Hilton Head - The Golf Island

Though it is the second largest barrier island on the U.S. Atlantic Coast, Hilton Head Island still covers only 42-square miles. Yet 23 golf courses cover the island, and with the growth off-islnd in Bluffton and the neighboring Lowcountry, there are a multitude of opportunities to play award-winning courses designed by the renowned architects of our time. They don’t call this entire area “Golf Island” for nothing!

While other destinations have built courses in record quantities, Hilton Head and the Lowcountry have preferred a program stressing record quality. The candy-canestriped lighthouse at the Sea Pines Plantation overlooks the landmark course in the area, the famed Harbour Town Golf Links. Home of the PGA TOUR’s Verizon Heritage Classic every spring, this Pete Dye classic (with consulting help from a still-playing Jack Nicklaus) is delightfully playable for the rest of us the other 51 weeks of the year.

Located in the first eco-planned community in the United States, Harbour Town and her sister courses in Sea Pines set the bar for the rest of the Lowcountry courses with their quality and environmental sensitivities. Yet the newer courses are just as environmentally and golfer friendly. Besides those from Dye and Nicklaus, there are wonderfully accessible layouts from the great architectural names like Robert Trent Jones, “Open Doctor” Rees Jones, George Fazio, Arthur Hills and Clyde Johnston and other great players-turned-architects like Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Mark McCumber and 5-time Heritage winner Davis Love III.

Love’s first signature design, Ocean Creek at Fripp Island, is typical of the minimalist philosophy many designers in the Lowcountry have taken in designing their layouts, stressing the natural beauty of the moss-draped oaks, Carolina pines, palmettos, marshes, lagoons, tidal wetlands and open water that is so plentiful in the region.

Fripp Island isn’t the only island-offthe-island worth a golf getaway from Hilton Head. Daufuskie Island is just a short ferry ride away, offering fabulous designs from Nicklaus and Weiskopf & Morrish next door to the Daufuskie Island Resort and Breathe Spa. The resort at Daufuskie is just one of the full-service resorts, beachfront hotels or villas with oceanfront or golf course views in the Lowcountry.

And, Hilton Head’s active community supports a relaxed, yet thriving nightlife with terrific dining and off-course entertainment.

Experience this beautiful island setting once and you might be tempted to join the thousands who’ve become hooked on this lifestyle for a lifetime.

For more information or to customize your own golf package to Hilton Head Island call 888 465-3475 or visit www.golfisland.com.