A couple of weeks ago, I posted my choices for the best “classic” courses in South Carolina (scroll down two articles below this one). Here are my choices for the best “modern” courses in the state. (Note: As a panelist on the South Carolina Rating Panel, I am asked each year to rank the state’s courses. This year’s voting will be published in late March, but you can read our past rankings at scgolfpanel.org.)
        After an unbroken string of five years voting with my fellow panel members that the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island was the best course in the state, I decided this year to vote purely on “playability” and the fun factor, rather than design quality alone. And for that reason, I relegated the Ocean Course to number two because the experience can be daunting, depending on the wind. And frankly, as one ages – I am now 71 – a layout like Pete Dye’s by the ocean can feel unrelentingly brutal. Still, it is impossible to ignore just how dramatic and visually delightful – and intimidating – it is.
Secession first teeThe farther you walk along the first tee at Secession, the closer you get to the green on the tricky par 4 1st hole.
        My top course this time around is Secession near Beaufort, SC which, in terms of location, is not that much different from the Ocean Course given the prevailing winds that whip in from the Atlantic, although in Secession’s case, a scenic bit of marshland separates the course from the water. The private Secession course is certainly challenging and scenic, but the overall experience is loaded with a kind of atmosphere the more public Ocean Course does not enjoy. To relax with a post-round libation and cigar on the sprawling deck behind the clubhouse, overlooking the expansive marsh as the ocean light dims, is an experience you don’t forget.
        The Jack Nicklaus course at Colleton River in Bluffton fills my third slot almost entirely based on its greens, the fastest I have played in the last 10 years. If you watch a lot of golf on television, especially the big tournaments like The Master’s, the commentators often grouse about the speed of the greens. Give me fast greens any day of the week because for me, and I suspect for many of my fellow golfers, our putting strokes go to pot the farther back we take the clubhead. Fast greens force a shorter backstroke and, thus, a better chance at hitting the ball on the projected line. The greens at Colleton River, which is also home to a Pete Dye course, were running at 13+ on the stimpmeter when I played them but were as true as any I have ever enjoyed. They were fast but not furious.
Secession island greenThe 17th's tiny island green is almost impossible to hit when the wind is blowing. But not to worry; you are permitted to play from the adjacent marsh without penalty (hah).
        The layout at May River, also in Bluffton and also designed by Nicklaus, feels like a golf course that has been sculpted rather than laid out. Because the course sports a lot of sand and some scrub trees, it feels a bit wild in a Pine Valley “barrens” kind of way -- or somewhat like Bulls Bay in Awendaw, just north of Charleston, which landed at #5 on my list because it is a quintessential marsh course, using the tidelands as both framing and hazard and capturing all the best elements of the imagination of the late Mike Strantz, whose small collection of courses provide more fun than any other designer’s.
        My 6th favorite course in South Carolina is another Strantz gem, Caledonia Golf and Fish Club in Pawleys Island, the darling of visiting golfers and the best of the 90 courses on the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach. It is certainly more “refined” than Strantz’s other courses, but the huge greens, wide fairways, and imaginative placement of trees, sand and water are unmistakably his.
        Rounding out my top 10 are Wexford Plantation on Hilton Head Island, the Cassique Course at Kiawah Island, and the Cliffs at Mountain Park in Travelers Rest, just outside Greenville and, I just realized as I wrote this sentence, the only layout on my list not on the coast. Of my top 10 classic courses, only three are on the coast.
ColletonNicklausbywaterJack Nicklaus knows how to feature to great effect sand and water on his coastal layouts, but at Colleton River, it is all about the greens.

        If you are a long-time golfer, you have surely stumbled across golf courses that wowed you beyond expectations – most likely because you had no expectations. That feeling of serendipity and discovery is at the heart of why I have just launched a new web site, OffTheBeatenCartPath.com. There you will find reviews from average golfers of unexpected gems that are unknown outside their local community and under-appreciated by the rest of us because we have never heard of them. They may not be difficult to get to – indeed my favorite such golf course, Keney Park, is “hidden” in plain sight in the city of Hartford, CT – but they certainly are worth going a little out of the way to play.
        I purchased the web site OffTheBeatenCartPath more than a decade ago from another devoted golfer. There is a small trove of reviews from the mid 2000s at the site that span a number of states and provide enough guidance to consider playing those courses; I have checked, and they are all still in business. (Given the golf industry’s woes of recent years, these survivor golf courses are likely to be very good indeed.)
        I want OffTheBeatenCartPath.com to feature as many reviews by our readers as possible and, over time, to inspire some of you to “show off” your hidden gems to other readers who may be passing through your area. (I extend an invitation to play with me at Keney Park to any of you who might be in the Hartford, CT, area. The first post-round drink will be on me.)
        In coming weeks and months, I intend to build other features into the site, including short recommendations for a pre- or post-round meal; and since life is not all about golf (nyuk, nyuk), we might add some local color to our reviews. And we certainly intend to expand the number of states that feature excellent golf off the beaten path.
        Mostly, though, I hope OffTheBeatenCartPath will inspire others to share their favorite local golf courses with the rest of us. Send us your ideas through the web site and we will make it as easy as possible to post your review. And don’t worry about writing skills; I spent 40 years in a career that included editing, and I enjoy the art of wordsmithing.
        I look forward to seeing you off the beaten cart path.
IMG 1400Way off the beaten path: Ladybank Golf Club, Cupar, Scotland