Affordable option to play 3 great courses…
The Sea Island Club has long held the reputation as one of America’s finest resorts, with its three world class golf courses and renowned Learning Center placing it among the country’s best golf destinations.
The luxury accommodations afforded at The Cloister, which is located on Sea Island, and the newer Lodge, which adjoins the clubhouse on St. Simons Island and overlooks both the Atlantic Ocean and the back nine of the Plantation Course, are among the most highly regarded anywhere.
But the commensurate cost of lodging is out of the price range for many individuals who would dearly love to get a taste of the club’s unique golfing experience, which includes the famed Seaside Course, the home of the PGA Tour McGladrey Classic.
Beginning in early 2014, visitors to St. Simons and Sea Island will no longer have to stay at either The Cloister or The Lodge to have access to Sea Island Club’s three splendid courses.
The Inn at Sea Island is scheduled to open in early February, and will provide a more affordable option to The Cloister and The Lodge, while retaining the quality and welcoming atmosphere associated with the Sea Island Club.
Rates will begin at $169 per night, and will include access to all three of the club’s resort courses – Seaside, Plantation and Retreat – as well as other amenities offered by the club.
The Inn is located near the intersection of Sea Island Rd. and Frederica Rd., just a short drive from Sea Island Golf Club and approximately equidistant from both The Lodge and The Cloister.
The building originally was the site of the club’s administrative offices, but is being converted into an 85-room inn with the rooms averaging 400 square feet. The Inn will feature a workout room, an interior courtyard and swimming pool, indoor and outdoor social areas with a fire pit for cookouts, and an on-site evening bar.
The Inn is located within walking distance of an area that includes shops and restaurants, with shuttle service available to the golf courses, The Lodge and The Cloister.
Complimentary breakfast will be provided, with the rooms also offering high speed internet service.
In addition to golf, staying at The Inn will also afford its guests access to the other club amenities, among them hunting, fishing and water activities.
But golf will be the primary attraction, with Sea Island Golf Club offering three distinct courses that display all the appeal and the challenge of seaside golf.
As the home course of the McGladrey Classic, the aptly named Seaside Course is the most prominent of Sea Island Golf Club’s splendid trio, thanks largely to its setting along the tip of St. Simons and the natural beauty of the surrounding marshes and dunes along with some wonderful ocean views.
Seaside includes nine holes from the club’s original 18 that opened in the late 1920s, along with Joe Lee’s Marshside nine, which was added in 1973. Tom Fazio merged the two nines in 1999, and the result has produced a layout that is included in just about every ranking of the top courses in the U.S.
The natural beauty of Seaside is striking, but if you hit it a little too far off line, the visual appeal of the marshes, dunes and tidal creeks will not make for an appealing scorecard.
Seaside is a reasonably generous course off the tee, but the occasionally encroaching marsh and a fairway bunker or two on every driving hole will draw your attention. There are very few forced carries of substance, although a tidal creek just off the left edge of the 16th fairway results in lots of tee shots ending up in the dune or native grasses well to the right.
Among the most interesting features of Fazio’s renovation are the greens complexes. Many of the putting surfaces are bordered by shaved run-offs which provide several short game options
“People love the concept,” Sea Island GC Director of Golf Brannen Veal says. “You don’t have to take your sixty degree down there every time. You can putt it, take a hybrid or three-wood or play bump and run.”
Seaside’s typically sizeable greens are modestly bunkered, with Fazio leaving most approach angles open. However, the bunkers are mostly large and deep, and will produce some serious challenges if you leave yourself too much sand to carry to a pin position in close proximity.
The medium-to-large Bermuda greens putt beautifully, with most of their relatively modest movement resulting from shoulders along the edges.
With just two par fives, Seaside plays to a par of 70, with the yardage ranging from just over 7,000 yards from the tournament tees to 6,657 from the blues, 6,323 from the green tees and 5,980 from the whites. There are also shorter tees for seniors and women.
Seaside is rated at 72.6/139 from the blues, 71.1/135 from the green tees and 69.4/132 from the whites. Wind direction will typically determine how long the course plays, but at sea level with the wind against you, the par 4s can be more of a test than their mostly modest yardages.
