Hilton Head Island, South Carolina is one of the top places to golf in the United States. According to Links magazine, it is among the top 10 island golf spots! We headed to Hilton Head for Christmas and decided to brave the cooler weather and play a couple rounds of golf. After researching the best courses, we decided to go with Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort. The Palmetto Dunes has three courses including the Robert Trent Jones Course, Arthur Hills Course, and the George Fazio Course.

Robert Trent Jones Course

The first course we decided to play was the Robert Trent Jones because it was named South Carolina’s Golf Course of the Year. It offers an inviting layout and a spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean. The course is great because it appeals to novices and experienced players.  Every hole had a different dynamic due to the ever changing wind off of the Atlantic Ocean.

Make sure you play a full 18 round of golf, because hole 10, which is a Par 5, has the most breathtaking view on any golf course that I have ever seen. The ocean is backed up to this hole and I felt like I could stand there for hours. It was a scene that you see on the Golf channel where the PGA Pro’s are playing, but instead it’s you!

My favorite feature that this course offered other than the actual greens were the golf carts with Visage GPS Mobile Golf System. It is as cool as it sounds! In each cart a screen is provided that includes GPS, electronic scorecard keeping, let’s you know how many yards you are from the pin, and other amazing features. The technology in this cart was impressive. If you drove on a part of the green that was off the beaten path, your golf cart would turn off and ask you to reverse and get back on the correct trail. I’ve never seen anything like it, and on top of the beautiful course, it was fun to get to drive the cart.

Along the trail there are restrooms, snack shops, beautiful homes, so you have everything you need while playing. If you need anything from the clubhouse, the GPS function on your golf cart will allow you to request something and a friendly staff member will bring it out to you!

We loved Robert Trent Jones so much and Palmetto Dunes, we decided to play another round at the Arthur Hills Course.

 Arthur Hills Course

Arthur Hills is an award winning course as well. It is nestled in the Lowcountry and allows players to focus on accuracy and precision over distance. Every hole is unique and offers different challenges. Arthur Hills is recognized as more of a mature course and one of the island’s best golf experiences.

Before we headed off to this more difficult course, the club allowed us to warm up at the driving range which was really nice of them! We needed to get our technique down even though we played the day before.

Due to the cold weather and rain we were one of the few crews that decided to brave playing and we are so glad that we did. The course had gorgeous trees that made us feel like we were in the jungle. There are so many hills that I felt like singing, “The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music.” The website did say “rolling dunes and water carriers make this course a shot maker’s favorite.” That is a solid statement for sure!  We had a blast on this course and would love to play here again and again.

George Fazio Course

The course known for the toughest final four holes in Hilton Head Island, is the only public par-70 golf course on the island. The course has beautiful tree lines with tight shots that focus on strategic positioning off the tee. The George Fazio course is another beautiful course that offers challenges for beginners and advanced golfers alike.

Palmetto Dunes Golf Features

• Full Service Clubhouse- From the moment you check in the staff is determined to take care of you. They checked us in quickly, grabbed our clubs from our car, provided a rental set for one of us, and met us at our golf cart. When we returned, they cleaned our clubs and loaded them back in the car while we spent some time shopping in the golf store. The store offers a great selection of apparel, golf shoes, clubs, and unique finds for Palmetto Dunes.
• New golf carts with Visage™ GPS Mobile Golf System- This was the most fun and impressive feature we have ever seen on any golf course!
• Golf Rental Options- One of our players didn’t want to fly with his clubs so we were able to rent a set. He fell in love with the TaylorMade rentals and we all thought it was nice for Palmetto to allow us to rent such a great set of clubs instead of a lower grade version.
• Big Jim’s BBQ, Burgers & Pizza restaurant
• Free Monday Golf Exhibition at 4:00 p.m. at RTJ
• Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary at RTJ
• Junior Tees at RTJ
• Custom Club Fitting by SwingFit
• New Golf Bikes available
• 10 Water Tees at Arthur Hills
• Diamond Zoyzia greens at George Fazio

Thank you to Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort for allowing us the opportunity to partner with them and play these amazing courses. We highly recommend that any time you visit Hilton Head Island, South Carolina you book a tee time for any of the three amazing courses that they have to offer! You will have an overwhelming amount of golf options, but I promise you that Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront is a sure thing for a fun and challenging experience. The views are breathtaking even a non-golfer can have a relaxing day taking in the houses on the course and driving the cart around the lush courses.

 

Addresses:

Robert Trent Jones Course,7 Trent Jones Lane, Hilton Head, SC 29928

Arthur Hills Golf Course at Palmetto Dunes, 2 Leamington Lane, Hilton Head, SC 29928

George Fazio Golf Course, 2 Carnoustie Road, Hilton Head Island, SC, 29928

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