Typically, a hulking condo building behind a green is depressing enough for a golfer, but the sandbags that line the left edge of the 18th fairway and the green at Wild Dunes' Links Course are even sadder. We hope they turn back the sands of time.
Mother Nature won't give a break to the famed Links Course at Wild Dunes on Isle of Palms in South Carolina. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo tore through Charleston and the barrier islands just north of the city, destroying hundreds of homes and the two finishing holes at Wild Dunes. Sand had to be pumped back up onto the beach and reshaped to hold up the ocean side of the par 5 18th hole.
We played the Tom Fazio designed course yesterday - he also designed the milder Harbor Course for the resort -- and were impressed with the layout and condition. Look for Tim Gavrich's review here tomorrow. But we were also depressed by the sight of huge piles of white sandbags beginning 2/3 of the way down the 500-yard finisher and extending to the very edge of the green. The tide was in and the ocean was beating at the sandbags, some of which had disintegrated, the empty bags flapping around at the base of the none-too-stable sand wall. We asked one of Wild Dunes "golf ambassadors" about the status of the hole, and he indicated there were plans to re-pump sand from slightly offshore to prop up the wall. Those plans are on hold, pending the hatching of sea turtle eggs in another few weeks.
The turtles had better hurry, for their sake and Wild Dunes'. This is hurricane season, and Hugo is not the only big storm to erode the resort's beaches in the last 30 years. As you stand on the very edge of the 18th green, you can peer straight down into the normally roiling waters. Any more erosion and the green could soon be the smallest in South Carolina. Also, the fairway has already been encroached to the point of being almost unfairly narrow; it is a tough enough hole to begin with, given the strong left to right winds that force you to aim your tee shot at the beach. I hit what I thought was a perfect drive down the center, but it drifted right and into the dunes near the attractive homes that line the first part of the fairway.
It was an ugly finish on an otherwise fair and fun golf course. We hope the turtles do hurry up, and Mother Nature doesn't.