The 18th is the longest and strongest of the 4s, especially if you don’t hit it straight and relatively long off the tee, with the short-ish but well-bunkered eighth the closest thing to a soft touch among the dozen two-shotters.
Both par 5s have some length, with water in play on the first two shots at the seventh and near the green on the 15th and the dunes a factor on both.
All four par 3s face in different directions, with none of them particularly penal. Holes 3 and 12 have some distance, with the 12th the only member of the group without a prominent front bunker.
Plantation consists of the original nine holes designed for Sea Island Golf Club in the late 1920s, along with Dick Wilson’s Retreat nine from 1960. Rees Jones combined the two in the late 1990s, with the renovated course widely described as a parkland-style layout in a seaside setting.
Unlike Seaside, much of Plantation’s layout is tree-lined, with hazards more prominently in play on Plantation, especially on the par 3s and par 5s. While most of the course turns away from the ocean, the 10th tee is located just a few steps from the Atlantic. With the ocean on one side and The Lodge on the other, it makes for one of the most splendid spots on the entire property.
Plantation plays to a par of 72 and also tops out at a little over 7,000 yards. The blue tees are 6,687 (73.1/135), the green tees are 6,326 (71.4/131) and the whites 6,037 (70.0/128), with shorter tees for seniors and women.
With an exception on two, Plantation features reasonably ample landing areas, but there are some strategically placed bunkers along with the occasional island tree that will come into play of you stray just a bit.
For the most part, the greens complexes on Plantation are on the small side, and more zealously protected by sand and water than those on Seaside. Three of the par 3s require carries over water, but length is not a concern on two of them, with the third (No. 11) offering plenty of bailout room.
Water is also in play on three par 5s, with the greens at 8 and 18 perched perilously close to lakes which impact play on about half the holes. Plantation’s par 5s are on the short side, but the risk/reward nature of the 8th and 18th can quickly transform a potential birdie into a less rewarding score.
Holes 9 and 10 are the only par 4s with much in the way of length, with the short 17th part of an interesting stretch of finishing holes that mix scoring opportunities and looming trouble.
“With the forced carries, Plantation can be a little more difficult,” Veal says. “But you’ve also got some great views of the ocean on almost the whole back nine.”
Retreat, which is located across the street from Seaside and Plantation, was extensively re-designed by Davis Love and his brother Mark in 2000, with the course lengthened and widened from Joe Lee’s original Island Club design. The tree-lined course can be stretched to over 7,100 yards, with one of the biggest changes found on the putting surfaces, which have considerably more movement than Retreat’s sister courses.
Veal describes Retreat as having “more of a Pinehurst feel. It’s more of a residential course, but it still has wide expanses of fairway.
“You’ve got a different feel on all three courses. What surprises people about Retreat is that it’s probably the most friendly of the three. You don’t have any forced carries and not a ton of hazards, and it’s got bigger greens and more undulation.”
Much of the danger on Retreat is found on its finishing trio of holes – the short par-3 16th, long and demanding par-5 17th and water-lined par-4 18th. The front nine also sports an intriguing trio of holes beginning at the sixth, a relatively short par 4 with water all the way down the right side and a huge, wildly undulating green.
The seventh is a lengthy par 3 through the trees with sand left and water right, with the narrow par-5 eighth featuring water left and trees tight to the right.
Veal expects he and his staff will be busier once The Inn opens, but with three courses available, Sea Island GC can handle the increase in play.
“We’re getting prepared,” Veal says. “We want to get the people here and for them to have a great time. This will offer them a different entry level for access to golf.”
Guests staying at The Inn will also have access to Sea Island’s acclaimed Golf Learning Center, as well as the Men’s Locker Room, where you will be treated to a truly memorable experience.
The dining options at both The Cloister and The Lodge are absolutely first rate, with lunch in the Men’s Locker Room providing a wonderful taste of what’s to come.
For information on The Inn at Sea Island, call 866-369-0786.