Delmarva Peninsula & Bay Creek Golf Resort

        The Delmarva Peninsula, an amalgam of the names and abbreviations of the states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia (VA), does not have the cachet for golf of Pinehurst, Kiawah Island or Myrtle Beach, but what it lacks in name recognition it more than makes up for in proximity to the northeastern states -– and outstanding golf courses (92 courses in total for an area about the size of Connecticut).  Those willing to leave the New York area, say, at sunrise, can be on the first tee at a Jack Nicklaus, Pete Dye, Arthur Hills, Arnold Palmer or Gary Player golf course before noon.  You could probably make an early afternoon tee time later that day in Myrtle Beach, but it will take a non-stop plane flight from New York, the risk of lost baggage, the hassles of renting a car and who knows what surprises the airlines may spring along the way.  On the other hand, even if you are driving to Myrtle Beach, golf and a night on the Delmarva is a great trip refresher along the way (the seafood is darn good too).

         You might be inclined to stay right there on the Delmarva because besides the outstanding, and reasonably priced, daily fee golf courses like Baywood Greens (gorgeous floral arrangements on the 27-hole course designed by Brian Ault), Bear Trap Dunes (27 holes by Rick Jacobson, a Nicklaus protégé) and Links at Lighthouse Sound (Arthur Hills), a select number of golf communities dot the peninsula.  The Gulfstream extends to the Chesapeake Bay and can have a warming effect even during winter.  Although you won’t be swimming in the ocean off Rehoboth Beach in January, you will likely be playing golf then, as most area courses remain open year round (as I write this, the expected high in Cape Charles, VA, today is 53; in Myrtle Beach it will reach just 57).

         Among my favorite communities on the Delmarva is Bay Creek Golf Resort, which my wife and I discovered during our son’s college golf conference tournament last year.  As we followed the college golfers around the fine and challenging 18 holes by Arnold Palmer, and later when I played the even testier Jack Nicklaus 18, I was surprised that Bay Creek did not have better name recognition in places like New England, just a half-day’s drive away.  (This was the first golf community in which Palmer and Nicklaus contributed a layout.)  Folks from the middle-Atlantic states, however, are well aware of Bay Creek, and even in the teeth of the recession, the courses are getting frequent play.

        “Our rounds were up a staggering 16% over 2009,” Director of Golf Operations Mark Wesolek wrote me, “and our revenues [ended] the year up as well.  So, I guess the conclusion that can be reached is that our marketing efforts are attracting golfers, and the experience we are offering is retaining them.”  [Full disclosure note:  Bay Creek has advertised in New England Golf Monthly, which publishes a monthly column about golf real estate written by yours truly.]

        The Bay Creek “experience” starts with the golf courses.  Nicklaus took full advantage of the inland extension of the Chesapeake Bay to develop a few holes that could have been swiped from a linksland course in Scotland.  Palmer’s layout, which must be played a few times to appreciate (and to learn to negotiate a few blind tee shots), uses the bay as a curtain behind some of the holes.  Bay Creek offers plenty of real estate options, with prices that reflect its location 20 miles from “civilization” (Norfolk), although nearby Cape Charles is a cute waterfront town.  A section of the Bay Creek community is built around a marina just off the downtown area, separated from the golf courses and main community by about three miles.

         Golf view home sites at Bay Creek begin in the $100s, waterfront home sites in the $200s and estate home sites with multiple views in the $400s.  Condos and town homes are priced from the $200s.  The resort’s two-night/two-day real estate “discovery package” is priced at about 50% of what you would pay for a similar package elsewhere and includes two rounds of golf and a $100 dining certificate. (The on-site restaurant, Aqua, was closed on the Sunday and Monday during our April visit but has been well reviewed.)  Contact me if you are interested in a visit to Bay Creek.

Out along the Chesapeake Bay at Bay Creek, Nicklaus designed two par 3s (#4 at top, and #6) that would be tough enough without the almost constant prevailing winds that come in off the water.  The layout effects a strong bit of links golf before it turns inland for the final nine holes.

Haig Point, Daufuskie Island, SC

        For years, it probably seemed to residents of Haig Point on Daufuskie Island that the resort just a 10-minute golf cart ride outside the community’s gates was of no real consequence to them.  After all, Haig Point maintained its own ferry service to the vehicle-free island, and the resort’s two excellent golf courses -– one by Jack Nicklaus and the other by the team of Weiskopf & Moorish –- were rated no more highly than Haig’s own 29-hole Rees Jones layout (the two extra holes represent an easier routing of two par 3s).  But when the economy faltered and, along with it, the 5,000 acre Daufuskie Island Resort and Spa, outsider interest in living in an island paradise with a bankrupt resort dried up.  Today, property prices in Haig reflect anxieties about the resort’s future and the viability of island living itself.  Recently, we spotted a $14,000 Haig Point lot that included the golf club initiation fee (“…a $65,000 value,” the listing touted).  Homes in Haig Point are priced at significant discounts to similar properties on the mainland.

        Many baby boomers would lust after such bargain prices in a community as lush and lovely as Haig Point, but the catch is that carrying costs are significantly higher than most communities on the mainland; between the golf dues and property owner fees, a property owner is committed to as much as $17,000 annually.  And construction costs are about three times those on the mainland, owing to the need to ship all materials and labor to the golf community.  That private ferry, which is the lifeline of the island community, is expensive.

         In November, the golf resort was put up for auction.  A nice-sized audience was in attendance in a Hilton Head hotel ballroom, some of them curious and interested onlookers from Haig Point.  Bidding was to start at $16 million for the resort, its spa, dozens of unsold lots, and Nicklaus’ Melrose golf course.  Unfortunately, no one bid.  Subsequently, the judge overseeing the bankruptcy case ruled that creditors could sell off pieces of the resort if a single buyer did not emerge.  The future of Daufuskie Island is still at sea.

The Jack Nicklaus designed Melrose Course at the former Daufuskie Island Resort is still open, but the bankrupt resort is not.  Homes and properties in the adjacent community are selling at a discount, as are properties in the nearby and separate golf community of Haig Point.