Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2019 - 17

Five Things You Need to Know
Today, golf in Charleston starts with the
Kiawah Island Golf Resort (kiawahresort.
com). Located approximately 20 miles south
of downtown, the seaside resort is recognized
annually for its five championship
golf courses, tennis facilities, commitment
to nature and wildlife, and award-winning
Sanctuary Hotel with five-star dining and
accommodations.
The Ocean Course built just prior to the
1991 PGA Ryder Cup Matches features the
ultimate combination of difficulty and panoramic
views of the ocean. The course has 10
holes bordering the Atlantic and multiple tees,
unforgiving rough of knee-deep sawgrass.
Manicured for tournament conditions, the
cost can be steep, but the experience is worth the value.
1 Delta offers non-stop flights
from Minneapolis to Charleston.
2 Our annoying mosquitoes are
really sand gnats, micro-sized
and called " no-see-ums. "
3 Early mornings and sunsets
are the worst times of the day.
4 Five-star dining at FIG, Husk
and other high-end restaurants
take reservations months in
advance.
5 The climate is great for golf
any time of year. The summers
are hot, the winters are mild,
and September and October are
usually hurricane season.
Options to Explore
There are four additional courses at Kiawah Island Golf Resort,
each deserving of recognition. All of the courses are high-end
and come with customer service and manicured surfaces of
Paspalum grass, which grows well in the humid, salt air climate.
The Osprey Point Club, modernized in 2014 by Tom Fazio,
features lagoons and saltwater marshes. Turtle Point Club is
a Jack Nicklaus design that borders the ocean for three holes.
The facility also hosts the Tommy Cuthbert Learning Center,
which includes a full range of amenities, lessons and club fitting.
Cougar Point is a Gary Player design that is a little tighter and
shorter off the tee, but just as dramatic, with oak trees draped
in Spanish moss. The fifth course is Oak Point Club, which is
a little more generous off the tee, but closes with panoramic
views of the Kiawah River marsh that make every shot a little
more difficult.
Approximately 15 miles north of downtown
Charleston is Wild Dunes Resort (wilddunes.com),
another premier resort destination sandwiched by
the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway.
Two Tom Fazio-designed courses are featured,
each requiring accurate golf. The Links Course was
recently renovated, and measures 6,500 yards and
par 70 from the championship tees. Though it was once rated as
a top 100 track in many publications, the Links Course lost the
closing par-5 18th hole due to erosion, consequently leaving an
even more difficult 185-yard par 3. The Harbor Course-also
par 70-is slightly shorter, tighter off the tee and easier to access.
Hidden Gems
Just past the turn off to Kiawah Island is The Links at Stono
Ferry (stonoferrygolf.com). This course is home to century-old
live oaks, the Intracoastal Waterway and is less than 30 minutes
south of Charleston. It's a semi-private Ron Garl-design that
features target greens, deceptive doglegs over marshland and
historical landmarks from the Revolutionary War era.
If you are driving to Charleston, Interstate 26 is your main
mngolf.org
thoroughfare, and just before you arrive
is Pine Forest Country Club (pineforestcountryclub.com)
in Summerville, SC. This
hidden gem reminds golfers of Pinehurst
courses with its towering pines, narrow fairways
and meandering water hazards.
One of the closest golf courses to downtown
Charleston is Patriots Point Links
(patriotspointlinks.com), just five minutes
across the Ravenel Bridge and within the
shadows of the Patriots Point Museum.
The par-3 17th hole can be played as short
as 120-yards or as long as 180-yards, to an
island green. Regardless of your score on
that hole, turn around and admire the view
of Fort Sumter (first shot of the Civil War).
The fun fact about Patriots Point is that the undulating practice
greens are " inadvertently " maintained at PGA Tour speed, and
when you are not expecting to, you might occasionally come
across a Tour player such as Russell Henley, D.J. Trahan, Wesley
Bryan or Katelyn Dambaugh in casual attire, doing their own
thing in obscurity.
Fun on and off the Course
Charleston's golf marketing centers on the quote from locals that
states, " Your round may be done, but the fun has just begun. "
Travel and Leisure Magazine once again ranked Charleston as
the number one city in the U.S., when you combine accommodations,
dining and overall experience. After golf, or when taking
a day off from the links, the major attractions include horse
and buggy tours downtown, vintage plantation tours built in
the 1700s and worldly cuisine. There are dozens of culinary
options located mostly downtown, with a few gems hidden in
neighboring communities. The abundance of
micro-breweries trying to combine the " brew
and birdies " crowd is a fun attraction for golfers
in particular. MG
THE VIEWS ARE SERENE AND THE LOCAL SEAFOOD IS DIVINE.
WILD DUNES
Fall 2019 MINNESOTAGOLFER
17
PHOTO BY ERIN OBOYLE/COURTESY OF KIAWAH ISLAND GOLF RESORT
PHOTO BY PATRICK J O'BRIEN
http://www.countryclub.com http://www.patriotspointlinks.com http://www.wilddunes.com http://www.stonoferrygolf.com http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2019

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