Harbour Town is undoubtedly the main attraction for those headed to Hilton
Head, and it is the single most compelling reason for golfers to visit.
The Sea Marsh is generally regarded as a real resort style course, more
friendly and forgiving, and the best choice for beginners and families.
But the Ocean Course, often overlooked, is difficult yet playable. It
probably is the best course at Sea Pines for a scratch player and a novice
to play together.
The new Founders Club in Pawleys Island is an upscale addition to Myrtle Beach's formidable resume of golf courses. Gary Player Design was tapped to craft a formidable, enjoyable round of golf.
Nestled along the banks of the Savannah River, the Aiken/Augusta area
offers simply some of the best golf in the region. The area is steeped
in history and charm of the classic South.
With dozens of shops, restaurants, cultural attractions and entertainment
offerings in each city, there's plenty to do after your round of golf.
You don't want to miss the Augusta Golf and Gardens, home of the Georgia
Golf Hall of Fame. Riverwalk Augusta gives
As you drive north on U.S.
Highway 17 from North
Myrtle Beach and over the state line, tourist traps and miniature
golf courses give way to Mom-and-Pop seafood restaurants, quaint
beach cottages, and rustic roadside gift shops. Anchoring the coast
of this pristine region are the Brunswick Islands - a group of barrier
islands that run from the world famous "seafood capital" of Calabash,
North
Carolina, all the way north to the Cape Fear River south of
Wilmington. The scenery is unrivaled,
as Carolina Oaks and Pines blend together to give the area a true
mid-Atlantic feel.
On one hand, there is the rest of the south, embroiled in an eternal
struggle to sell its historical wares in the competitive market
of eco-tourism. On the other hand, there is Charleston.
Sure, downtown Savannah
delights many a visitor with Mr. Oglethorpe's well-planned wards,
and St. Augustine holds many keys to our country's past, but only
Charleston
has the power to do battle with the historic towns of New England
and the mid-Atlantic.
With destinations like Hilton
Head, Myrtle Beach,
and Pinehurst,
the Carolinas seldom
look at their metropolitan centers for as golf meccas. Once upon
a time, this was justifiable. Even as recently as the late 1980s,
the Charlotte
and Raleigh /
Durham
metro areas were severely lacking in daily fee golf facilities.
But my how the times have changed. In Charlotte
- the Carolinas'
largest city – a recent influx of high end, pay-for-play tracks
have put the Queen City on the golfing map to stay.
Columbia, South Carolina – Located in the Capital City/Lake Murray Country
Region
Just as its fathers planned it two centuries ago, Columbia and the Capital
City/Lake Murray Country Region is in the center of everything. It is
the seat of state government; a hub of the arts, education and history;
the gateway to a wealth of recreation lands and waters, and from its birth,
a center of hospitality.
The Upcountry is another name for the northwest corner of SC situated
in the foothills of the magnificent Blue Ridge Mountains. In the Upcountry,
it seems city and country living become one. Beautifully serene, the picturesque
landscape is complemented by an impressive array of metropolitan conveniences.
Here you'll find outstanding restaurants, fabulous specialty shops, charming
antique shops -- even factory outlet stores.
It is 96 degrees in the shade even as the sun starts to dive behind
the Lowcountry
landscape of this bastion of summer golf. Back in the island's myriad
of baby blue pools, thousands of tourists are sipping drinks and
playing Marco Polo with their kids. The beaches are clogged with
lily-white northerners and the tennis courts are teeming with weekend
warriors working on their backhands.
But the golf course is empty, and somehow the solitude makes the bead
of sweat dripping down your nose, the dozen mosquitoes buzzing around
your ankles, and the painful sunburn on the back of your neck seem
worth the price of admission. John Mellencamp might say that golfing
in Hilton Head in July
and August "hurts so good." Big Head Todd and the Monsters would
chalk the experience up to being "Bittersweet."
Everything you need to know about the packages, the courses,
and all things Grand Strand!
If you are having issues encapsulating all the golf courses of the Grand
Strand, you are not alone. A loose geographic definition has
the region spanning a 60-mile stretch of coastline, from Georgetown,
S.C. to Caswell
Beach, N.C.
PINEHURST, N.C. - Myrtle
Beach is the self proclaimed "Golf Capital of the World." Hilton
Head may boast more upscale golf courses than any place not
named Scottsdale.
But neither golfing mecca is dedicated to the game with such singular
purpose as the Sandhills
region of N.C.
Anchored by the Village of Pinehurst,
the Sandhills are made up of a collection of small towns and blessed
with a sampling of public access golf courses that many golf aficionados
consider to be among the best in the world. The "Village" is home
to the venerable Pinehurst
Resort and Donald
Ross' vaunted No. 2 course. The entire area oozes with layouts
from Ross, Dan and Ellis Maples, Rees
Jones, and Robert
Trent Jones.
The Raleigh,
Durham,
Chapel
Hill area, a.k.a. the “Triangle” bleeds college hoops. Duke
University, the University of North
Carolina, and North Carolina State are all within a half hour's
drive of each other, and have cultivated some of the most intense
rivalries in all of sports over the past 40 years.
The Triangle also oozes technology. Research Triangle Park (RTP), home
to IBM, SAS Institute, and Glaxo Wellcome, among others, is one of the
largest conglomerations of tech and pharmaceutical companies in the U.S.