by Elliot deBear

        On a recent visit to Georgia, I stayed at the Cloisters in the famed 5 Star Sea Island Resort.  While very expensive, it lives up to its ratings in every way, especially with its beautiful Seaside golf course.  I have, over the last few years, decided to stay fewer days in fantastic resorts instead of longer vacations in mediocre places.  It generally comes out to the same cost and turns out to be more exciting and special.  The Cloisters at Sea Island didn’t disappoint.

        Seaside’s design was completed in 1929 by Harry S. Colt and Charles Alison, two famed golf course architects from Scotland.  They also designed many of the country’s top private clubs, such as Century Country Club in Purchase, NY, as well as a number of tracks in Scotland.  The course was updated in 1999 by Tom Fazio and retains a Golf Digest Top 100 rating with 4 1/2 stars.

        Seaside is one of the most picturesque courses I have played and certainly one of the best resort courses in the country.  The layout plays to a par 70 at 6,557 yards from the back tees, and a rating of 73.2 rating and a 136 slope.  The pros at last weekend’s McGladrey Open event played longer than 7,000 yards.  The lay of the land as designed by Colt and Alison reflects their Scottish heritage, with many holes framed by dunes and native grasses.  There are large bunkers and lots of them guarding the greens.  It is said that the greens, which were in perfect condition, are very similar to Augusta National in terms of speed and the crowns on the back nine.  Breaks are a challenge to read as they often do not look as big as they are given the speeds.  The course rewards straight drives and can provide some nasty challenges if you’re off the short grass, especially on the left sides of many holes.

        There is a lot of water throughout the course, much of it not in play but providing some beautiful views.  Breezes alternate from the ocean and river that borders the land. The par 3’s are special gems.

        Seaside was fun to play, aesthetically beautiful and in prime condition.  The complex features one of the best learning centers in the country (reportedly) in the country as well as Plantation, a terrific sister course.  

The Cloisters resort was magnificent and very much like the Sanctuary in Kiawah Island.  The spa and fitness center are as good as you will find anywhere, as are the beach facilities.  Off site and nearby were a variety of great restaurants to sample seafood and low country fare.  The resort is about 1 ½ hours drive from Savannah.  We stayed in Savannah for two days and one night to visit the historic district before heading to the Cloisters.   It is a fabulous city steeped in culture, spiced with art, architecture and history.  Savannah is heavily influenced by its Savannah College of Art & Design whose buildings and exhibitions seem to be everywhere.

        Elliot deBear, who lives in Westchester County, NY, has contributed a number of articles and outstanding photographs to GolfCommunityReviews in the past.  We thank him for them all.

        Golf course designers are psychologists too. They know that the popularity of their golf courses are directly related to the memorability of their finishing holes. And, of course, the final hole can leave the deepest impression.

        Tom Fazio is one of the more mild-mannered of major architects. If there is any flaw in his game -– he is among my favorites, so I don’t see many flaws -– it could be that he is biased toward the visual occasionally at the expense of the challenging.  (Note his obsession with “burying” cart paths behind mounds and the enormous cloverleaf bunkers that splash white shapes all over the relentless green of frequently banked fairways).

        To a golfer trying to protect a score, however, there is nothing pretty about #18 at the Thornblade Club, a circa 1988 Fazio design carved into the core of one of the Greenville area’s most upscale neighborhoods (homes from the $500s to over a million).  I will have more to say about the community and the fine golf club it surrounds in coming days.  As a preview, the attached photos will give a taste of the diabolical finishing hole.

        From the elevated tee box, the fairway appears to slant severely from left to right.  A bunker protects the landing area on the left side giving the player only two choices to avoid it -– go left purposely into the rough, or hit to about a 20-yard wide patch at the left center of the fairway to bound down to position A on the right half of the fairway.  Hit the fairway down the right side and consider yourself lucky to wind up playing from the right rough, as a hole-length deep creek runs down the right side.

        Even a ball in the fairway on the 444-yard hole (from the “Enclave” tees, less than 6,300 yards in total) leaves a long and menacing approach, with bunkers guarding both sides of the green, leaving only a 10-yard wide opening to a two-tiered green.  Push your approach shot to the right even just a little, and you will find yourself praying “Bunker, please” in lieu of a bounce into the creek just below the bunkers.  Even an approach shot that makes one tier can produce bogey if the pin is on the other tier.

        The Thornblade Club has an attractive bar area in massive brick clubhouse.  It is a good place for members to lick their wounds after after #18.

Top, there does not appear to be much room in the fairway on Thornblade's finishing hole, which plays to 444 yards from the third set of tees from the tips.  Any approach shot short and right of the green (bottom) stands a good chance of bounding into the creek.

        In writing recently about The Cliffs Communities and some of its financial issues, I referred to a few residents and club members who had told me they rarely traveled to the Cliffs golf courses beyond their own

        “It is [also] a pleasure to take guests to the many communities they could not play otherwise,” he wrote.  “Where else can one be a member of six world-class golf facilities and two TBD?”

        Of the two pending golf courses my correspondent referred to, one – the Gary Player course at Mountain Park -- is a couple of years beyond its due date, and the other –- the Tiger Woods layout at High Carolina –- is on life support, to put it mildly.  Some golf club members who hold the lien on The Cliffs’ amenities after lending developer Jim Anthony $64 million are strongly in favor of letting sleeping white elephants lie.

        My conversation over a couple of days with this gentleman, who asked to remain anonymous, opened my eyes to a political challenge that may face The Cliffs and its residents.  My pen pal told me he is 70 years old, and when he bought into Cliffs Valley, he paid just $80,000 for his lot.  Within a few years, a nearby lot “sold for eight to 10 times that. [The big increase in prices] may have started [The Cliffs’] misdirection.”

        With golf initiation fees that once were double what they are now, some Cliffs residents paid $75,000 more than others did.  Some members, like our new friend, use all six golf courses while others who don’t might eventually argue for paying lower dues for fewer options.

         It isn’t exactly class warfare, but when you have a group of people who invested ‘X’ and another group that invested ‘10X,’ and both groups must agree on the direction of the enterprise, communication will be a challenge.  The Cliffs residents would do well to start looking in their midst for a leader with the skills to moderate discussions and build consensus.