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THE GOG BLOG by RORY SPEARS, Director of Content. Follow Rory to Hilton Head Island and the Sea Pines Resort. On Twitter @GogBlogGuy Linkedin and Facebook.
THERE ARE many different golf properties on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.
The Sea Pines resort is one of the more known ones, as every year after the Masters, the PGA Tour comes to town to play that course with the lighthouse on the 18th hole.
Harbor Town gets the demand, and it’s a very well kept Pete Dye design. But Sea Pines is not all about one golf course, the resort has three courses that guests and members can play. More recently Davis Love III did a renovation on the course now known as Atlantic Dunes. The course has some nice holes on the ocean, and others that catch the eye of most golfers. As a result, the third course on the property Heron Point flies a little under the radar. It doesn’t need to. The other Pete Dye design has plenty of good holes, and doesn’t beat the amateur golfer over the head.
THE HERON POINT front nine wraps up with solid tests on the Par 3, 7th hole, and the Par 5, 9th hole with a back drop that encircles the green from behind the wetlands.
Heron Point fits the Sea Pines Resort in a perfect way, it carries the low country look and fits with the island land. Between the trees, some homes, wetlands and more. Dye’s design brings a little “Pete” and mixes in with what the property gave him. Yes of course there some railroad ties to be found, and some long running sand bunkers. Water on the course is strategically placed and not always visible off the tee.
Dye takes the style of his famed island green at TPC Sawgrass surrounded by water, and does almost same thing on the par 3, 7th hole, with a green surrounded by sand. If you miss at least your dry, and there is no penalty stroke on the card for being in the sand.
The par 5’s are not long (like the par 3’s) when played all the way back, but Dye creates three-shot par 5’s with doglegs coming at places where you don’t need driver off the tee. The second shot is normally going to have to be longer than the tee shot, to get home in two. On par 4’s it’s not uncommon to see the fairway shrink in width the closer to the green you get. If you want a big test, there are two par 3’s that go about 240 all the way back and a par 5, that plays 617.
Heron Point is fun, Dye style challenging, with fairways that have plenty of non-flat l spots in the fairway. Subtle breaks on the greens, but playable in true Sea Pines style. The third course at Sea Pines, might be a second or a first course at many other resorts. Don’t overlook this Dye-design that’s hidden in between the trees, with hanging moss in the low country. For more information Seapines.com.