips, and is shaped like a boomerang around a large lake. This hole requires a well-placed tee-shot with a driver or fairway wood, followed by a long shot over the lake (watch out for the alligators!), and a short approach to a tricky green.
As a matter of fact, you need to pay attention to pin placements and the yardage book on a number of the greens, as many of them have two levels or sloping areas.
You pay a premium to play this course, but it's worth the experience.

Leopard's Chase

We had the privilege of playing Leopard's Chase at Ocean Ridge Plantation on 11/9/06. The course won't officially open until February 2007, but a few people were invited to play during a special "debut" event.
The course is really fantastic, and will certainly rival the top courses in the area for high honors.
I expect the course will earn a 5-star rating from Golf Digest and others after it has a few years to mature, and receive some recognition.
Tim Cate really did a great job moving earth and taking advantage of water and marsh areas on the property.
Only 7 golf package companies will have a chance to market the property to the general public, and we are one of the honored few.
We really look forward to putting our customers on this beauty!

Tiger's Eye Golf Club

We played Tiger's Eye on 9/17/06. The course was in good shape considering that they had aerated the greens a week prior to playing. In addition, there was a rain storm that dumped about 3" on the course just a few days prior to playing.
It was "cart path only" because of the rain, and some of the sand traps were still very wet. The greens were sandy and slow, but they ran true.
It is such a great course - truly deserving of it's high ranking by Golf Digest and other "authorities. "
Tim Cate's design and the five different sets of tees makes this an enjoyable course for golfers of all abilities.
Ladies and Junior golfers will find the course fair, yet challenging from the front tees. There's a pretty big difference between the "white" tees and the "blues." While the blue tees lengthen the course to over 6,600 yards, it's still very playable for a mid-to-high handicap golfer.
The greens have a lot of sloping or undulation and paying close attention to pin placements can really improve your score, especially when the greens are fast.
Tiger's Eye is definitely a must-play course!