They may be separated by a three-hour car drive, but golf courses on the ocean and in the Sandhills region (Pinehurst) are closer than you think. That’s because 20 million years ago, during the Miocene Epoch, Pinehurst was actually buffeted by ocean waves; that explains the sandy soil that lies beneath and atop, in the form of bunkering, all the golf courses in the area.
        Golf course developers made the most of the terrain, pine forests and soil composition in Pinehurst and Southern Pines, and their efforts have been rewarded with a golf destination among the most popular and highest quality in America. In this year’s “best courses you can play” golf club rankings by the North Carolina Golf Rating Panel, the top five courses in the state are all in Pinehurst and Southern Pines, and the 7th rated club, The National, was acquired by the Pinehurst Resort a few years ago and is now designated as Pinehurst #9. Pinehurst #2 was the top vote getter on the “courses you can play list” and among all courses in the state, public and private.
        Some holes at Scotch Hall Preserve are brawny in keeping with the Arnold Palmer design shop's style.
        Unless you are a Pinehurst member, you will need to stay at the resort in order to play the Pinehurst courses, although in some cases, you can call within five days and there might be an opening. (See the end of this article for some notes about membership in all the Pinehurst courses.) The price tag for green fees depends on the course you choose; Pinehurst #2, the famous Donald Ross layout redone by Coore & Crenshaw before the last U.S. Open there, will set you back more than $300, but no serious golfer complains. Pine Needles Lodge & Golf is #2 in the public-access rankings ($125 to $145 green fees in summer) with Pinehurst #8 in the third spot. Coincidentally, Pinehurst #4 is #4 in the state rankings with the Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines ($125 - $145) holding down the fifth spot. Like Pine Needles, Mid Pines was designed by the famous architect Donald Ross. Dormie Club, the Coore & Crenshaw modern classic in West End, NC, is immediately north of the Pinehurst and Southern Pines area and rounds out the top 10. Linville Country Club in Linville is the other top 10 course at #6, the only mountain course to make the top 10 on the best you can play list.
The par 5 10th hole at Pine Needles is vintage Donald Ross, with a pick your poison choice of skirting the bunkers on the left off the tee or playing with the pines on the right.
        A fair number of golf community courses make the public-accessible list, including numbers 11 through 14. At #11 is the Bald Head Island Club, a course reached only by ferry unless you are lucky enough to have access to a helicopter. Surrounded by water, beaches and multi-family beach houses, Bald Head’s layout offers plenty for the eyes to feast on during a pleasant ride on the links-style course. (Green fees $125) Cat scratch fever got to the panel judges as they ranked Leopard’s Chase #12 ($128 peak rate green fee) and Tiger’s Eye #14. ($118 peak rate) All five courses at Ocean Ridge are named for jungle cats.
        Scotch Hall Preserve, ranked #13, may be a bit off the beaten track in Merry Hill but it received a strong nod from the panel. With intentions to be a private club when first developed a decade ago, the course now gratefully accepts daily fee players interested in a sparkling layout that bumps up against the wide Albemarle Sound, as well as the reasonable green fee rate of $40 weekdays, $50 on the weekend. The Currituck Club in Corolla, at #20 on the list, anchors the northern string of golf clubs on the Outer Banks and offers comfortable summer homes for sale or rent, and great long-range views of the ocean. ($95 if you are renting a unit from a member; otherwise green fees up to $165)
        For the full rankings, see the North Carolina Golf Rating Panel web site.
Kilmarlic Golf Club, just outside the Outer Banks, made the top 25 in the North Carolina rankings. Photo courtesy Kilmarlic Golf Club.
        As for membership in all those top rated Pinehurst clubs, a Pinehurst membership is one of the best bargains in golf for the serious golfer not on a strict budget. You can choose from a variety of membership options based on the number of courses you choose to play regularly, but the most elaborate option is what Pinehurst calls No. 7/No. 9 because it includes those golf courses in addition to Numbers 1 through 6 (number 8 is available to members on a seasonal basis). Initiation fee for the big membership is $45,000 with monthly dues of $477 per month, quite reasonable for that number of golf courses. The other golf membership plans start at $25,000, with comparably lower dues. Keep in mind that you will be sharing your golf courses with traveling golfers. But the atmosphere in Pinehurst tends toward quiet sophistication, and the environment is somewhat infectious, meaning you won’t be sharing space with Joe Six Pack.
