Greatest golf programs in South Carolina for 2024-25

As a part of GOLF’s rigorous rankings course of for our newly launched Prime 100 Programs within the U.S. and Prime 100 Programs You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus professional panelists recognized the very best golf programs in each state.

You possibly can try the hyperlinks under to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll right down to see the very best programs in South Carolina. And for those who’re trying to create your individual journey sooner or later, you’d be clever to let GOLF’s new Course Finder instrument help you. Right here, you may toggle all of our lists — Prime 100 public, finest munis, finest brief programs, finest par-3s and extra — or filter by worth to create the proper itinerary on your subsequent journey.

GOLF’s different course rankings: Prime 100 Programs within the World | Prime 100 Programs within the U.S. | Prime 100 Programs You Can Play | Prime 100 Worth Programs within the U.S. | America’s Greatest Municipal Programs | The 100 Greatest Brief Programs within the World

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The most effective golf programs in South Carolina (2024/2025)

SYMBOL GUIDE
# = Prime 100 Course within the U.S.
Y = Prime 100 You Can Play within the U.S.
V = Prime 100 Worth Course within the U.S.
P = Public/Resort

Ed. notice: Some programs have been omitted from our rankings as a result of they didn’t obtain sufficient votes.

1. Kiawah Island – Ocean (Kiawah Island) [#, Y, P]

The mix of tidal marshes, scrub-topped dunes, reside oaks and the soothing sound of the Atlantic on each gap makes this one of many South’s most memorable enjoying experiences. Although the course simply turned 30 years outdated, it already has an illustrious historical past of internet hosting big-time occasions, none extra memorable than the drama-filled 1991 “Struggle by the Shore” Ryder Cup. Far more brief grass has been added across the inexperienced complexes since then, and now the design is extra thought-provoking fairly than terror-inducing. A lot of its greens are plateaued, with a number of the extra pronounced approaching the third, eleventh and 14th holes. Phil Mickelson greater than dealt with the placing surfaces on his option to his historic win on the 2021 PGA Championship.

2. Yeamans Corridor (Hanahan) [#]

Marrying basic Seth Raynor design with coastal South Carolina topography, Yeamans presents a captivating tour of redan, biarritz and highway holes woven by marshland and luxurious reside oaks. A two-decade-long renovation primarily based on Raynor’s authentic property maps — found within the clubhouse attic — has returned this Golden Age masterpiece to its authentic brilliance. Jim Urbina oversaw a lot of the work that has seen the greens blown again out to their authentic measurement and each consequential bunker restored, even probably the most irritating ones, like these discovered within the 4th fairway. The greenside bunkers aren’t a lot deep because the inexperienced pads are tall, they usually create nervy moments resembling on the Cape tenth gap, the place lacking the inexperienced left or proper leaves a taxing restoration shot, despite the fact that the outlet is performed over flat land. Although the general vibe at Yeamans is tranquil, a inexperienced pad just like the one constructed up on the Knoll 14th is as pugnacious because it will get. Arduous to fathom tackling the course with hickory golf equipment as they did again within the day! 

3. Outdated Barnwell (Aiken) [#]

Architects Brian Schneider and Blake Conant borrowed basic design ideas and utilized them in a contemporary method on a sandy parcel of rolling land exterior of Aiken. The firmness of the turf that superintendent Davis Verner routinely achieves (thanks, partially, to an absence of overseeding) permits the nuances of this design to glitter. Half-par holes abound. Are you able to attain the open however lengthy inexperienced on the par-5 opener? Do you have to attempt to drive the 2nd or 14th greens? (If you happen to try to fail, the hunter rapidly turns into the hunted as deep bunkers guard these two brief 4s.) Can you utilize the mounds on the par-4 eighth to kick an strategy shut on the inverted L-shaped inexperienced? Or how about making an attempt to bounce one onto the rolling inexperienced on the 235-yard eleventh? In the meantime, the rust coloration of the centipede tough lends this open course a heathland-like really feel. Finishing the perfect is the membership’s ethos of giving again to the sport and the group, as established by Outdated Barnwell founder Nick Schreiber.

4. Harbour City (Hilton Head Island) [#, Y, P]

Small greens. Comfortable fairways. Subtleties galore. Since 1969, the Dye-Nicklaus collaboration has been a breath of contemporary air as an annual cease on the PGA Tour, a break from the same-old bomb-and-gouge designs. Modest in yardage however lengthy in character, Harbour City calls for accuracy off the tee and dead-eye iron play to fairways and greens framed by stately pines and knobby reside oaks. Standout options embody the V-shaped inexperienced on the brief par-4 ninth, and the railroad ties across the thirteenth inexperienced, a Dye signature first impressed by the architect’s travels along with his spouse, Alice, to Scotland within the Nineteen Sixties. The closing stretch from 13 on offers an particularly rousing finale, punctuated by the sight of the red-and-white striped lighthouse, looming behind the 18th inexperienced.

