This is the first in an ongoing series of articles about golf homes in excellent golf communities currently on the market at specific price levels. If you are interested in more information about any of these homes or have your own price range in mind, please contact Larry Gavrich, founder and editor of Home On The Course, LLC, and I will be pleased to provide a selection of current homes for sale in some of the Southeast's finest golf communities.

Cobblestone Park
Blythewood, SC

5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 4,045 square feet
$399,900
Cobblestone Park, now dominated by national builder D.R. Horton, features a 27-hole golf course good enough to lure the University of South Carolina golf teams as their practice site. Located just off the Interstate, less than 20 minutes to capital city of Columbia. Positive: Large home priced at $100 per square foot and with views of golf course. Negative: Community had legacy of financial issues; D.R. Horton has stabilized things, but they are building smaller homes than earlier homes, and at lower price points.

Wachesaw Plantation
Murrells Inlet, SC

4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,700 square feet
$399,000
Wachesaw Plantation features a sporty Tom Fazio Low Country designed golf course that finishes along the Waccamaw River (part of the Intracoastal Waterway system). All-brick custom home sits on corner lot just over .56 acres in gated/guarded community. Positives: Inexpensive private club membership; short drive to shopping, hospital, beaches, famed Restaurant Row. Negatives: West of Highway 17 location makes it seem farther from ocean than it is.

The Landings at Skidaway Island
Savannah, GA

3 bedroom, 3 bathrooms, 3,319 square feet
$399,900
The Landings is one of the best-situated golf communities anywhere, totally secluded but within 20 minutes of downtown Savannah, one of the nation's most interesting cities. The community's six golf courses are impeccably maintained, despite much use by its adoring members. This home is beside hole #4 on the Plantation course and includes a bonus room and one-month old roof. Positives: Golf courses for every taste and skill level; close to major city with all possible services. Negative: 40 minutes to nearest beach at Tybee Island.

Brunswick Forest
Leland, NC

3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, 2,500 square feet
$399,999
Brunswick Forest is one of the most successful golf communities of the last two decades on the east coast, having skated through the recession of 2008 without any impact on the community. Prices are among the most reasonable anywhere, and the Tim Cate golf course is rated as one of the best to be built in the last 10 years. Positives: 10 minutes to Wilmington, NC; convenient services just outside the entrance to the community. Negatives: No gate, if you care about such things; about 25 minutes to the beach.

Glenmore
Keswick, VA

2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,555 square foot brick cottage
$399,900

Located in the rolling Virginia hills just east of Charlottesville, Glenmore is just a few miles from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and within easy distance of the University of Virginia, the university the third President built. John LaFoy's 18-hole-golf course is filled with Scottish influences. Positive: Proximity to Charlottesville and events at University of Virginia. Negatives: Real estate a bit pricey, but everything's relative.

Bayside Resort
Shelbyville, DE

4 bedrooms, 3 ½ bathrooms end-unit townhouse
$399,000

The Bayside Resort is a full service residential resort close to the beach at Ocean City, MD and sporting a well-regarded Jack Nicklaus Signature course, the first in the state. This home sits on a pond and is within a few yards of the Maryland state line. Positives: Access to beaches, proximity the northeast; community is owned by the active local Freeman family. Negative: You will share the golf course with non-residents.

Haig Point
Daufuskie Island, SC

3 bedrooms, 3½ bathroom cottage, 2,520 square feet
$389,000

For those who want the ultimate in serenity, quiet and zero pollution -- no cars allowed – Haig Point is the place, with a 27-hole Rees Jones Low Country layout that looks out across the Calibogue Sound to the lighthouse on Hilton Head Island. Because it is remote and serviced by ferry only, real estate prices are extremely reasonable. Positive: Looks great, smells great (no car pollution) and you are likely to have little competition for tee times. Negatives: The ferry is expensive to run continuously, and overall carrying costs reflect it; supermarket visits (on Hilton Head) require a bit of planning.

Venice Country Club
Venice, FL

4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,581 square feet
$399,500

Located just 20 minutes on the Interstate below Sarasota, Venice Country Club sits on Florida's famed Gulf Coast and offers plenty of house and property for the price, especially given its proximity to the area's famed beaches. Close to the convenience of downtown Venice and to the laid-back ambience of Venice Beach, this home is both spacious and practical and set on a nice lot overlooking a lake. Enjoy the view while basking in a pool with southeast exposure; step out of the pool and flip the burgers on the outdoor summer kitchen stove. Or flip a sand wedge out on the Ted McAnlis golf course.

        The sprawling community of Fairfield Glade, located on the Cumberland Plateau almost midway between Nashville and Knoxville, TN, has been on my list for a visit for some years now. On a drive from Memphis to our vacation home in Pawleys Island, SC, I couldn't avoid a stop, since the community is just a few miles off the major east/west Interstate 40. It was a short visit, just enough to take advantage of Stonehenge Golf Club professional Jeff Houston's kind invitation to play what most local golfers believe is the best of Fairfield Glades' five courses.
The biggest challenge at the par 3 14th hole at Stonehenge is club selection from 10 stories or so above the green.
Bent grass greens, a golfer's favorite
        A site of the state's Women's and Senior Opens, Stonehenge is both challenging and in fine condition as befits a tournament-ready layout. The greens were medium fast and smooth, with plenty of contours. (Stonehenge is far enough north to maintain bent grass greens, most every player's favorite putting surface.) One otherwise routine par 5 featured a long green that ran front left to rear right up a severe slope that I failed to get over after hitting the green in regulation. My second putt, still up the hill, was about 30 feet which I misread, leading to my first four-putt in 10 years. Indeed most of the challenge at the rather short layout – 6,549 yards from the tips – was around and on the greens.