Fore star resort

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/06/2016 (3690 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — “What would Jim Furyk do?” The question came from my playing partner, Flubber, as we stood in the 18th fairway at Harbour Town Golf Links, longtime home to the PGA Tour’s Heritage Classic.

Furyk won the 2015 title (and US$1.07 million) and the golfer nicknamed Loopy couldn’t have faced a tougher second shot on the finishing hole than the one I was looking at. Marsh and the Atlantic leered on the left, rich people’s houses and out of bounds sneered from the right. The tiny green was a 220-yard squint into the wind and the famous lighthouse beyond the green was a teary-eyed blur.

What would Jim Furyk do on this par-4 monster?

He wouldn’t do what happened next. My 5-wood shot was struck cleanly, gained altitude as prescribed, then altered course, banking hard right.

For some reason the sound of a golf ball hitting a multimillion-dollar home is cleaner, more resonant, than the sound of a ball hitting a run-of-the mill golf course condo. Maybe this shot clocked one of the Brazilian hardwoods favoured by the well-heeled seaside home builder, denting some garapa shutters or ipe decking. In any case it is by far the most expensive residence I have hit on my golf travels and I have hit dozens of condos, houses, RVs and tin shacks in many provinces, states and countries.

Our mandatory $50 caddy, Mike, tells us the house is worth about $7.5 million. Minutes ago he had pointed out a house between the 17th green and 18th tee that was on the market for $11 million. It’s a good thing rich people spend so much time flitting between their estates and properties. No one was home. I retrieved the ball without consequence, finished the hole, told Flubber to mark me down for a bogey and our first day of play at one of golf’s true kingdoms came to a glorious end. It was gratifying to have walloped such a lavish house. A memory to cherish.

Most of the locals will tell you Harbour Town is the crown jewel of the 24 golf courses on the island and the 50 or so in the Bluffton area on the mainland (That’s right, 75 courses within a 45-minute drive, and most of them under $80) but for my hard-earned Canadian dollar Harbour Town is overrated. Sure, it’s a Pete Dye design, a course Tour players supposedly adore as a pure shotmaker’s course, a relief from the typical layout where strength so often trumps finesse. The average golfer likes the railway ties and the water hazards and the other Dye foibles.

But at a whopping $240 plus $50 caddy fee plus $50 tip — the greens fee is $100 less if you tee off after noon — a lot of players, if they are honest with themselves, will put their clubs in the trunk feeling they have just had a very unremarkable golf experience. Then again, Flubber and I are unremarkable golfers, but we left feeling a little hollow.

Mike did a lot more talking than caddying, doing a great sell on why Tour players love bringing their families to Hilton Head: the bike paths, hiking trails, clean beaches, water activities and 350 tennis courts, and it was welcome information, but he seldom strayed far from the rear bumper of the cart, where he rode while commenting on real estate prices. For some who are going to make the trip from Manitoba to Hilton Head it only makes sense to play Harbour Town. It is a PGA Tour staple after all, and there is the Lighthouse hole. Other than that… meh. There are dozens of courses to choose from which are just as enjoyable and a lot less expensive. Harbour Town is nice, but it’s Harbour Town. It ain’t Pebble Beach or the Old Course. You might want to play it. Once. At the reduced rate.

This is what you want to do. Play the Palmetto Dunes courses. Start with the Robert Trent Jones layout. It will cost less than $100 if you play late-morning or afternoon and you don’t need to shell out $50 plus tip for a caddy who doesn’t know if there are any strip clubs on the island. In fact, play it twice, it’s better the second time around. It has one of the coolest par-fives you’ll ever see, the 550-yard 10th, where the green overlooks the mighty Atlantic and a misclub could put your ball in the Gulf Stream, where it will eventually be swept to Morocco and sold as a giant pearl.

NHL legend Mark Messier owns a few properties to the left of the 13th hole. Hook a shot over the canal and onto his deck and he will fire a puck back at you, the local lore has it.

The head golf instructor at Palmetto Dunes is a dude named Doug Weaver. He’s in his late 50s, has a swing smooth as single malt and hits it light years. Weaver was named South Carolina’s second-best golf instructor in a 2015 edition of Golf Digest. He’s played a handful of pro tours and his15 minutes came in 1989 U.S. Open at Oak Hill Country Club near Rochester, N.Y. During the second round, four players aced the 167-yard sixth hole — Weaver, Jerry Pate, Nick Price and Mark Wiebe. A group photo of the four made the front page of hundreds of sports sections the next day. Curtis Strange won the tournament for a second consecutive year with a two-under 278 total. Weaver shot 20-over 300 and finished tied for 69th with John Daly. They each made US$4,099.

