Virginia Golfer Mar / Apr 2018 | Page 36

Kiawah Island Resort’s ocean course boasts more oceanside holes than any other track in the northern hemisphere. Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Gary Player and Clyde Johnston walk into the best 19th hole in South Carolina… Actually, it’s not the beginning of a joke; those five men are responsible for the designs at Kiawah Island Resort, led by the famous Ocean Course—the home of the 2012 and 2021 PGA Champion- ships. Dye’s course boasts that it has more oceanside holes than any other track in the northern hemisphere (10 along the Atlantic Ocean). That’s enough for most golfers, but the embarrassment of riches for the resort doesn’t stop there. There’s also Nicklaus’ Turtle Point, Fazio’s Osprey Point, Play- er’s Cougar Points and Johnston’s Oak Point. All but the last one were recognized in the aforementioned South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel 2017 rankings. And to top it all off, that same panel rated the Ryder Cup Bar at the Ocean Course as the top post-round option in the state. WILD DUNES RESORT destinationhotels.com/wild-dunes Maybe no designer can lay claim to the top design up and down the South Carolina coastline quite like Fazio. From Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head, many of the top- notch playing options in this golf-rich zone were products of his architectural genius. At Wild Dunes, he did it not just once, but twice. The slightly older Links Course was honored by the South Carolina Ratings Panel in 2017, and the Harbor Course, opened six years later in 1985, has found itself on similar lists in the past. KIAWAH ISLAND GOLF RESORT kiawahresort.com ABOVE: Wild Dunes Resort offers 36 holes of top-tier golf on Tom Fazio-designed courses. RIGHT: Seabrook Island Golf Club is split between the Crooked Oaks and Ocean Winds courses. 34 V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 1 8 vsga.org