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Promoting excellence in South Carolina golf
course design and operations
through competitive rankings, education and public advocacy. |
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Golf
Panel Selects State's Top 30 Courses Available for Public Play
For Release: 6pm, Saturday, March 14, 2015 Contact: Michael Whitaker, 864-907-1949 or mikew@scgolfpanel.org (List of Top 30 Courses and Top Courses In Each Region Sent Separately) PAWLEYS ISLAND - Take architect Pete Dye at his best and add the late Mike Strantz' artistic genius. Combine with a pair of older courses that have undergone renovation, and the result is the South Carolina Golf Rating Panel's choices for the best course open to public play in each of the state's four regions. The honor roll includes Dye's challenging Ocean Course at the Kiawah Island Resort (Lowcountry), Strantz' acclaimed the Caledonia Golf & Fish Club at Pawleys Island (Grand Strand), the rescued-from-closure Orangeburg Country Club (Midlands) and the testing Furman University Golf Course (Upstate). The four courses are among the 30 selected for the 2015 "Best You Can Play" list by the golf course rating panel and announced at the organization's spring meeting Saturday night at Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club. The panel is composed of 125 golf enthusiasts that represent a diverse range of occupations, handicaps, and backgrounds. The group's objective is to promote excellence in the state's golf course design and operation through competitive ranking, education and public advocacy. The "Best 50" courses, public or private, are chosen in even-numbered years and the "Best You Can Play" are announced in odd-numbered years. Criteria used in judging include, routing, variety, strategy, equity, memorability, aesthetics and the golfer's experience. "There are so many outstanding course that you're really splitting hairs in the voting," Michael Whitaker, the panel's executive director, said in discussing the rankings. "When you think about the number of really good public golf courses in this state and reduce that number to 30, it's a daunting task. "Some of the older courses have stood the test of time, some have improved with some relatively small tweaks and others that have undergone renovation or restoration to their original design features have increased the quality. It is our good fortune to live in a state where even some of the finest courses do not make the 'best' lists." Twenty-five of the 30 courses honored Saturday are located in the tourist meccas along the Atlantic Ocean. Twelve are on the Grand Strand between Little River at the North Carolina state line and Pawleys Island, and 13 in the Lowcountry area that includes Charleston and Hilton Head Island. That's no surprise, Whitaker said. "Given how golf has become such a vital part of the state's tourism industry, the coastal areas naturally have developed high quality courses for public play," he said. "The thing is, there are many more outstanding courses throughout the state besides the ones chosen on this list. You can play any number of courses in the state and leave with a 'wow' impression. "Remember, these are courses the public can play. Add the many wonderful private courses in the state and you see how fortunate golfers are in South Carolina." The Ocean Course, one of three Kiawah Island Resort club's on the "Best You Can Play" list, gained fame from its birth. Built on a sliver of land sandwiched between the Atlantic and saltwater marshes, the owner told Dye he wanted a layout worthy of staging major championships. Dye had three years to convert the snake-filled lowlands into a layout that would challenge the world's finest golfers in the 1991 Ryder Cup matches and he produced in a big way. Although hampered by Hurricane Hugo and a myriad of other obstacles, he had the Ocean Course prepared for the Ryder Cup and the layout lived up to expectations in terms to difficulty in the so-called "War by the Shore." A generation later, the course has increased in stature with maturity and played host to the 2012 PGA Championship. Caledonia sits on a former rice plantation and Stranz worked his magic in his first solo design. The course's 6,526 yards wind through oaks and streams and is characterized by large, creative greens guarded by water and imposing bunkers. Strantz approached his designs more like an artist than an engineer and Caledonia, which opened in 1994, "is more like a sculpture than a golf course," one reviewer wrote. Orangeburg Country Club