Here's how pervasive the golf scene is on Hilton Head Island, S.C. A vacationer could enjoy a full week on the links, and never once push a tee into the turf of the island itself.
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Pre- and post-golf activity on Hilton Head is an essential. It's where visitors should stay, sleep, swim, eat, dance, party, shop and hit the beach. There's dozens of fine courses on the island also, but worthwhile golf can be found in abundance on the mainland side of the bridge.
Never mind mini-Meccas like Daufuskie Island, Beaufort or nearby Savannah. All the golf action one can handle is right on the main corridor of U.S. 278, which is a direct shot from I-95 to the island itself.
The formerly sleepy town of Bluffton is ground zero for the golf scene, and while a decade ago it might have been considered little more than an appetizer, it is now a main course in its own right. Here are some public-access golf highlights, listed from just over the island bridge, and heading due west towards the interstate:
OLD SOUTH
Old South is as close as you can get to Hilton Head itself and still be on the west side of the bridge. The course makes for a fine day on the links, with wonderful scenic vistas, staunch shot values and an excellent routing plan.
This Clyde Johnston design might be too short for most from the forward tees at less than 5,800 yards. Most players will prefer the blue markers at 6,350 or the gold tees at just under 6,800. Length is a secondary issue though, as either water or wetlands intrude in some combination on virtually every hole.
The two most interesting holes are mirror image doglegs -- the seventh and 16th. On the front side the hole bends hard right, while the back nine version veers hard left. Again, length isn't the key. Both holes are about 350 yards, but require substantial marsh carries of 180 yards to a tight landing area. From the safety of the fairway it's just a short iron over another marsh to the green, but both shots, particularly the tee ball, give you plenty to think about.
HILTON HEAD NATIONAL
Gary Player designed Hilton Head National's original 18 holes in 1989. Bobby Weed added the third nine in 1998. The three nines are now referred to as the Player, National and Weed, and they are played in all combinations. Each nine is about 3,350 yards from the back tees, and slightly over 3,000 from the middle.
In dry conditions the course will play firm and fast. These fairways will provide some bounce and roll, so the course plays slightly shorter than the advertised length. This is a great place to play because the facility offers the rarest of island sensations: isolation. Not a house, condo, duplex or patio home is in sight.
As the U.S. 278 corridor becomes more and more crowded with retail shopping and fast-food franchises, this quality becomes more and more desirable.
CRESCENT POINTE
This Arnold Palmer creation is one of the newest daily-fee facilities in the area. When it opened in 2000 it immediately became one of the most popular spots in the region, and the reasons go beyond the everlasting popularity of the designer himself.
Palmer and longtime collaborator Ed Seay have fashioned a pretty track amidst rolling terrain that offers two distinct personalities. The front nine looks similar to many courses throughout the southeast. There are lagoons, out-of-bounds stakes and the occasional homes dotting the mostly wide open terrain, although there's no housing at all on the first several holes.
The back nine is much more serene, although some incidental housing comes into view toward round's end. The encroaching woods bordering tighter fairways on the inward nine, making the journey towards the clubhouse a daunting one.
EAGLE'S POINTE
Crescent Pointe's sister course is Eagle's Pointe, designed by Davis Love III. Though he lives a couple of hours down the road on St. Simon's Island, Ga., Love is certainly at home around Hilton Head, with five PGA TOUR victories at Harbour Town. Consider Eagle's Pointe his sixth triumph.
One of the popular buzzwords used repeatedly in golf course reviews nowadays is "playable." Such is the case here, because Eagle's Pointe is not a particularly difficult golf course.
The middle tees on this par 71 are under 6,400 yards, and even the back tees are less than menacing at 6,800 yards. Fairways are wide and generous, rarely will a player have to maneuver the ball to one side or the other. On most holes, anything in the short grass will leave a reasonable approach to the green. Greens are larger than average, with a good deal of roll and pitch.
OLD CAROLINA
This is another Clyde Johnston beauty, a sibling to Old South. But unlike the former, which sits almost in the shadow of the bridge itself, the doppelganger is some seven miles further west.
This far out the terrain becomes more rolling and woodsy, a bit like horse country. Particularly on the inward nine, the terrain becomes more rustic, the golf holes cut deeper into the pine forests. There is an abundance of mounding on the front nine, which smacks a bit of artificiality. But the bulldozers have helped provide some isolation on the fairways, and many of the holes are playing corridors unto themselves.
Accuracy off the tee becomes imperative, as straight balls will hop down the fairway and provide short iron approaches. Offline tee shots will stop dead into some of the ungainly knolls and rises flanking the fairways. Not only does it necessitate a much longer approach to the green, but often requires an awkward stance as well, with the ball resting well above or occasionally below a player's feet.