Weaver is a heck of a teacher. He was even able to help Flubber, and Flubber is nicknamed Flubber because he used to flub a lot of shots. No more. Flubber happily reports he is hitting it more solid and farther than ever since his lesson. Weaver is in demand, so book ahead if you want instruction from a guy who has been there, done that and then some.

The George Fazio course, not for the weak or timid, might be best left until you have played a few warmup rounds. It’s a tough son of a gun. A par 70 with only two par 5s, the guts of the layout are in its demanding par 4s. You start with a 432-yard wild boar and finish with 462-yard dragon. The greens are smaller and trickier than most in the area. It’s about $100 in prime time and you can get cheaper slots in the afternoon. Its only drawback is the lack of a driving range.

The third Palmetto Dunes course is the Arthur Hills, a rolling layout periodically punctuated by those very dunes and palmettos so often referenced in this article. Like Harbour Town, this is a shotmaker’s course and even has its own lighthouse, the Hilton Head Range Light Station. This course is the easiest on the wallet but that is not to diminish its worth. Ten holes have water and the other eight have bush and sand. All offer consternation and delight.

Asked straight out, Weaver will tell you he thinks the best course on the island is Harbour Town, but says the RTJ course runs a close second. I dare to disagree. The Jones course is better.

You will be needing a place to stay while you are there. Palmetto Dunes has the answer. In addition the the three golf courses, it is a collection of houses and condos owned by individuals and corporations that are leased to Palmetto Dunes when the primary residents are away. A lot of these units abut a golf course and you can’t go more than a few blocks without seeing public tennis courts and swimming pools. Flubber and I stayed at a three-bedroom unit with all the fixings. The back yard looked over the 14th green at the Fazio course and we sat on the patio many a late afternoon drinking Yuengling (this Pennsylvania brew seems to be the go-to quaff here) and watching duffers three-putt.

The cart path from the green to the 15th tee was only 30 feet from our table and we would invite golfers over for a quick snort in the shade beneath the oak trees cloaked in Spanish moss. Many took us up on it. We met people from all over the states and Canada. One lady from Arizona politely declined a Yuengling and literally harrumphed when it was suggested we fetch the box of red from the fridge and pour her a glass. But hubby grabbed a chair and made quick work of a beer. Told a few good jokes. Good people, golfers. Can’t go wrong with most of their ilk.

If you are part of a crew, a house or condo is the way to go. The Dunes people can set you up with whatever size place you need and make sure you have a BBQ, try to arrange a place with a hot tub and try top please you in whatever way they can. Like just about everything on Hilton Head, this residential enclave is just off the William Hilton Parkway, the main drag, which runs north-south through the centre of the island. Everything you need supply-wise is available on the strip, as are scores of restaurants (about 250 on the island), clubs, bars and other enticements. If you happen to be in the mood for food, as opposed to cuisine, hit the Hilton Head Diner, a 24/7 licensed joint a few blocks down the strip from the entrance to Palmetto Dunes. It’s a place where you can slouch in your chair and stretch your legs without getting looks from staff and diners serving and eating cuisine. Try the London broil for 16 bucks.

If you are two, or a couple with kids, consider the hotel route. The Omni Hilton Head Oceanfront Resort is on the beach and associated with Palmetto Dunes and its courses. None of its rooms overlook a fairway or green and you can’t BBQ on the balcony, but you aren’t going to see a school of dolphins jumping around a few hundred metres off the beach when you wake up for a morning bracer at your condo. I saw a bunch of these dolphin/porpoise creatures playing in the surf from our fifth-floor balcony the first morning of our stay at the Omni. It was tempting to swim out and frolic with the beasts, but it was early November and the sea was getting cool, so I settled for swimming up to the pool bar after the day’s exercise in golfing.

The Omni also boasts a spiffy restaurant, the HH Prime, a sports bar and outdoor bar as well as a spa and fitness centre and three pools in total. The hotel can also hook you up with special rates to play the RTJ, Fazio and Arthur Hills courses.

 

dhargreaves@freepress.mb.ca