Kiawah: The Golf Resort

Yesterday, we covered Kiawah as a family resort; today, we review Kiawah the golf resort.

Kiawah has a well-deserved reputation as one of the top golf resorts in the country, but it is not one without a few warts.

While at Kiawah we played rounds at the island's three top golf courses: Osprey Point, Turtle Point and the resort's big attraction, The Ocean Course (host to the 2007 Senior PGA tournament and the 2012 PGA tournament, as you are mercilessly reminded at every opportunity).

Osprey Point--Great Course, Badly Managed

We played Osprey Point first.

Osprey, designed by famed golf course architect Tom Fazio, is probably Kiawah's prettiest course, winding among the large homes, lagoons and marshes on the back of the island. It is a fun course with lots of water and a few shorter holes that invite you to score if you can hit it accurately.

Osprey does have one significant design defect, which is that the first hole faces directly into the morning sun in summer. It's an annoying way to start the day if you have an early tee time (and you'd better get out early at Kiawah in the summer, to beat the heat).

Management at Osprey was pretty spotty. In fact, the folks running it pretty darn near ruined the round. No one was particularly friendly.

Maybe the local members are why: we started as a foursome, only to have a twosome behind us, a couple who were "sport members". The twosome promptly tailgated us, with the guy in the twosome hitting into us once, and then, incredibly, hitting another shot at the green before we were all the way off (fortunately, he duffed his shot).

We let the obnoxious locals play through on the next hole (as we would have anyway). We were certainly tempted to cheer when the guy--who had an Aussie accent--hit his tee shot into the marsh.

After that, things got downright ugly. Over the next few holes the course marshal told us we needed to speed up, despite the fact that no one was pressing behind us and, of course, we'd had to wait while the "members" played through. At the turn, the marshal again told us we needed to speed up. So I checked my watch and found we were only five minutes behind the recommended time for playing nine holes. Surely we wasted five minutes letting asshole Aussie and his wife play through.

So here's some advice for the folks who run Osprey Point: folks who pay more than $125 a round to play golf on a difficult course really don't want to be harassed by obnoxious staff, especially when there's no back-up on the course. The Curmudgeon is all for eliminating slow play, but that's not the same as rushing people to play fast.

There were other problems reflecting shoddy course management as well, such as large bunkers with no rakes, or just one broken rake. We can get that at the local muni for just $20.

Our recommendation: Osprey is a great course to play, but be prepared for a chilly reception.

Turtle Point: The Great Grind

The last course we played at Kiawah was Turtle Point, a Jack Nicklaus design that winds among the homes closer to the beach and includes three holes right along the beach.

Turtle Point is a very tough challenge. Fairways are pretty narrow, with out-of-bounds along many holes, often on both sides.

The problem with Turtle Point--and we've played it many times over the years--is that it just isn't any fun. The three holes along the beach are pretty, but with the wind usually up and absolutely no room for error on either side they are quite difficult for the average hacker like us.

The rest of the holes aren't much better. Sooner or later, you're going to hit it out of bounds, perhaps several times. The greens are large and fast, resulting in many a long putt and many a three-putt.

Turtle Point was in good shape and we didn't encounter anyone obnoxious during our round (although we did have to load our own carts in the morning--we don't mind doing so, but we do mind having the same guys who ignored our bags in the morning fawning over us for tips when we finish the day).

We did enjoy playing past our beach house and shouting out to the kids playing on the beach as we teed off on number 15.

Bottom line: if you want a real challenge that will probably grind you down, go for it. But try not to make it your last course of the week!

Ocean Course: A True Gem

In contrast to Osprey and Turtle, the Ocean Course was a true delight. (Of course, you pay a premium here--just over $200 for players staying at the resort, more if you stay through an off-island agency.)

The Ocean Course is a Pete Dye design, cut into the sand dunes at the sparsely populated northern end of the island. It is ranked 38th on Golf Digest's list of top 100 courses in the U.S. Many will recall the 1991 Ryder Cup played at the Ocean Course, dubbed the "War by the Shore" and decided on the last putt.

Practically every hole is beautiful to the eye. On many tees you can see the ocean, and often you feel isolated in the dunes. There is no out of bounds at the Ocean Course.

A few homes--most of extraordinary architecture--pop up here and there, but they are nowhere near the course.

There are also no paved cart paths--the paths are sand, and any ball that ends up there is played where it lies. None of the sand--even greenside bunkers--is considered a hazard, so one is allowed to ground his club in the sand. On the other hand, there is a LOT of sand, including enormous waste bunkers on some holes.

When the wind blows--and it usually does--things can get especially challenging, with five or six holes going into the prevailing wind, followed by five or six with the wind at your back.

When we played, the course was in immaculate condition from tee to green.

Better yet, after our experience at Osprey Point, every member of the staff was downright friendly and professional. They had learned how to keep the pace moving while keeping everyone happy. At one point, the marshal came up, chatted with us briefly, asked us what we thought of the course and then said, quite politely and with a smile, "okay guys, you're leading the pack out here, so keep it up." We did have an open hole in front of us, but the group behind us was a hole back. We didn't feel pressured, and we're sure the folks at the Ocean Course know the difficulty can cause folks to take awhile to get through a hole.

Anyway, every hole was a challenge, but it was fun and we had a good time.

Recommendation: Play the Ocean Course!

Other Kiawah Golf

Kiawah does have two other public golf courses (and two private courses we hope to play some day).

One is Cougar Point, a pleasant Gary Player design. Easier than Turtle and Osprey, Cougar is still quite a challenge and features some beautiful holes along the marsh. We've played Cougar many times in the past, but not this year (it was being aerated). Not a bad warm-up for the week.

The other is Oak Point, which is off the island, across the Kiawah River. Play Oak Point only if you're on a budget. There is nothing impressive about it and it tends to be really hot, isolated from the usual sea-breeze on Kiawah. For some reason, the designer decided to ignore the marsh and river and isolate the holes from both rather than integrate them into the design. Small homes crowd many of the fairways. Frankly, you'd be better off driving over to the public courses on nearby Seabrook Island.

Alright, that's it for Kiawah. Next, a few highlights on camping/hiking in the NC mountains (with maybe a political interlude).