November 2021 Ohio Golf Journal

in the U.S. Tipping out at 7,000 yards with a 139-slope rating, Oyster Reef continues to beguile experienced players while also appealing to average and novice golfers with its spectacular setting. If you missed a meal in transit, grab a much- needed bite to eat and a cold beer at the new LagerHead Tavern, which showcases Southern comfort food with a twist. Local favorites include slow-smoked Smithfield ham and grilled oysters plucked from the nearby May River. Day Two Atlantic Dunes by Davis Love III is the newest course at The Sea Pines Resort, having opened in 2016. It was forged from what was once the oldest course on Hilton Head Island, the resort’s Ocean Course. Love Golf Design, led by Scot Sherman and Mark Love, restored the property’s coastal aesthetic, restoring natural dune lines and adding coquina shells and native seaside grasses. Stick around Sea Pines in the afternoon for a round on Heron Point by Pete Dye, formerly the Sea Marsh Course. Dye returned in 2014 to oversee a series of enhancements, which included softening green surrounds and contours, enlarging several putting surfaces and adding new ornamental landscape. Day Three No Sea Pines experience is com- plete without a round at famed Harbour Town Golf Links, home of the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage. This Dye/Nicklaus collaboration epito- mizes Lowcountry course design replete with live oak-lined corridors, diminutive greens and Dye’s trademark bulkheads lining languid lagoons. Walking off the 16th green and toward the tee box on the par-3 17th, the Calibogue Sound comes into view with yachts and sailboats passing leisurely by. Harbour Town culminates with one of America’s most famous finishing holes, the par-4 18th playing into the iconic Harbour Town Lighthouse. Post-round, settle in for a signature cocktail at Links, an American Grill, in the stunning new Harbour Town Clubhouse. If it is remotely close to dinner (or not), order up one of Links’ signature filet, strip or porterhouse steaks. Day Four The Robert Trent Jones Course at Palmetto Dune s Oceanfront Resort is widely considered the island’s No. 2 pitcher, drawing upon a baseball analogy. Having opened in 1967 just two years before Harbour Town, the two courses’ histories are inexorably linked. Jones’ former protégé Roger Rulewich updated the course in 2002, elevating the fairway on the signature par-5 10th hole for even better views of the Atlantic Ocean. Credited with designing Oyster Reef