Kiawah Island in Kiawah Island, S.C.
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As a part of GOLF’s rigorous scores course of for our newly launched High 100 Programs within the U.S. and High 100 Programs You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus professional panelists recognized the most effective golf programs in each state.
You may try the hyperlinks beneath to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll right down to see the most effective programs in South Carolina. And should you’re seeking to create your personal journey sooner or later, you’d be clever to let GOLF’s new Course Finder device help you. Right here, you possibly can toggle all of our lists — High 100 public, greatest munis, greatest brief programs, greatest par-3s and extra — or filter by worth to create the proper itinerary in your subsequent journey.
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The perfect golf programs in South Carolina (2024/2025)
SYMBOL GUIDE
# = High 100 Course within the U.S.
Y = High 100 You Can Play within the U.S.
V = High 100 Worth Course within the U.S.
P = Public/Resort
Ed. be aware: Some programs had been omitted from our rankings as a result of they didn’t obtain sufficient votes.
1. Kiawah Island – Ocean (Kiawah Island) [#, Y, P]
The mix of tidal marshes, scrub-topped dunes, reside oaks and the soothing sound of the Atlantic on each gap makes this one of many South’s most memorable taking part in experiences. Although the course simply turned 30 years outdated, it already has an illustrious historical past of internet hosting big-time occasions, none extra memorable than the drama-filled 1991 “Warfare by the Shore” Ryder Cup. Way more brief grass has been added across the inexperienced complexes since then, and now the design is extra thought-provoking reasonably than terror-inducing. A lot of its greens are plateaued, with a few of the extra pronounced approaching the third, eleventh and 14th holes. Phil Mickelson greater than dealt with the placing surfaces on his approach to his historic win on the 2021 PGA Championship.
2. Yeamans Corridor (Hanahan) [#]
Marrying basic Seth Raynor design with coastal South Carolina topography, Yeamans presents an enthralling tour of redan, biarritz and highway holes woven by means of marshland and luxurious reside oaks. A two-decade-long renovation primarily based on Raynor’s authentic property maps — found within the clubhouse attic — has returned this Golden Age masterpiece to its authentic brilliance. Jim Urbina oversaw a lot of the work that has seen the greens blown again out to their authentic measurement and each consequential bunker restored, even probably the most irritating ones, like these discovered within the 4th fairway. The greenside bunkers aren’t a lot deep because the inexperienced pads are tall, they usually create nervy moments akin to on the Cape tenth gap, the place lacking the inexperienced left or proper leaves a taxing restoration shot, though the outlet is performed over flat land. Although the general vibe at Yeamans is tranquil, a inexperienced pad just like the one constructed up on the Knoll 14th is as pugnacious because it will get. Onerous to fathom tackling the course with hickory golf equipment as they did again within the day!
3. Previous Barnwell (Aiken) [#]
Architects Brian Schneider and Blake Conant borrowed basic design rules and utilized them in a contemporary means on a sandy parcel of rolling land outdoors of Aiken. The firmness of the turf that superintendent Davis Verner routinely achieves (thanks, partly, to an absence of overseeding) permits the nuances of this design to glitter. Half-par holes abound. Are you able to attain the open however lengthy inexperienced on the par-5 opener? Do you have to attempt to drive the 2nd or 14th greens? (In the event you attempt to fail, the hunter shortly turns into the hunted as deep bunkers guard these two brief 4s.) Can you employ the mounds on the par-4 eighth to kick an method shut on the inverted L-shaped inexperienced? Or how about making an attempt to bounce one onto the rolling inexperienced on the 235-yard eleventh? In the meantime, the rust coloration of the centipede tough lends this open course a heathland-like really feel. Finishing the best is the membership’s ethos of giving again to the sport and the neighborhood, as established by Previous Barnwell founder Nick Schreiber.
4. Harbour City (Hilton Head Island) [#, Y, P]
Small greens. Comfortable fairways. Subtleties galore. Since 1969, the Dye-Nicklaus collaboration has been a breath of contemporary air as an annual cease on the PGA Tour, a break from the same-old bomb-and-gouge designs. Modest in yardage however lengthy in character, Harbour City calls for accuracy off the tee and dead-eye iron play to fairways and greens framed by stately pines and knobby reside oaks. Standout options embody the V-shaped inexperienced on the brief par-4 ninth, and the railroad ties across the thirteenth inexperienced, a Dye signature first impressed by the architect’s travels along with his spouse, Alice, to Scotland within the Sixties. The closing stretch from 13 on offers an particularly rousing finale, punctuated by the sight of the red-and-white striped lighthouse, looming behind the 18th inexperienced.
