Palmetto vs Aiken GC

[Jon Sweet]

Had the pleasure of taking a day and playing Palmetto GC and Aiken GC back to back.  Aiken had just hosted the city amateur and the greens were in fantastic shape.
I would take Aiken GC at least 98 times out of 100 given the choice between the two.  Palmetto was in fantastic shape as well the day we played it and generally when I look at courses the condition weighs the least for me.
Aiken was far more engaging off the tee, seemed to have a bit more variety of holes and had a few really wild greens and pin placements.
One par 5 on the back in particular had a pin tucked all the way back right in what looked like a finger with a slope running towards the back corner and you had to get it just right to make it, likely going to have to make a 5 to 7 footer for your 2nd putt.
Palmetto did have a fantastic little short 3 and the green complexes were pretty amazing but all in all Aiken tended to grab my eye a lot more.

[Brian Finn]

I love both courses.  Lots of fun, very engaging golf throughout, but for me, Palmetto is in a different league than Aiken.  I'd go 7-3 Palmetto.  Palmetto is a course I would happily play every day.  Aiken is not quite there for me.  Can't go wrong either way, though.

[Tim Martin]

I love both courses.  Lots of fun, very engaging golf throughout, but for me, Palmetto is in a different league than Aiken.  I'd go 7-3 Palmetto.  Palmetto is a course I would happily play every day.  Aiken is not quite there for me.  Can't go wrong either way, though.

+1

[Bruce Wellmon]

Aiken GC is great FUN.
I'd go 5-5. 

Play Palmetto in the morning & Aiken in the afternoon. Perfect day. 

[Jon Sweet]

Aiken GC is great FUN.
I'd go 5-5. 

Play Palmetto in the morning & Aiken in the afternoon. Perfect day.

Was how I experienced it. I’d say this. You condition them equally and equal budget this isn’t even a conversation IMO

[Brian Finn]

Unless conditioning is horrendous, it rarely factors into my view on the quality of a course.  As long as greens roll fairly smooth, I am pretty easy to please, in terms of conditions.  Even with equal conditioning, I prefer Palmetto, but I only have a couple of plays on each course, so don't know either really well.  I suppose I am overdue to get back down there. 

[Tim Martin]

I’m a fan of Aiken but don’t think the greens are in the same conversation as Palmetto.

[Jon Sweet]

Unless conditioning is horrendous, it rarely factors into my view on the quality of a course.  As long as greens roll fairly smooth, I am pretty easy to please, in terms of conditions.  Even with equal conditioning, I prefer Palmetto, but I only have a couple of plays on each course, so don't know either really well.  I suppose I am overdue to get back down there.

Great trip to do.  Would not turn down an invite to either.

[Jon Sweet]

I’m a fan of Aiken but don’t think the greens are in the same conversation as Palmetto.

You speaking design or conditioning?
One I would agree, the other I would argue.

[Tim Martin]

I’m a fan of Aiken but don’t think the greens are in the same conversation as Palmetto.

You speaking design or conditioning?
One I would agree, the other I would argue.

Jon-Palmetto’s greens and surrounds are more compelling for me without any consideration given to conditioning.

[jeffwarne]

I’m a fan of Aiken but don’t think the greens are in the same conversation as Palmetto.

You speaking design or conditioning?
One I would agree, the other I would argue.

Jon-Palmetto’s greens and surrounds are more compelling for me without any consideration given to conditioning.

I'm also a big fan of AGC, and love playing there.

The only possible weakness I see at AGC,for the low percentage of low handicappers in the world, is a lack of variety in par 4 lengths(plenty of cool short par 4's for sure, but a lot of them )
Aiken has 5 REALLY good par 3's, and plenty of other very good holes.
All three par 5's are good(10 is really good), it's just that two of them play like mid length par 4's(so I guess that helps the par 4 varety   but the greens sites at all three are really compelling, regardless of the assigned par.
It's a really, really interesting golf course,with many cool details and I like the fact that it doesn't need or have 5 sets of tees(at least I hope it doesn't)


EDIT-upon reflection,
perhaps the 5 varied par 3's, with a range from roughly 150-220ish, coupled with the mid/short iron approaches on two of the par 5's, and two other mid range par 4's, compensate for the many short par 4's by still calling for a varied length of iron approaches.



I think the two courses compliment each other nicely, and make for a perfect 36 hole day.

[Sean_A]

For me Palmetto is clearly the better course, but Aiken is plenty good enough. I give them both high scores of 1*.

Ciao

[Rob Marshall]

Is Aiken worth a 2.5 hour drive next time I’m in Charleston?

[Jon Sweet]

I’m a fan of Aiken but don’t think the greens are in the same conversation as Palmetto.

You speaking design or conditioning?
One I would agree, the other I would argue.

Jon-Palmetto’s greens and surrounds are more compelling for me without any consideration given to conditioning.

I enjoyed them both, I guess it was the quirk of the Aiken GC greens that got me. Maybe I am misremembering but a pretty good variety of holes as well. When you have a tree branch overhanging an approach or line of site to a par 3, I am all in. Really good little up the hill 3 as well. Fun golf course.  Loved the old bunkers with the wood planks sort of haphazardly placed along with the waste areas. Ending with a 3 just another plus for me.

[Jon Sweet]

Is Aiken worth a 2.5 hour drive next time I’m in Charleston?

For I believe roughly $32 dollars give or take, you damn straight. If the pin is all the way back right on ?10? I believe the par 5 on the back and you can get it back there in 2 let me know.  I am not terribly long and my playing partner told me you can't get it back there and I hit the shot of my life to get back to it.  Had a putt for eagle from I would say 20 feet with about 10 foot of break and a decent putt that left me 8 to 10 feet up the hill for birdie.  Fantastic golf hole.  Even if the pin isn't back there, go back in that corner and putt around. 
On a sad note, the logo for Palmetto is far cooler than the logo for Aiken GC.
I wanted to grab a shirt or hat but it I couldn't do it.
It looks like the logo of a really bland private course here.
I didn't want anyone to mistake me for liking the course here.

[Brian Marion]

Is Aiken worth a 2.5 hour drive next time I’m in Charleston?

Yes, very much so. A fun round any day.

[Sean_A]

Is Aiken worth a 2.5 hour drive next time I’m in Charleston?

1* = worth an over night stay.

Ciao