Three of a Kind
With three championship golf courses, a 17,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art Golf Performance Center, and ample teeing areas and practice greens, Sea Island Resort in Georgia is recognized as one of the country’s most beautiful places to improve your skills (or simply enjoy the game).
Each course has its own unique personality, allowing you to choose what kind of playing experience you’re interested in. The Sea Island Golf Club is home to the PGA Tour’s annual RSM Classic, and the different courses are playable enough for beginners but challenging enough for pros. Here’s what you can expect to discover on each course:
SEASIDE COURSE
This 18-hole facility offers 6,975 yards of golf and originally opened in 1929. Original course architects H.S. Colt and Charles Alison retain credit for the original nine-hole design, called the Seaside Nine, while Joe Lee added nine more holes (the Marshland Nine) in 1974. But in the 1990s, Tom Fazio stepped in and took full advantage of the gorgeous location to pull the two courses together and create the dramatic layout you’ll enjoy today. That layout has earned it repeated visits on “best of” golf courses in the U.S.; it boasts manicured fairways and greens accented by sweeping dunes adorned by native grasses and wildflowers. The ocean-side course is firmly rooted in the Scottish links style, and the unpredictable nature of the wind coming off the Atlantic Ocean offers an ever-changing golf experience. The course is both a challenge and a delight — and is, above all, memorable.
PLANTATION COURSE
This historic course first opened in 1928 with nine holes. Designed by Walter Travis, it remained unchanged for years until brothers (and Sea Island residents) Davis Love III and Mark Love of Love Golf Design reinvented it in 2019. The brothers had grown up playing the course, giving them unique insight as well as a deep affinity for it.
As part of the redesign, the brothers embraced the classic design and some of its traditional features, such as the bulkheads and a punch bowl green on Hole 13. But they added interest to the game by introducing strategic fairway bunkering, and then improved shot options by changing the shape and contours of the green. This labor of Love ultimately created a course that is strategic but playable that ends with a challenging hole you won’t soon forget — and will likely want to return again and again to master.
RETREAT COURSE
Like the Plantation Course, the Retreat Course was transformed by the Love brothers. This redesign was their first Sea Island project, which happened in 2001, and was done with player preferences in mind. That being said, this playable course still offers plenty of dramatic challenges.
This course has evolved over time; the first loop was built in the 1950s, with more holes added in the 1970s. Fazio and Rees Jones also added renovations to it in the 1990s. But it is the work of the Love brothers that turned it into the course you’ll play today. They added 300 yards to the original course, then widened the fairways to give the Retreat Course an open feel. It sports a lower profile than its sister courses and takes full advantage of the towering Georgia pine trees and native oaks as it winds around the property.
WHEN PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
In addition to the courses, Sea Island still provides ways to enjoy the game. The Speedway Putting Course is a family-friendly 18-hole adventure — also designed by Love Golf Design — that is the perfect space for practicing putting or enjoying a little friendly competition.
The Putting Course is built for fun (which explains why the starting posts have cup holders for your cocktails), and to keep it interesting, the hole locations move, so you can enjoy a new experience each time. In line with its welcoming, laidback nature, there are no green fees or appointment times needed for the Putting Course; just show up and have fun.
GOLF PERFORMANCE CENTER
The final must-visit golf stop at Sea Island Resort is the state-of-the-art Golf Performance Center. Regardless of what level you are as a player, this center will help you train like a pro and improve your skills. Staffed by world-renowned instructors, experienced club fitters, a golf fitness expert, and a sports psychologist, you can work with some of the best to overcome your weaknesses, recognize your strengths, and learn how to translate that into a better round of golf. Whether you seek out individual instruction or a group class, it will change the way you see— and play — the game. And, of course, the Golf Performance Center Shop has all your golfing needs covered, from apparel to clubs and bags, so you can look as good on the course as your newly improved swing does.
seaisland.com, (855) 572-4975