dates to the 1960s at its current site and the Ellis Maples design has always been challenging. But the economic downturn in the 2008 left the club struggling financially and headed toward closure. Industrialist Frank Tourville, whose home is adjacent to the course, came to the rescue. He assumed the club's debts and hired architect Richard Mandell to restore the layout. The renovation included upgrades in bunkering, greens regrassed and returned to their original size, reworked tees and improved irrigation. The Furman University course, designed by architect Richard Webel and Greenbrier Resort superintendent Walter Crosby, dates to 1955 and is home to two members of the Golf Hall of Fame, numerous college starts and the 1976 women's national championship team. Architect Kris Spence reworked the course in 2008, bringing the greens to USGA standards, bolstering bunkering and upgrading irrigation. The firmer putting surfaces increased the challenge. Newcomers to the "top 30" list this year include Orangeburg Country Club, the Robert Trent Jones Course at Palmetto Dunes (Hilton Head Island) and the Ocean Course at Sea Pines Resort (Hilton Head Island). The panel also recognized the top course in each region in the "most improved" category: Greenville Country Club's Riverside Course (Upstate), Orangeburg CC (Midlands), Old Tabby Golf Links in Okatie (Lowcountry) and the Reserve Club of Pawleys Island (Grand Strand). Information on previous rankings can be found on the organization's website www.scgolfpanel.org # # # The
"Best You Can Play" Public Access Courses in
#
= Best In Region *
= New to the list of Best You Can Play UPSTATE # The
Furman Golf Club The
Walker Course at Clemson University MIDLANDS Country Club of South Carolina Florence (803) 669-0920 www.countryclubsc.com Mount
Vintage Plantation & Golf Club # Orangeburg
Country Club LOW COUNTRY (CHARLESTON) Kiawah
Island Resort - Osprey Point Course # Kiawah
Island Resort - The Ocean Course Kiawah
Island Resort - Turtle Point Course RiverTowne
Country Club Seabrook
Island Club - Crooked Oaks Course Seabrook
Island Club - Ocean Winds Course Wild
Dunes Resort - Links Course LOW COUNTRY (HILTON HEAD) May
River Golf Club at Palmetto Bluff Palmetto
Dunes Resort - Arthur Hills Course Palmetto
Dunes Resort - R.T. Jones Course # The
Sea Pines Resort - Harbour Town Golf Links The
Sea Pines Resort - Heron Point by Pete Dye Hilton Head Island (866) 561-8802 www.seapines.com GRAND STRAND Barefoot
Resort - Dye Course Barefoot
Resort - Fazio Course Barefoot
Resort - Love Course # Caledonia
Golf and Fish Club Grande
Dunes - Resort Course Heritage
Club Pawleys
Plantation Golf & Country Club The
Dunes Golf and Beach Club The
Legends - Heathland Course Tidewater
Golf Club and Plantation TPC
of Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach True
Blue Plantation Background On SC Golf Course Ratings Panel Overview The
South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel is composed
of golf enthusiasts representing a diverse range of occupations,
handicaps and backgrounds. These individuals have been charged
with the task of identifying the best that Objective and Purpose The
objective of the South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel
is to promote excellence in SC golf course design and operations
through competitive rankings, education and public advocacy. The
Panel serves as an ambassador for golf in 1)
2) The Best Courses You Can Play Bi-annually (in odd-numbered years) the Panel releases a listing of the best non-private courses in the state. Every resort, public access, and daily-fee course is eligible for this elite listing. How We Rate Them In determining their ratings panelists consider the following criteria:
Structure The Panel consists of a maximum of 125 members, 8 of which serve as Regional Directors. Twenty-five percent of the panel represents each of the following geographical regions: The Upstate, The Midlands, The Lowcountry, and The Grand Strand. Twenty percent of the panel are women. Categories of Membership · Golf Industry individuals who have a direct connection to the golf industry · Players & Coaches individuals who excel at playing or coaching the game · Media individuals who report on golf for one or more media outlets · Business & Industry individuals who utilize golf within the business community For more information on the South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel contact its Executive Director, Michael Whitaker, via email at mikew@scgolfpanel.org. # # # |
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