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Richard Hetzel

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Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« on: July 01, 2009, 06:29:13 PM »
I love golf along the Georgia coast. Although I have yet to drop the cash and spend a little time at Sea Island with the wife (soon) there are many others that come to mind. I played The Hampton Club two ago, and it was OK. I enjoyed the four holes "in the tidal marsh areas", but otherwise nothing that garnered any excitement out of me (except the ladies' screened in porch the nailed quite hard with a hooked 3 wood, she was ironing and said, "Don't worry about it young man, it happens all the time! Of course I walked over and apologized before going back to the tee to hit number 3.

Next week I will play almost all of the courses on Jekyll Island (Grand Dunes 9, quirky, yet fun), Oleander, a very NICE Dick Wilson 18 that would be incredible if they could find the $$$$$ to actually renovate it properly. Pine Lakes, which I used to loathe due to it's tight fairways is now an excellent course after a big renovation a few years back. I often wonder why they chose Pine Lakes to renovate rather than the Oleander course? i will skip Indian Mound as it being replaced with rounds at Sapelo Hammock and another round at Brunswick CC. I am pretty excited about Brunswick CC and I'll write a review and post pics when I return. I'll do the same for Sapelo Hammock, since it is tough to locate any decent pictures of it online.....I'll get some good pictures of Oleander this time around as well.....

Just south of Jekyll, in northern Florida, I had always wanted to play Ponce De Leon, which is now history as well as Hyde Park CC.....I'll get to Hyde Park eventually! We make to Jekyll Island on an almost yearly basis.

Oleander

Hampton Club

Pine Lakes


Great Dunes







What others have you played along the Georgia coast/Golden Isles that are worthy of mention?

PS:  Oh, and from what I can gather, there in NO SUCH course as "Dean's Creek" ;D
« Last Edit: July 01, 2009, 06:36:02 PM by Rich Hetzel »
Best Played So Far This Season:
Crystal Downs CC (MI), The Bridge (NY), Canterbury GC (OH), Lakota Links (CO), Montauk Downs (NY), Sedge Valley (WI)

Ben Sims

  • Karma: +1/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2009, 09:49:57 PM »
Rich,

Don't forget about The Club at Savannah Harbor.  It's thought very highly of by some of my kinfolk and the owner of the UGA line of Bulldogs, Sonny Seiler. 

Kenny Baer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2009, 10:46:10 PM »
I think Seaside @ Sea Island Golf Club is terrific, if all the courses you mentioned were equally price then IMO there is not even a close 2nd.  I would put Seaside in the top 3 in the state.  I know some people on here disagree but I couldn't imagine playing it and not enjoying it.  The front nine is truly world class.

Roger Wolfe

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2009, 07:01:42 AM »
Having taken several groups to Sea Island and having played Seaside twenty times it remains my favorite course
on the Georgia coast.  However, I am taking a group next year to Cabin Bluff.  CB is a corporate retreat that
handles one group at a time.  They have their own 6 hole golf course.  Has anyone ever played the Cabin Bluff
links?

PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2009, 07:35:03 AM »
I liked Ocean Forest alot more than the Seaside course at Sea Island, which are the only two coastal Georgia courses that I've played, but are two great ones.
H.P.S.

John_Cullum

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2009, 08:45:46 AM »
I'll take Seaside over Ocean Forest.

All GCA Cognescenti should see Sanctuary Cove
"We finally beat Medicare. "

Jeff Spittel

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2009, 09:36:29 AM »
The Seaside isn't worth the crazy money to play, but it is a great track.
Fare and be well now, let your life proceed by its own design.

KBanks

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2009, 09:39:38 AM »
Aside from the restored Brunswick CC by Love Design, the course I most want to see on the coast is Ricefields, their new course south of Savannah. I understand our own Paul Cowley had a hand in it.

Anyone been there yet?

Ken

Tom Ferrell

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Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2009, 11:34:34 AM »
What they have done with Seaside at Sea Island is really remarkable, IMO.  I played it in January and loved it.  Intriguing options, visually stunning, a man-made tribute to the local environment.  I much prefer it over Ocean Forest.  I have not seen the re-work at Brunswick CC, but the bones of a great course have always been there.

After the high-falutin' round at Seaside, my companions and I ventured over to Jekyll and Grand Dunes.  Talk about bones of a great course!  It is unfortunate the the full links has been lost, but Grand Dunes is a must-see, if only for the great Mae West par-5 fifth(?).  The pitch shot sixth and the dunesy second and third are also great holes.  As much as we enjoyed Seaside, our conversations on the rest of the trip centered around that little Travis/Ross niner.  Not to mention the fun of having played Georgia's most and least expensive courses in the same day!

Oleander and Pine Lakes are fine courses, among the best values in America.  As for Savannah, the historic Savannah Golf Club has suffered from uninformed architectural changes over the years, but where else will you find Civil War-era earthworks deployed as features (as on the 9th hole at SGC)? 

I haven't yet seen Sanctuary Cove, but I am a fan of Osprey Cove in Saint Marys.

Finally, if you want to see a true hidden gem, make the 1-hour trip from the coast to Waycross, Georgia and play Joe Lee's little-known Okefenokee GC.  I am biased, having spent much of my youth there, but it is wonderful golf course routed over scrubby sand hills on the banks of the Satilla River.  Really, really good.

Carl Nichols

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2009, 12:18:08 PM »
The Seaside isn't worth the crazy money to play, but it is a great track.

I wouldn't pay the rack rate, but if you go at the right time, you can get some pretty terrific deals -- and that was even before the widely chronicled problems that the resort is apparently having right now.

Mark Pritchett

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2009, 12:38:34 PM »
The 9 hole Dunes Course on Jekyll is a lot of fun.  Oleander was okay, but hardly a must play .I agree with Rich that while I wasn't blown away with Oleander, I did kind of get the feeling that there might be some potential. 

A friend of mine recently played Mike Young's Oak Grove and said it was an enjoyable course with some scenic holes and worth a visit if in the area.

Tom,

I had the good fortune to play Okefenokee GC about twenty years ago and loved it.  Very good course!


Bill Gayne

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2009, 12:59:06 PM »
Jacksonville is the capital of south Georgia so I'll go with Sawgrass ;D. I played Osprey Cove many years ago and enjoyed myself but Seaside is my first choice.

Mike_Young

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2009, 01:48:54 PM »
I don't know why Richmond Hill Plantation is rarely mentioned  www.fordplantation.com/Content/477.htm   it can stand with anything

I also did one in Brunswick called OakGrove Island but that was 15 years ago and I really don't know much about the conditions etc at this time....nice piece of land but it is not the budget of a Sea Island.   But the Ogeechee course at Richmond Hill good.
"just standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona"

Sam Maryland

Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #13 on: July 05, 2009, 03:32:00 AM »
Retreat to Seaside...

...doesn't exist anymore.

paul cowley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Your favorite coastal Georgia golf course?????
« Reply #14 on: July 05, 2009, 09:24:03 AM »
...agreed.
paul cowley...golf course architect/asgca