I've spent the better part of the last two years visiting nearly 80 golf course communities and a handful of private clubs not directly affiliated with any housing development.  To remain as objective as possible, I don't do too much research on a course before I play it; in most cases, I'll simply click on the "directions" tab at the course's web site so I know where I am going.  I prefer not to be swayed by a course or community with a fancy yardage book and lucious photos posted on line compared with those courses that have little, if any, presence on the Web.  On the other hand, it is difficult to avoid the name of the course architects since the communities put those names front and center.  That builds a certain expectation if the name is well known.
    In the coming weeks, I'll share some of the highlights, and maybe a few lowlights, of the last 22 months on the golf community beat.  For a thorough examination of golf course communities in the areas of major southern cities, as well as more remote locations, I invite you to subscribe to the HomeOnTheCourse community guide.  It is the only place you will find objective, unbiased reviews of golf course communities, stripped of all the marketing hype.  At just $39 a year for six jam-packed issues, it might just be the best real estate investment you ever make.

The 3rd at Colonial Heritage is short and treacherous.  Many of the fairways at the Arthur Hills course are perched above ravines. 

Excellence by Design: Arthur Hills layouts surprise

    River Islands Golf Club was a revelation when I played it late last year.  Located in Kodak, TN, just 10 minutes from I-40 and about 45 minutes from Knoxville, I stopped there basically because it was on my route to Knoxville and I would not have had time to play closer to the city.  River Islands was also dirt cheap to play, about $50 as I recall; the adjacent community was just starting up and only three or four homes had been built.  I'm glad I stopped, as it gave me my first real taste of an Arthur Hills layout.  Over the last two years, his designs have been the most consistently enjoyable of all I've played, and the most challenging.
    River Islands played along and occasionally over the French Broad River; a few of the holes are actually on an island in the river, thus the course's name.  The only earth Hills pushed was around the greens, where he created swales and mounds that, on some occasions, hid the bottoms of the flagsticks from fairway views.  He built some nasty pot bunkers into some of the mounds.  I noticed similar qualities at his terrific design for the Palmetto Course at The Landings near Savannah.  There he worked with marsh instead of a river, but the effect was similar - good to excellent shots rewarded, but fair or worse shots penalized around the modest-sized, well protected greens.
    Maybe because he is getting on in years and wants golfers and developers to know he still has the fire, Hills shows a bit of a mean streak at the less than year old Colonial Heritage, just north of Williamsburg, VA, where, inside a community restricted to those 55 and older, he's built a course for young studs.  Water is in short supply on the Colonial Heritage course, replaced by ravines every bit as treacherous.  Some fairways tilt toward the hazards, and even the short par 4s are scary propositions (see photo).  One par 3 had the narrowest entryway I've played.  I loved the course, in a masochistic sort of way.
    Only one Hills layout, at Dunes West, north of Charleston, SC, seemed to have been dumbed down for resort players.  Fairways were wide open and the greens were large and receptive.  Few mediocre shots - and I hit plenty of them when I played a few weeks ago - were penalized.  I preferred his other Charleston area course, at Coosaw Creek Golf Club near the airport, for its more thought-provoking shots from tees and rolling fairways.    

    All in all, though, the Arthur Hills courses I've played in the last two years have been a pleasant surprise, and I encourage you to visit his firm's web site -- http://www.arthurhills.com/courses.aspx -- where he lists the courses he has designed and indicates which are public and which private.

Hills likes to challenge the more accomplished players with forced carries that require both distance and placement in order to have the best possible approach to the green.  At his Palmetto Course at The Landings, many carries are over marsh.

The 5th at River Islands in Kodak, TN, plays across the French Broad River, which comes into play on five holes at the Arthur Hills designed daily fee course. 

The developers of Pawleys Plantation provided Jack Nicklaus with a place to stay and a beautiful view while he supervised construction of the golf course in 1988. 

The House for Jack Built

    No, that's not a typo in the heading.  Someone really built a house for Jack Nicklaus nearly 20 years ago.  Jack had laid out the new course at Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC, and preferred to be on site for a large part of the construction time.  That was before his design firm had become the explosive success it is today, with his corporate jet burning as much fuel as the air force of a small nation as he wings his way among projects on every continent.  
    But back in the day, Jack had the time and inclination to mother hen his projects, and Pawleys was one of his signature (and Signature^TM) designs, a beautiful tract of rice plantation property with a dike running across the marsh.  Nicklaus incorporated the dike into his design, putting the tee boxes there for the par 3 13th and 17th holes, with forced carries over the scenic marsh.  
    The developers of Pawleys moved him into a home they built overlooking the 14th fairway, with beautiful views across a salt marsh and out to the island just ¾ of a mile beyond.  But as we play the 14th, as we have done numerous times, we note that the perfect view from the deck of the Nicklaus house includes not only the marsh, but a lone tree smack in the middle of the fairway, well within range of well-struck tee shots on the par 5.  Stripe one down the middle and you risk the tree blocking your way toward the green on the otherwise reachable green (for the big hitters).  Worse, you may have to punch one left of the tree (more trees are over there) or right (the marsh runs along the entire right side to the green). We recall a tree in the middle of the 18th at Melrose on Daufuskie Island and at other Nicklaus courses we have played. This is a Nicklaus signature, some might say affectation, to put a tree directly in play and force the brain to work hard on the tee box.  
    On the 14th at Pawleys, you have plenty of room right of the tree, but your approach will have to come entirely over marsh from there.  Left of the tree is gnarly Bermuda rough that will make it impossible to reach the green in two.  We can imagine Jack sitting on the deck of that fine house in 1988, libation in hand, smiling at the pain of it all.
    Footnote:  The house Jack lived in for less than a year has been re-sold a few times since.  Four years ago, it was available for about $700,000 and needed some cosmetic work.  Based on neighborhood prices, if it were on the market today, it might fetch close to $900,000.  One benefit is that after the last golfers come past in the evening, you can go out and practice shots around and through Jack's tree.

The Nicklaus tree at mid-fairway at Pawleys Plantatio's par 5 14th hole will penalize some well hit tee shots (this view is looking back up the fairway toward the tee box and the island beyond).  The marsh on the left runs all the way to the green.