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Hilton Head and Area

Demand is high to play a world-class golf course, especially one "where the pros play."

Yet, Harbour Town seems to come in for a lot of criticism. In addition to slow play, some who have played it complain about the poor condition of the course which they say doesn’t warrant triple-digit fees.

For the MCI Classic, Harbour Town is overseeded with bent and the course is immaculate for the pros, and for the visitors who play it right after the tournament. But for the rest of the year, the greens are a problem. Constructed in 1968 when the course was built, the greens consist of tif dwarf Bermuda planted on top of a sand/soil substrate. The result is an inconsistent, coarse putting surface.

Beginning in May 2000, the course will be closed and the greens ripped up and totally reconstructed to exacting USGA specifications using a new Bermuda strain called Tif Eagle, according to Harbour Town’s head pro John Farrell, who added that the club has reduced the number of rounds per year, a policy that it expects should address the problem of overcrowding.

Aside from the greens, Harbour Town is justifiably celebrated. It was built by then little known architect Pete Dye with the modest input of Jack Nicklaus in what was Jack’s first venture in course design. The course was part of the Sea Pines Plantation started by Charles Fraser, who was not a golfer but who was persuaded that a world class course would greatly enhance the property, which he developed using Harvard Business School models for residential/recreational communities.

Sea Pines Plantation is a marvel in residential and recreational development, with manorial six- and seven-figure homes, four golf courses (three besides Harbour Town that include the fine Ocean Course, Sea Marsh and the Sea Pines Country Club), bike paths, restaurants/shops and other amenities in a dramatically beautiful woodland setting.

Harbour Town was a design original when it was built. The course is promoted as a Scottish links style layout but its features are predominantly parkland. The greens are the smallest you will ever play and the course is liberally bunkered with sand and waste bunkers planted with or bordered by pampas grass, giving the layout a links touch. Ponds and a system of man-made drainage and flood control channels that look completely natural add luster to this magnificent track where lush fairways fit snugly into the woodlands of oak, pine, magnolia and wax myrtle like delicate fingers in a velvet glove. Several of the holes, particularly the dogleg left, treacherously narrow 378-yard 13th, make many "Top 100 holes in the U.S. list."

Dye raced through the design of the first 12 holes but when he got to 13, he was stumped. The story has it that Dye’s wife Alice, an accomplished architect in her own right, came up with the idea for the hole. One of the best short par 4's in the country, it requires absolute precision to navigate oaks overhanging the left side of the fairway and to avoid the huge, yawning greenside bunker that looks like a white beard clinging to a man’s face.

Harbour Town is a "must play" for any Hilton Head visitor and after the restoration is complete should be even more worthy of high praise.

Two private country club/residential communities well worth mentioning are Colleton River Plantation and Belfair Plantation. Each community comprises over a thousand acres and are located adjacent to one another off Hwy. 278 within minutes of the bridge. Colleton River and Belfair boast four of the best private courses you could ever play.

Belfair Plantation

Two signature Tom Fazio designs grace Belfair where elegant homes are set amidst a pine-oak forest and along a string of natural lakes and a tidal marsh that looks out on the Colleton River. The older West Course, featuring Bermuda greens, is typical Fazio--generous landing areas; large, undulating greens; and ingeniously placed bunkers in a ceaselessly interesting mix of tree-lined holes. Yet, as good as it is, the West Course, which opens this spring, may be even better. My reaction after touring it was "It is dramatic." It has more elevation changes and the greens will be planted with Crenshaw bent, offering members a contrasting playing condition. Our tour group, which included two new homeowners from Ohio, concluded that the West Course seemed designed with a major tournament in mind, though it will be enjoyed by players of all skill levels.

Colleton River

Colleton River, developed by the same businessman who developed Belfair, features an outstanding Nicklaus course that is fair to the average golfer while presenting the scratch player with plenty of challenge. A parkland setting in the opening holes gives way to five of the best finishing holes on the East Coast that are marked by high Sand Dunes planted with tall sea grasses. Holes 17 and 18 look out over the Colleton River and are magnificent, especially when played under a late afternoon setting sun.

The Dye Course on the east side of the plantation opened the day after I left Hilton Head but I had a chance to tour it. The heavily forested front side, which features a stunning 205-yard par 3 to a devilishly bunkered, elevated green, is complemented by a back nine that has all the earmarks of architectural greatness. Holes 1, 9 and 10-18 all offer unobstructed views of the tidal marsh on the Chechessee River and of Port Royal Sound beyond. On a clear day, you can even see the open sea, and as Dye remarked last summer when hosting a tour of his new layout, "The next stop is Spain." The 72-year-old architectural legend has sculpted a work of art with dramatic elevation changes in a bottomland hardwood environment that is awesomely scenic. And once it matures, the course should take its place up there with the other famous creations in his prized portfolio.

At both plantations, some buyers have made deposits on property site unseen, an indication of how much these sites are in demand. And because Colleton River and Belfair have placed strict limits on the number of homesites, it is likely that they, like lottery tickets near drawing time, won’t last much longer.

In the coming years, it will be a continuous challenge for civic and business leaders to preserve Hilton Head’s natural endowment, because the pressures on the area’s resources, given its popularity as a golf and residential destination, can only increase. If the past is any indication, Hilton Head Island and surrounding areas will grow at an enlightened pace. 

[Editor's Note: The writer played Belfair and Colleton River on a 1999 trip to the area. See "Golf Is Better the Second Time Around - Hilton Head"]

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Alan B. Nichols is a professional golf-travel writer residing in Bethesda, MD.
He is the featured golf-travel writer for GolfLink. Alan appreciates your
comments on his features and the courses he has written about. 
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