Horses for Courses:  Types of 
Golf Communities That Best 
Suit A Couple’s Style

We all have our individual styles, but when we partner up with someone else, the couple takes on a personality all its own.  And when that couple starts looking for a golf-rich environment in which to live, the final choice had best suit their “together” style.

After reviewing and visiting more than 150 golf communities in the Southeast region and assisting dozens of couples in purchasing homes in many of them, I have come to understand that certain communities match up best with certain lifestyles.  The following are suggested pairings for five distinct lifestyles.

The Urban Sophisticates

This couple must have access to culture and entertainment venues within a half hour or so of their home.  They won’t be satisfied with anything less than a wide range of restaurant choices, theaters for both plays and movies, and at least one excellent museum.  They might be sports fans as well, so either a major university or professional sports team nearby is a big plus.  Because they will take at least one major trip each year, a good regional airport is a minimum requirement.  A regional hub is even better.

The major cities of the Southeast include Raleigh, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa/St. Petersburg.  (I am not including Miami because I am not as familiar with the golf communities in the area.)  Slightly smaller cities with most of the benefits of the bigger urban areas include the coastal cities of Savannah, Charleston and Wilmington.

One of the better choices for the Urban Sophisticate couple is The Landings just outside of Savannah, GA.  When I say “just outside,” I mean a mere 20 minutes from downtown Savannah, where the effects of the world renowned Savannah School of Art & Design are on display in much of the city’s original architecture and renovated spaces.  The restaurants are good and getting better, being pushed by the more celebrated chefs of Charleston.  Savannah’s airport, which it shares with nearby Hilton Head Island, is more than serviceable, with direct links to Charlotte and Atlanta, jumping off points to the rest of the world.  The six lovingly attended golf courses at The Landings are as good a crop as you will find anywhere.

Other communities to consider include Bradenton, FL’s Lakewood Ranch, not far from Sarasota and Tampa; the communities that dot Lake Norman just north of Charlotte; and Governors Club (Chapel Hill) and Treyburn (Durham), within a half hour or so of Raleigh/Durham International Airport.

The Anti-Crowd Crowd

My wife and I hate waiting in traffic, and I will do anything to avoid that possibility, including driving the long way around Washington, D.C.’s notorious jam-up on I-95 when I drive from our Connecticut home to South Carolina.  It may add two to three hours to our overall trip, but it subtracts plenty from my stress level.  (And, to be fully forthcoming about my motivations, the barbecue joints are better the farther you travel off the interstate.)

I know there are plenty of couples like us, and for them, retirement living far from the maddening crowds and stop and go traffic is primary.  Some golf community developers back in the 1980s and ‘90s knew this and did not shy away from building communities remotely located many miles from cities and large towns.

One great example is Savannah Lakes Village in rural McCormick, SC.  The nearest town that features ample shopping and services, including a hospital and a tidy group of restaurants, is Greenwood, a 35-minute drive from Savannah Lakes’ entrances.  The nearest supermarket, a Food Lion, is 8 miles from the community.  But Savannah Lakes residents seem fully content to stay on property most of the week in exchange for a quiet, pollution-free environment beside a large and clean lake.  With more than 2,000 residents, Savannah Lakes provides 36 holes of excellent golf and plenty of other amenities, including a few indoor bowling lanes.  Most of all, a $100 homeowner association payment makes all amenities accessible, an extra benefit to living the quiet life.

Other quiet, remotely located golf communities that could make a loud impression include The Cliffs communities in upstate South Carolina, including Cliffs at Glassy, Cliffs at Mountain Park and the string of Cliffs communities along Lake Keowee.  Ditto The Reserve at Lake Keowee, the Cliffs’ chief local competition for the upscale buyer (homes start in the $600,000+ neighborhood).

The Lifelong Learners

There has been a movement over the last couple of decades for retiring baby boomers to go back to school — some of them literally.  Major universities have built housing geared to their older alumni in the hopes they will become involved in the life of the campus and, of course, leave a little something for their alma mater in their wills.