        If you would like any additional information on the golf community courses that made the grade on both the South Carolina and North Carolina “best of” lists, please contact me.

        This is the time of year that the North Carolina and South Carolina Golf Ratings Panels count up the votes of their members and publish the lists of the best courses in their respective states. This year, the North Carolina panel published both the top overall 100 courses and the Top 50 Courses You Can Play (that is, accessible to the public). The South Carolina panel published its top 31 courses you can play. (A tie caused the odd number.)
        Since the best golf community courses tend to be private, this year’s South Carolina list of accessible courses features only semi-private courses; these clubs provide memberships but also are open to the public on a daily fee basis. The South Carolina rankings are broken down by region, with one course anointed tops in each region.
        In the Upstate Region, two college-affiliated courses take top honors, The Furman Golf Club in Greenville, and The Walker Course at Clemson University in the town of the same name. In a way, these golf courses reflect their locations: Furman is more a classic layout near an established, popular and sophisticated city; and The Walker Course is a more modern and youthful design in a smaller town dominated by a big university.
Outside the clubhouse at the Furman University Golf Club.
        Apparently, there wasn’t much to choose in the Midlands Region given only two clubs made the top 31, and one of them, Mount Vintage Plantation, was in receivership the last two years. (I am reaching out to local contacts to get an update on the community and its golf course.) The other, Orangeburg Country Club, is a classic layout with a long and challenging finishing hole, one of the best in the state. Expect a wonderful day on the course if you visit, as well as an enthusiastic, friendly and helpful group of staff members.
        Kiawah Island, of course, is famous for Pete Dye’s masterpiece, the Ocean Course. It is rated the top layout in the Low Country/Charleston area. Three other clubs on Kiawah -– Turtle Point, Cougar Point and Osprey Point –- also made the Charleston area list, although you will have to wait until October to play Gary Player’s Cougar Point, which is undergoing renovations. Just south of Kiawah, the Crooked Oaks and Ocean Winds courses at Seabrook Island both made the list, although you must rent a home from a Seabrook member in order to gain access to the private courses. Tom Fazio’s first solo layout, the Links Course at Wild Dunes on the Isle of Palms, was the other course to make the Charleston area list. It is notable for its finishing holes on the Atlantic Ocean.
The finishing holes at Wild Dunes on the Isle of Palms provide plenty of great views as well as wind gusts.
        The Low Country Region designation is also applied to the area near Hilton Head where Harbour Town Links at Sea Pines rules the roost. The Heritage Invitational on the PGA Tour made a stop at the course last weekend and it looked as fine as I remember it a few years ago. The totally redone Sea Pines Heron Point course, a Pete Dye layout, also made the list, as did the three courses at Palmetto Dunes Resort on Hilton Head. Notably, the only off-island course included on the Hilton Head area list was May River Golf Club at Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, one of Jack Nicklaus’ finest layouts and a top five course in the entire state. It is expensive -- $215 in summer, more in the peak seasons, and caddies or forecaddies with cart are mandatory –- but it is worth saving up for.
        Not surprisingly, the region with the most entries on the rankings list is the Grand Strand, the area that stretches from Brunswick County in North Carolina 90 miles southward to Georgetown, SC. The late Mike Strantz’ masterpiece, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, tops the regional list, but the other notables are almost as strong and include Caledonia’s sister course, True Blue, and the other Pawleys Island entries of Heritage Golf Club, Pawleys Plantation and TPC Myrtle Beach, located in Murrells Inlet.  Farther north, the Grande Dunes Resort Course beside the Intracoastal Waterway, Prestwick Country Club, Robert Trent Jones’ Dunes Golf and Beach Club and Pine Lakes International, the oldest course in Myrtle Beach (circa 1927), provide loads of options for those staying in the most active part of the Strand. Close to the border with North Carolina, Tidewater Golf Club and Plantation doesn’t have the well-known designer label (Ken Tomlinson) but golf raters and vacationers alike know it to be one of the best of the 100 courses in the area.
        For the South Carolina Golf Panel rankings, click here.  If you are interested in more information on homes beside or nearby any of these top-rated country clubs, pleae contact me.
Next:  The Top Golf Courses in North Carolina

The finishing hole at Duke University golf club, framed by the Washington Duke Inn.