Ocean Forest GC in Sea Island,GA('95,Rees Jones,2023-Beau Welling)

[Steve_ Shaffer]

FORMER WALKER CUP VENUE REOPENSOcean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Georgia reopened for play in October after a renovation project from Beau Welling Design. Originally designed in 1995 by Rees Jones, Ocean Forest was host to the 2001 Walker Cup where Great Britain & Ireland, led by Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell, defeated the U.S. 15-9. The club sought to retain the challenge for elite players but offer more fun and variety for less-skilled golfers.“Being able to test the best players was very important to the club,” Welling told golfcoursearchitecture.net. “In some ways the holes are more playable with fewer hazards around the greens. But we changed how the course challenges players, with the putting surfaces providing the difficulty.”
Another pronounced difference in the new layout from the old is tied to the bunkering. “There are fewer bunkers, but they are way more visual,” said Welling. “Before, the grass went down the faces pretty close to the bottom and there was an incredible amount of square footage. But now, the sand is high, so they’re much more dramatic, and we’ve reduced the sand square footage by half.”
Other enhancements included replacing formal cart paths with exposed hard-packed sand, reconstructing tees and introducing new irrigation.

Welling noted that the greens remained in their existing locations, but were rebuilt, reimagined and redesigned. “Previously, many greens were elevated, very small and surrounded by bunkers, but now we’ve got a real mix of different sizes and they offer golfers more angles into them,” said Welling. “There’s also much more contouring.”
To accentuate views and provide better turf conditions, Welling selectively removed trees where necessary. “Visually, it feels like a new golf course,” said Welling. “However, we’ve been very mindful that its name is Ocean Forest. So we’ve protected the grand trees and exposed them as well as taken advantage of this coastal environment. We achieved this, for example, at the 18^th, which runs along the Atlantic Ocean—We totally reinvented that hole by restoring the dunes it plays through.”

[Steve Kohler]

I have heard very positive comments from several friends that have played the renovated course in the last few months.  There were some nice photos and videos on the Instagram feed for the Jones Cup (their annual amateur tournament) just a few weeks ago.


My biggest gripes about the old version were the wall-to-wall manicured turf felt overly artificial given its seaside location and the generic, run-on nature of the inland holes (front 9 especially).  It appears the introduction of sandy waste areas and tree thinning address my first concern.  I’m unsure what, if anything, was done to spice up some of the inland holes.  Having said all that, the old version was still an enjoyable round – the holes along the marsh and oceanfront were much more memorable – and the 17^th/18^th/clubhouse setting is drop dead gorgeous.  I'm sure the new version has only improved it.


It would take a large jump for Ocean Forest to unseat Seaside as the best course in the area, but there are several high-quality courses vying for second place between OF, Frederica, and Plantation.  I’ve never played Brunswick CC, but hear it’s a solid Ross layout too.