Old Tabby Links, who has played, one of lowcountry's best?

[Jimmy Muratt]

Who here has played the Old Tabby Links on Spring Island?  I know that Arnold Palmer/ Ed Seay aren't the most beloved architects in the treehouse but I have heard that Old Tabby and Musgrove Mill in South Carolina are two of their best (if not THE best) in their portfolio.

Old Tabby is listed high on the recent Golfweek residential course but many have said it is very isolated and secluded.  Are there few homes and those that are around set back?  

The only hole I've seen at Old Tabby is the par 3 in the marsh, looks like a very good hole.

Thoughts on the Old Tabby Links?

[dsilk]

I have played OTL on a number of occasions- including walking it once when they would not let carts out. It is an extremely difficult walk. Imho, its a very good golf course- the back 9 in particular. The homes are set back- those that you see at all- fairways generous and the greens are fun, with some good breaks to them. Its quite exclusive- and expensiveto play- and Bill Samson is a great head pro.
The signature hole, 17 is the par 3 in the marsh and it is very cool- birds, marsh, etc...
Play it if you can-

[cardyin7]

I have played both Old Tabby Links and Musgrove Mill many times, essentially since both opened.  My wife and I consider Old Tabby Links (and Spring Island where it is sited) to be our No. 1 place in the world.  Those who don't generally appreciate Seay/Palmer designs need to try to secure access to Old Tabby Links.  The course, particularly the front nine, represents a classic sense of place, routed seamlessly into the sub-tropical island setting.  The back nine is more of an out and back routing, but the holes are outstanding.  I believe the two back-nine par 3s rank with any, the long 13th over a lake with the green set on a front-left to back-right diagonal, and the devilish 17th, carved between a lake left and marshland right.  It always is in wonderful condition, and a big day is 15-20 rounds.  Everything about Spring Island is very special.  It is, for example, the only development with which I am familiar where the developers have created an environmental group composed of several different disciplines,
and before the developers proceed with any plan,, they submit it to the environmental group, and if the group doesn't approve the plan,it doesn't happen.
Musgrove Mill was formed, I am told, by a group of men who tired of the over-crowding of Hilton Head Island and wanted to have their own get-away.  Set in the middle of nowhere in central South Carolina (about seven miles west of Clinton),
it is very isolated and exclusive.  The course itself is Seay/Palmer with whips and chains, probably the most severe slopes and cutoffs of any of their designs, and a very mean test of golf.  The 7th hole, for example, is about 180 yards over a river to a severe green which slopes forward and right toward the hazard with only a marginal bail-out left.  I am told of a player who scored 17 pars and did not break 80 because he had an 11 on that hole.  Another pro in competition was two under par after 6 and didn't break 90.

[david h. carroll]

My father was a member there and I played it numerous times.  I love the entire place....I can't think of a much more special atmosphere.  Spring Island is not a golf first place, even though Old Tabby is excellent.  The covenants placed on homebuilders with regard to native species and the environment are tremendous.  As to walkability, I always thought it was extremely walkable and I recall many members walking.  The only reason to cart it would be to get away from some of those gators!!  They are humongous as the Spring Island environmental committee will not allow for the removal of the big ones from the property....the club even has videotape of the gator at #9 chewing the leg off of another gator that dared to enter his domain.....the wildlife is incredible and the whole place is just a wonderful experience.

[klangone]

If you have the $$$ Old Tabby and Ford Plantation are the places to live in the Hilton/Savannah area.........both are not only about golf......there is hunting, boating, horses etc.  Golf is just one of many things available.........but, the golf is great at both places.  Throw in Secession and you have the best 3 golf experiences in the low country.

[Daryl "Turboe" Boe]

Have played OTL a few times, and echo the comments above.  When walking it, the only problem I found was the opressive July heat I thought the layout was not unwalkable.  I saw one of those HUGE gators on a bank on the far side of a lake.  Across its wide back looked like 2-3 tire treads layed side to side.  The member I was with said his friend from his porch watched that gator get a deer that was drinking from the lake.  On another opportunity I was in a large greenside bunker that went down right into a lake and a gator (a small one) was at the far end right by the water sunning itself.  The members didnt think I needed to disturb it as it was so far away from where I would be playing my shot, and they said they would let me know if it started to move.  That was the fastest preshot routine I have ever gone through.  As mentioned, 17 is a spectacular hole, and the one most people have seen.  I heard an interesting rumor about when they built that hole, has anyone else?  And the hole that has the Old Tabby ruins that gives the course its name displays the same attention to preservation prevalent at Spring Island.  The ruins are close enough to see them, and make it one of the more memorable holes I have played, but far enough away to give them thier seperation and not interfere with them in any way.

As for Musgrove Mill I have played there a few times also.  Although lately not often enough that my wife thinks my membership dues calculated into a cost per round basis warrents it.  But that is another story.  Cardyin hits it pretty well on the head, it is one of the tougher courses you will play especially during the times of year when they can keep it firm and fast (not right now).  Some insight into why this course is a little more penal than you expect from Seay & Palmer is that much of the the nuts and bolts of it on site really were done by a guy named Ken Tomlinson.  Ken is an attorney out of Columbia, SC I understand.  He worked out a way to be on site nearly full time and oversee most of the site work for Palmer/Seay.  He has subsequently done one more course this time entirely on his own.  Tidewater in Myrtle Beach.  From what I understand after these two projects he has settled back into his successful law practice.  Not a bad body of work for someone who has only worked on two golf courses, although you really cannot call Musgrove a Ken Tomlinson design I guess as Palmer/Seay I believe did the routing and design work.  The way I understand it Tomlinson then put that design into reality with his own flair.


I could delve much deeper into this Musgrove Mill topic, but it will have to wait until a later time if anyone wants to know more.