5. Palmetto GC (Aiken) 

6. Congaree (Ridgeland)

7. Tree Farm (Batesburg) 

8. Nation Membership of Charleston (Charleston) 

9. Lengthy Cove (Hilton Head Island) 

10. Sage Valley (Graniteville) 

11. Secession (Beaufort) 

12. Chechessee Creek (Okatie) 

13. Palmetto Bluff – Might River (Bluffton) [Y, P] 

This swish design captures the attract of Lowcountry golf. Lots of the options are glued to the bottom because the course meanders throughout the property. On some holes, like on the par-3 2nd, the wetland is nicely wanting the inexperienced; on others, resembling on the harmful brief par-4 seventh, the hazard is flush in opposition to the placing floor. On the par-5 fifteenth, a pair of Spectacle bunkers disguise the lengthy strategy to the inexperienced, creating a way of thriller. Holes 13 and 14 ooze allure and embody the kind of golf that you just wish to play day-after-day.

14. The Dunes (Myrtle Seashore) [Y, P]

Earlier than World Struggle II, Robert Trent Jones Sr. labored for the legendary Canadian architect, Stanley Thompson. Jones’ early solo works, particularly at Peachtree and right here on the Dunes, present the same design aptitude to that which made the Toronto Terror so well-known. The second 9 is anchored by the enduring par-5 thirteenth that sweeps across the lake. Certainly, many take into account the second 9 one of many best within the Palmetto State. However the first 9 is sort of nearly as good, with the dogleg 2nd and 4th holes favoring good attracts off every tee, and the inexperienced on the one-shot ninth affording the very best view of the Atlantic Ocean. For greater than 50 years, the Golf Writers Affiliation of America was sensible sufficient to convene right here the week earlier than the Masters.

15. Colleton River Membership – Pete Dye (Bluffton) 

16. Quixote Membership (Sumter)

17. Bull’s Bay (Awendaw) 

18. Kiawah Island – Cassique (Kiawah Island) 

19. Outdated Tabby Hyperlinks (Okatie) 

20. Kiawah Island – River (Kiawah) 

21. Caledonia (Pawleys Island) [Y, P]

Strantz’s wildly inventive fashion — “You both adore it, otherwise you don’t perceive it but,” a shrewd observer as soon as famous — has attracted a cult-like following since his 2005 loss of life. Of his 9 authentic designs, Caledonia was his first; he adopted it quickly with a sister design at close by True Blue. Among the many basic Strantz touches listed below are an isthmus of fairway on the par-4 thirteenth and a “satan’s ***gap” bunker on the par-3 seventeenth, set in opposition to a Lowcountry backdrop of Spanish Moss and meandering swamps. Strantz’s designs are filled with strategic genius and sophisticated visuals. Caledonia isn’t any exception.

22. Camden Nation Membership (Camden) 

23. Greenville CC – Chanticleer (Greenville) 

24. Colleton River Membership – Nicklaus (Bluffton) 

25. Musgrove Mill (Clinton) 

How we rank our programs

For our newly launched Prime 100 U.S. and Prime 100 You Can Play lists — a course of that helped us create 50 best-in-state rankings — every panelist was supplied a poll that consisted of 609 programs. Beside the listing of programs have been 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists thought-about a course to be among the many prime three within the U.S., they ticked that first column. In the event that they believed the course to be amongst Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, adopted by 11-25, 26-50, and so forth out to 250+ and even a column for “take away.” Panelists have been additionally free to jot down in programs that they felt ought to have been included on the poll.

Factors have been assigned to every bucket; to reach at a median rating for every course, we divide its combination rating by the variety of votes. From these level tallies, the programs are then ranked accordingly. It’s an deliberately easy and easy course of. Why? As a result of it traditionally has produced outcomes which are broadly lauded. Like the sport itself, there’s no have to unnecessarily complicate issues or attempt to repair one thing that already works so nicely.

The important thing to the method is the expertise and experience of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all of the worldwide golf meccas, every of our 127 handpicked panelists has a eager eye for structure, each regionally and globally. A lot of our panelists have performed greater than 1,000 programs in 20-plus international locations, some over 2,000. Their handicaps vary from +5 to fifteen.

As a result of the character in fact score is so intensely subjective, nobody opinion carries the day. The one method, then, to construct significant consensus is to include this range of panelists and experiences into one rating.

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