Chasing the Little White Ball

If you like to commune with nature by slapping a little white ball around a manicured lawn, dodging hazards like sand traps, lagoons, alligators, and tidal marsh then come see us at Seabrook Island!  The Seabrook Island Club offers two championship golf courses that offer a great challenge to golfers of all levels.  I am a lady golfer and I get really tired of going to courses where the lady tees are an after thought.  You wait for the manly men to blast it away and then when you get up to the ladies tee it's a slanted, tiny postage stamp sized area that is so far to the right you would have to hit a banana slice to get around the trees and be back in the fairway.  Thankfully at Seabrook Island the tee boxes are thoughtfully laid out to give all golfers a fair chance at a decent tee shot. After that, you're on your own!

Ocean Winds opened to play in 1975.  Willard Byrd designed this 18 hole track that plays 6805 yards from the tips.  With a slope rating of 138 this course has all the challenge you want!  It's a beautiful layout, winding through a maritime forest steeped in nature.  The course heads out to the Atlantic ocean and comes back in along the tidal marsh.  The course was renovated in 2004 when the Club installed Champion Ultra Dwarf Bermuda grass greens.  

Once I had a great golf outing in North Carolina and I sort of let it go to my head.  I thought, "yeah I've figured this game out.  What is everybody whining about?"  Then I returned home to Seabrook Island.  I went out and after just a few holes on Ocean Winds, I threw my bag down in the fairway, sat on it, and began to cry.  Ahh, my first truly humbling memory of learning the game.....and know this.....we are always learning no matter what level of play we attain.  I am lucky because I can't think of a better place to learn the game! 

Our second course is Crooked Oaks and yes they are!  Crooked Oaks golf course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr.  It plays to just under 6800 yards from the championship tees with a slope rating of 139.  The live oak trees are draped in spanish moss, lining the perfectly manicured fairways. 

Did you know that Seabrook Island's golf courses are a certified member of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf?  It's an awesome accolate that comes with a good bit of environmental responsibility.  The golf maintenance crew has to work really hard to maintain the pristine condition for golfers while maintaining a healthy, welcoming environment for the abundant wildlife that makes its home here. 

There's a slight breeze out this morning, "just enough to keep the bugs away" as Henry Picard the great Masters and PGA champion would say.  I think it's time to dust off the cleats and go beat some range balls.  Maybe I'll see you at the 19th hole!