Santee, SC, might be one of the oddest golfing destinations in America. It is a tiny town neither at the coast nor in the mountains, and there really are only two reasons to stop there. First, it is on Interstate 95, dead center between Philadelphia and Miami, FL and, therefore, a convenient overnight way station for those traveling from the northeast to vacations and homes in the Sunshine State. Second, with a population of just 774 inside the city limits, Santee may have more golf holes per full-time resident than any other town in America. Golf Santee, which promotes overnight play and stay packages, lists 13 courses, or 234 holes of golf. That’s about 3.3 Santeeans per hole. That kind of inventory is a golfer’s dream but a golf operator’s nightmare.
Santee certainly has done a good job of building hotel rooms for all those interstate travelers and during a pleasant dinner at the bar in the rustic Clark’s Inn, I met a luxury boat salesman who travels from upstate New York to Florida six times a year and always stops in Santee. Interestingly, he is a 6-handicap golfer and has never played golf in town. “I can’t explain why,” he said. I stayed at the three-year old Holiday Inn, across the street from Clark’s, which was comfortable and a bargain at $66 (with a coupon). I tried to book a one-night golf package but the hotel reservationist said that Golf Santee was closed on Sundays, so the package was not available. Odd for an organizing hoping to promote golf locally.
Odder still is the scorecard for Santee National Golf Club, which most who have played golf in Santee rate as the best local course. The par 3 7th and 13th holes hold the distinction as the #1 and #2 handicap holes on the golf course, respectively. A par 3 as the toughest-rated hole on a course is rare enough, but the toughest two holes as par 3s? That’s a first for me in 50 years of golf.
The tee shot at the 13th at Santee National must get to the second tier of the green when the pin is back, as it was on this day.
The ratings seemed justified. The two holes are definitely the highlights of an otherwise routine layout by Porter Gibson who may have been under orders to tone down the challenge lest itinerant players take out their post-round angst on other drivers out on the Interstate. The 7th plays to a robust 225 yards from the tips (6,858 total yards, 72.9 rating and 128 slope) and 191 yards from the white tees, which I chose to play on a crisp early winter morning (with no one in front or behind me). No bunkers front the 7th green to catch a thinly hit shot, and the pond between tee and green stops well short of the steep slope that leads up to the green. But that slope is a doozie, maybe 45 degrees in angle, and anything that does not clear the front collar is doomed to roll down 30 to 40 yards beneath the putting surface. If the pin is at front, just hit more than enough club to mid green and hope you stop short of the top level of the two-tier surface. I am pleased to say I hit a darn good 4-wood that stopped on the front third of the green, leaving a 15-foot uphill putt that I pulled ever so slightly. The par I made was one of the highlights of the day.
The driver I hit on the par 3 13th was also gratifying. The 13th plays all of 237 yards from the back tees but the 205 yards from the whites looked a lot longer than that to me, especially with the bunker protecting a pin set at left rear and perched on top of the highest third of the two-tier green. I choked down and flushed the drive, landed into the slope beyond the bunker and beneath the pin, and rolled back 15 feet, leaving a 30-foot uphill putt. Two putts later, I was just as happy as I was on #7.
I wish I could report that the rest of the layout was as stimulating as the par 3s, but I found Santee National overall only mildly interesting (however, at $29, cart included, certainly a bargain). I think those behind Golf Santee's development might have counted too much on folks who like to break up their long drives south (or back north) with a round or two, as well as traffic from nearby Lake Marion, which is a magnet for boaters and other summertime lake lovers. But without a larger embedded population to prop up the golf courses in the slow times, and minus an iconic golf layout to draw serious golfers, Santee will remain a mid-way yet middling golf destination.
The toughest hole at Santee National, the par 3 7th, plays to a severely elevated two-tiered green. Come up short and your second shot could be as intimidating as your first.