When I played the Spring Island golf community’s Old Tabby Links a few years ago, I thought it was one of the best of the many excellent layouts in the Carolinas. It was an odd feeling, touting an Arnold Palmer design; to that point, I loved The King but was not very fond of his golf designs. But Old Tabby turned me around. Its conditions were impeccable, its layout thoughtful and put to good use all the live oaks and adjacent marshland, entirely natural, unlike most Palmer golf designs I had played.
Old Tabby is closed now, but not to worry if you have designs on playing the golf course during a visit to look at Spring Island’s upscale properties. Arnie’s design group is adding high-tech irrigation systems, improving the bunkering and shifting a few greens here and there. The grand re-opening of Old Tabby is slated for October. Brad Klein, the Golfweek magazine golf architecture writer, visited Old Tabby to check out the renovations. You can read his story at Golfweek’s website. You can read my original review of Old Tabby by clicking here.
It is hard to conceive that Old Tabby could be much better, but Arnold Palmer Design is hard at work to make it so. The results debut in October.