South Carolina
Great Golf, Spectacular Settings
With more than 360 golf courses ranging from oceanfront to mountaintop and year-round play, it should come as no surprise that South Carolina is the country’s top golf vacation destination. Not only are there plenty of spectacular settings to play in the state where golf in America began, but also South Carolina is home to some of the country’s top-ranked golf courses by the world’s most respected course architects. You can play the very best, including the venues where the pros play.
The dramatic 1991 Ryder Cup etched the Ocean Course at Kiawah in the consciousness of nearly every golfer. (Yes, you can play this public course.) But, perhaps no setting is more recognizable than Harbour Town Golf Links in the resort destination of Hilton Head Island. Each year, the postcard-perfect beauty of this nationally ranked public course, punctuated by the iconic red-and-white striped lighthouse rising behind the 18th green, is broadcast nationwide during the PGA Tour’s Verizon Heritage Tournament.
Hilton Head’s legacy as a golf destination began when sportswriters,covering the first Heritage in 1969, gushed about the great golf that was available. As Hilton Head developed into one of the world’s top resort destinations, its golf legacy only grew bigger as more and more courses were added. On an island just 12 miles long and five miles wide, there are 24 courses and scores of memorable holes.
What sets Hilton Head apart as a golf destination isn’t just the quality of the golf. Ringed by white-sand beaches and protected by unique land-use covenants, the island has preserved and protected its natural beauty. But, as the Tour pros who return here year after year with their families will tell you, this is a destination that embraces family vacations and family golf. Junior tees and junior programs abound, as well as numerous instructional programs for women. With plenty of multi-round packages and time-of-day specials, this is a place for the whole family to golf. That is, when they are not enjoying the beaches, tennis, miles of biking trails, restaurants and boating that make Hilton Head the complete golf and vacation experience.
Hilton Head Golf Week:
Special rates encourage play
If you love golf and perfect golf weather, the two come together in a big way the first week of March during the inaugural Hilton Head Golf Week. Modeled after the wildly successful Restaurant Week held annually in big cities like New York and Los Angeles (and Hilton Head, too), the weeklong, island-wide golf celebration is intended to encourage visitors and locals to get out and play old favorites and discover new ones.
Hilton Head Golf Week will be held Sunday, February 29 through Saturday, March 6, when daytime temperatures on the island average in the mid to high 60s. In addition to special Golf Week rates and packages at the local golf courses, free golf clinics, celebrity golf guests, demo days, family “get out and play” days and fashion shows are scheduled.
“This week is all about golf and celebrating its rich tradition on Hilton Head,” said Charlie Clark of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber, which is organizing the event. “Not only will it be fun for the whole family, but give everyone the chance to play our world-class courses.”
With the Verizon Heritage beginning little more than a month later, Golf Week will also be a celebration of all that the PGA tournament means to Hilton Head. A portion of the proceeds from the week will benefit the Heritage Classic Foundation, which has donated close to $18.5 million to local charities since 1986. Hilton Head’s first ever Golf Week will culminate in a “Mad for the Plaid” event to pay tribute to the tournament. Hilton Head Golf Week’s schedule of events and list of participating courses can be found online at HiltonHeadGolfWeek.com.
The PGA Tour’s Hilton Head Stop
The PGA Tour’s most intimate setting and South Carolina’s only Tour event, the Verizon Heritage tees off for the 42nd year April 12–18 at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island’s Sea Pines Resort.
More neighborhood party than sporting event, the Verizon Heritage acts as the season opener for locals who have made attending a rite of spring for decades. Everyone seems to know each other here and is bent on ensuring you enjoy yourself as much as they do. The welcoming spirit of Southern hospitality runs through the entire tournament, making this a terrific place to bring the whole family.
The course’s tight layout and more limited crowds allow you to get close to the action. Following a group for all 18 holes will take you under canopies of moss-draped live oaks all the way to the dramatic finishing holes along Calibogue Sound. Or put a chair where the 1st, 9th and 10th holes converge and watch the entire field.
Arnold Palmer won the inaugural tournament in 1969, lending it instant status. Some of golf’s greats, including Jack Nicklaus (who helped Pete Dye design the course), Nick Faldo, Greg Norman and the late Payne Stewart followed in the years to come.
“We are the biggest sporting event in South Carolina,” says tournament director Steve Wilmot. “Because we are a destination tournament, the economic impact is significant. Sponsors and spectators stay in our hotels and villas, eat at our restaurants, and play the other area golf courses while taking in a PGA Tour event.”
Nationally ranked Harbour Town is a “must play” for most golfers, and there is no better way to experience it than at the tournament’s Pro-Am. Each playing spot gives you the chance to play with a Tour pro, plus weeklong tournament badges and two additional rounds of golf inside the Sea Pines Resort.
For tickets to the Verizon Heritage or to the Pro-Am (April 14), visit VerizonHeritage.com or call (843) 671–2448.