That may strike some of us as extreme or, more to the point, unnecessary, because there are many fine golf communities within a short driving distance of thriving campuses.  If you would like to combine an active golfing lifestyle with other types of courses, you have plenty of choices in the Southeast, near cities like Charlottesville, VA (University of Virginia), Chapel Hill and Durham, NC, and Columbia, SC (University of South Carolina).  Chapel Hill and Durham are close to two major universities, University of North Carolina and Duke, respectively, and a reasonable drive from NC State in Raleigh.  In Chapel Hill, consider Governors Club, which features 27 holes of classic Jack Nicklaus golf, an active and well-managed clubhouse — I’ve had the food, it’s good — and an engaged group of residents.  In Durham, Treyburn is a beautifully landscaped community which, like Governors Club, features changes in elevation both on and off the Tom Fazio golf course.  Treyburn’s golf club is run by the McConnell Group; membership in that club provides access to McConnell’s dozen other splendid private clubs in the Carolinas and Tennessee.

In the Charlottesville area, consider Glenmore, with a Scottish feel that reflects its name; and just north of Columbia, in the town of Blythewood, golfers have two good choices — Columbia Country Club’s three nine-hole layouts (Ellis Maples) and the semi-private Cobblestone Park, also 27 holes but in a more modern design by P.B. Dye.  The housing around Columbia Country Club dates back mostly to the 1950s; Cobblestone Park started as an upscale community but when its developer ran into financial trouble during the recession, national builder D.R. Horton bought up much of the remaining property and built reasonably priced homes on rather small lots.

The Budget Conscious

There are all sorts of golf communities where penny pinchers can feel comfortable without compromising their lifestyles.  Once again, the above-mentioned Savannah Lakes is the best choice for those in search of bargains, as long as they don’t mind being a good distance from typical city-type services, including a hospital.

First of all, consider the cost of real estate inside the boundaries of the un-gated Savannah Lakes.  For example, a week before this newsletter was published, I noted a listing for a 3-bedroom, 3-bath home on a wooded lot with 2,558 square feet and priced at $245,900.  That works out to less than $100 per square foot, pretty much the holy grail of real estate pricing.  Another home, with a direct view of Lake Thurmond, is priced at just $7,000 more.  One additional feature of Savannah Lakes that bargain hunters will love is that homeowner association fees of just $100 per year provide access to all amenities, including the two splendid golf courses designed by Tom Clark.  If you play only occasionally, just pay the modest green fees on either layout.  If you plan to play three times or more a week, the break-even point, then opt for the modest annual dues schedule and play as much as you’d like.  (At five rounds per week, you will feel as if you are committing larceny.) 

For those looking to live closer to a city yet still enjoy fine golf at reasonable prices, I like the Pebble Creek golf community in Taylors, SC, just outside Greenville, one of the most highly rated towns in America.  Lyndell Young, a veteran of golf course management, runs a tight ship at the 36-hole facility, split between a private and public course (join the private course and you play without payment of green fees on both courses).  Home prices in Pebble Creek begin around $250,000 which leaves plenty of budget money to pay Pebble Creek’s bargain annual golfing fees, just $1,663 (pre-paid) for golf and $1,372 for unlimited golf cart use (pre-paid).  Golf architect Tom Jackson must be proud of the courses he designed for Pebble Creek; he lives in the community.

Only The Lonely

Some couples want to be alone, or as close to alone as they can get.  For them there is only one choice, beside walling off their home from the rest of the world, and that is island living.  The Southeast offers two excellent island golf communities, Haig Point on Daufuskie Island, SC, and Bald Head Island, NC.  Each is reached by ferry only, unless you own a helicopter, with the major mode of transportation on the islands being the golf cart.

For true loners, Haig Point is the better choice since Bald Head Island is more seasonal, the summers jammed with beachgoers as well as golfers.  Haig Point is much more laid back, with a higher percentage of year rounders than at Bald Head, although the private ferry service at both operates year-round.  The 27 holes of Rees Jones golf at Haig are some of the best in the state and a favorite practice site for PGA players who compete in the annual tour event across the Calibogue Sound at Sea Pines Plantation.  Real estate is surprisingly reasonable on Daufuskie, owing to a cost-of-living affected pretty much by everything being ferried over from the mainland; the cost to run that ferry is also borne by residents.  Sure, you can spend a couple million dollars on an oceanfront home, but there are also some nice choices starting in the mid $300s.  If you truly want to remove yourselves from polite society — Greta Garbo said “I vant to be alone” — then Haig Point and Bald Head are worth a ferry ride.