Hilton Head Golf News

The 2005 Hilton Head Island Celebrity Golf Tournament recently distributed $200,000.00 during a ceremony at the Crowne Plaza Hilton Head Island Beach Resort. The money will be shared by children’s charities in Hilton Head, Bluffton, Beaufort and to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

$25,000 has been contributed to the neediest of families in Long Beach, MS who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. Long Beach is a town which Beaufort has adopted in recovery efforts for the devastated area. Funds were distributed through the United Way directly to the families. An additional $3,000.00 was given to the Deep Well Project specifically for families who have been relocated to our community.

Is it possible that one of America’s most prolific golf course architects, from golf’s first-family of design, with his name connected to many of the most tantalizing tracks around the world, is also one of the most under-appreciated designers of our time? Known as much for his work as “The Open Doctor”, modernizing classic championship courses originally designed by Donald Ross (Pinehurst #2), A.W. Tillinghast (Bethpage Black, Baltusrol), his father Robert Trent Jones (Congressional, Hazeltine) and many others, some might find themselves having to think for a moment when asked to name a Rees Jones original (even though four of Golf Digest’s Top 100 are his).

The cat in the Panama hat is pretty tough to miss, whether it be on TV (as host of “HHI Golf Weekly on cable channel 3) or bouncing around the Robert Trent Jones practice range and putting green. Like Tinkerbell in the Peter Pan novels, the omnipreset Doug Weaver seemingly never stops moving, dispensing the teaching wisdom he’s collected in his many years in the game (some of you might not know this, but the former PGA TOUR player also played the weekend in two U.S. Opens) as so much pixie-dust.

Weaver, the long-time Director of Golf Instruction at Palmetto Dunes Golf Academy and Palmetto Hall, chuckles when he says he “gives hope to the hopeless”. But there’s a kernel of truth to that, and his more serious theory of helping golfers “play to their potential.”

PGA Teaching Professional Roben Sutton at Hilton Head National Golf Club will be more than happy to impart complicated swing techniques and spout all the technical mumbo-jumbo that many younger pros preach. But what he believes is critical in helping you imprve your game is YOU being able to FEEL what you’re doing with your swing (and maybe knowing what you’re practicing is correct).

That’s why he thinks the #1 teaching aid in the game today isn’t some expensive video replay system, or a fancy contraption with its own infomercial, it’s something you already have inside your own house or office- a big mirror. “A mirror is ‘live’”, says Sutton. “Videotape is history. The camera can’t see what you’re feeling when you’re making a swing, good or bad. When you watch yourself swing in a mirror, you not only see what you’re doing, you can feel it, and maybe most importantly, correct it. The feedback is immediate, and admit it, how many of us already practice our golf swing in the mirror anyway?”

How do you compete with the “Big Boys” of the golf equipment industry, who have many years head start in marketing and manufacturing, not to mention deep, deep pockets to fund their ventures? Two veterans of the front lines of the golf industry wars,

Richard Merk and Bret Larsen are trying to do it in a revolutionary way, one club at a time, one charity tournament at a time with their launch of Upswing Golf early this year. Merk, a former member of the senior executive teams at TaylorMade and then Callaway, and Larsen, a former VP of Manufacturing and then Golf Club Development at Callaway, have come together to try to bring the “average” golfer access to top quality equipment without the expense the “brand name” companies tack on to their clubs for marketing, advertising and endorsements.

In the golf swing, clubhead speed is generated through the law of centrifugal force. Your first science teacher tied a string around a rock and spun the rock in his or her fingers. The string formed the radius of a circle and the teacher showed you te radius had to remain constant to maintain the rock’s orbit.

Make the clubhead your “rock”, the shaft and your left arm are the “string.” To achieve maximum centrifugal force (clubhead speed) you must keep the shaft and left arm and wrists STRAIGHT, meaning that all of the teaching encouraging you to bend, “break”, cock, or hinge your wrists in the backswing might just lead you to more swing problems, or even wrist injuries. Yes, you can allow the pull of the club to stretch and flex the muscles of the arm at the joints, but DON’T bend the elbow and wrist. 

Didn’t someone famous once say, “It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, it’s how you handle the post-game?” When Darren Clarke visited the media room after dropping nine shots to par in the last 13 holes at Harbour Town and blowing a four-shot lad at the MCI Heritage over Peter Lonard (Clarke being willing to talk about his train wreck was surprising enough) he said, not so surprisingly considering his week, “Anybody got a beer?”

Had he hung around a little longer, Lonard would have bought it for him. The first-time winner on the PGA TOUR didn’t want to leave Harbour Town when the tourney was over.

After almost literally throwing “caution to the wind” last Labor Day weekend, organizers are planning the 25th anniversary edition of an Island tradition, the Hilton Head Island annual Celebrity Golf Tournament, slated September 2nd, 3rd and 4th at tree of Hilton Head’s most treasured layouts.

Last year’s tourney was jeopardized by the threat of Hurricane Frances, but Tournament Director Gayle Wingo said her group that benefits 18 children’s charities in Beaufort County, “made the decision to go forward and it became the Tournament Against All Odds. With a spirit of camaraderie unlike any we have ever experienced, our incredible sponsors, volunteers and celebrity participants braved the weekend and created our finest tournament ever.” 

While many golf destinations struggle to stay true to successful pasts, Hilton Head Island has never lost sights of its glorious roots. From the day the first course was born on Hilton Head in 1961 to today, the island golf community has always vaued quality over quantity – a belief that has earned Hilton Head the reputation as The Golf Island.

Hilton Head, which truly began its journey to treasured golf destination with the 1969 opening of Harbour Town Golf Links -- host course to the PGA TOUR Heritage Classic for more than three decades, boasts more than 20 public golf courses featuring the works of great architects such as Arnold Palmer, Arthur Hills, Robert Trent Jones Sr., Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus.

Golfer’s come to Hilton Head Island seeking a memorable golf experience. They expect perfect golf conditions, impeccable course conditioning, challenging layouts and friendly service.

While this standard of golf can be found throughout the Hilton Head area, one impressive portfolio of courses is providing such a high quality of challenging, diversified and rewarding golf that visitors to the island need to look no further when making tee time plans for their entire stay.

Robber’s Row, Planter’s Row and Barony Course at Port Royal Golf Club join Shipyard Golf Club and Oyster Reef Golf Club in creating as dynamic, varied and enjoyable a collection of golf courses as there is in the South Carolina Lowcountry. While each course boasts its own unique character and challenges, all five have been expertly designed by some of the biggest names in golf, including Pete Dye, Rees Jones and George Cobb, and enjoy unrivaled course conditioning and customer service.