5. Palmetto GC (Aiken)
6. Congaree (Ridgeland)
7. Tree Farm (Batesburg)
8. Nation Membership of Charleston (Charleston)
9. Lengthy Cove (Hilton Head Island)
10. Sage Valley (Graniteville)
11. Secession (Beaufort)
12. Chechessee Creek (Okatie)
13. Palmetto Bluff – Might River (Bluffton) [Y, P]
This sleek design captures the attract of Lowcountry golf. Most of the options are glued to the bottom because the course meanders throughout the property. On some holes, like on the par-3 2nd, the wetland is effectively wanting the inexperienced; on others, akin to on the harmful brief par-4 seventh, the hazard is flush in opposition to the placing floor. On the par-5 fifteenth, a pair of Spectacle bunkers conceal the lengthy method to the inexperienced, creating a way of thriller. Holes 13 and 14 ooze appeal and embody the type of golf that you just wish to play day-after-day.
14. The Dunes (Myrtle Seashore) [Y, P]
Earlier than World Warfare II, Robert Trent Jones Sr. labored for the legendary Canadian architect, Stanley Thompson. Jones’ early solo works, particularly at Peachtree and right here on the Dunes, present an analogous design aptitude to that which made the Toronto Terror so well-known. The second 9 is anchored by the enduring par-5 thirteenth that sweeps across the lake. Certainly, many contemplate the second 9 one of many most interesting within the Palmetto State. However the first 9 is sort of pretty much as good, with the dogleg 2nd and 4th holes favoring excellent attracts off every tee, and the inexperienced on the one-shot ninth affording the most effective view of the Atlantic Ocean. For greater than 50 years, the Golf Writers Affiliation of America was good sufficient to convene right here the week earlier than the Masters.
15. Colleton River Membership – Pete Dye (Bluffton)
16. Quixote Membership (Sumter)
17. Bull’s Bay (Awendaw)
18. Kiawah Island – Cassique (Kiawah Island)
19. Previous Tabby Hyperlinks (Okatie)
20. Kiawah Island – River (Kiawah)
21. Caledonia (Pawleys Island) [Y, P]
Strantz’s wildly creative fashion — “You both adore it, otherwise you don’t perceive it but,” a shrewd observer as soon as famous — has attracted a cult-like following since his 2005 demise. Of his 9 authentic designs, Caledonia was his first; he adopted it quickly with a sister design at close by True Blue. Among the many basic Strantz touches listed below are an isthmus of fairway on the par-4 thirteenth and a “satan’s ***gap” bunker on the par-3 seventeenth, set in opposition to a Lowcountry backdrop of Spanish Moss and meandering swamps. Strantz’s designs are filled with strategic genius and sophisticated visuals. Caledonia isn’t any exception.
22. Camden Nation Membership (Camden)
23. Greenville CC – Chanticleer (Greenville)
24. Colleton River Membership – Nicklaus (Bluffton)
25. Musgrove Mill (Clinton)
How we rank our programs
For our newly launched High 100 U.S. and High 100 You Can Play lists — a course of that helped us create 50 best-in-state rankings — every panelist was offered a poll that consisted of 609 programs. Beside the checklist of programs had been 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists thought-about a course to be among the many high three within the U.S., they ticked that first column. In the event that they believed the course to be amongst Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, adopted by 11-25, 26-50, and so forth out to 250+ and even a column for “take away.” Panelists had been additionally free to write down in programs that they felt ought to have been included on the poll.
Factors had been assigned to every bucket; to reach at a mean rating for every course, we divide its combination rating by the variety of votes. From these level tallies, the programs are then ranked accordingly. It’s an deliberately easy and easy course of. Why? As a result of it traditionally has produced outcomes which are extensively lauded. Like the sport itself, there’s no have to unnecessarily complicate issues or attempt to repair one thing that already works so effectively.
The important thing to the method is the expertise and experience of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all of the worldwide golf meccas, every of our 127 handpicked panelists has a eager eye for structure, each regionally and globally. A lot of our panelists have performed greater than 1,000 programs in 20-plus nations, some over 2,000. Their handicaps vary from +5 to fifteen.
As a result of the character in fact score is so intensely subjective, nobody opinion carries the day. The one means, then, to construct significant consensus is to include this range of panelists and experiences into one rating.
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