South Carolina Golf

South Carolina presents the Ultimate Golfing Experience and the ultimate Golf Courses by the top designers in the world, championship Courses open to the public, beauty, nature, history, and Golf are distinctively intertwined in the Palmetto State. You’ll find Plantation style clubhouses overlooking completely manicured fairways and greens. From the subtropical windswept dunes of The Ocean Course, on Kiawah Island, to the rolling, mountainous landscape of The Cliffs at Keowee Falls, you’ll find no finer place to Golf.

Courses designed by the masters await you– Nicklaus, Palmer, Love, Dye, Fazio featuring 300 year old, moss draped live oaks, pine forests, serene marshes, and flowing lakes of many golf Courses keep harmony among bird sanctuaries, hawks, eagles, turkey, fox, deer, or alligators. You’ll also find exceptional golf schools, gated golf Course Communities, resorts, retirement villages, and golf Vacations.

Bring your buddies, friends and family to different Course match your Skill Level.

  • Championship Courses, Par-3 Courses or numerous Miniature Golf Courses.
  • Use our course finder to locate these great year round courses in South Carolina or begin with exploring our focus features.
  • Choose from Myrtle Beach golf, Charleston courses, Hilton Head Island Beach Golf, Columbia golfing on the lake, and the golfing Greenville - the finest courses in the Upstate.
  • Check out SC golf real estate areas, look for equipment savings or find a kids golf camp.

Click a region below to view Directory Listings for that area!

The Extravagant Golf Courses of South Carolina

With the kind of subtropical climate that makes playing golf year round a real possibility, it’s no wonder that roughly 380 golf courses, both public and private, grace the width and breadth of the state of South Carolina. Golf has always been a component of the Palmetto State ever since the first golf course in America was built in 1786 in Charleston. When the first tourists from the northeastern United States began riding the railroads in the early 20th Century to hunt, fish, and vacation in South Carolina, the expansion of golf courses was a natural progression. Today, golf courses from the Upstate and Blue Ridge mountains to the Grand Strand and Low Country boast championship caliber golf courses designed by well-known national golf pros. Even the public golf courses in South Carolina have much to suggest for even the occasional duffer.

Championship Golf Courses in South Carolina

With the huge number of golfers that visit South Carolina each year, another usual progression has been the development of a number of championship caliber golf courses throughout the state. Golf courses designed by such Professional Golfers Association (PGA) players as Davis Love III and Arnold Palmer dot the scene from the mountains to the coast. Arnold Palmer designed the Spring Island golf course, situated between Hilton Head and Beaufort, while Davis Love III designed the golf course at the Barefoot Resort in North Myrtle Beach. Nearly all of these courses are even open to the public like the golf course situated at Hickory Knob State Recreation Area in McCormick, S.C., which was the work of nationally commended golf course designer, Tom Jackson.

The Cliffs, a series of private gated communities situated near Greenville, S.C., have numerous private membership golf courses that have been designed by golf notables. The Jack Nicklaus design golf courses are at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove—which opened in 2005 with a PGA authorized event—and The Cliffs at Keowee Falls, making The Cliffs the only private golf club in the United States to have four golf courses designed both by Nicklaus and Tom Fazio, a golf course designer with 35 years experience. Nicklaus, in consultation with Pete Dye, another prominent golf course designer, also helped design the Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island.

It was Fazio who planned The Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards and The Cliffs at Keowee Springs golf courses. In addition Ben Wright, an Emmy- and Peabody-award winning television broadcaster for golf and several other sports broadcasts for CBS TV for 23 years, designed: The Cliffs Valley in Travelers Rest, SC.

Golf Course Resorts in South Carolina

An abundance of golf resorts exist all along the coast of South Carolina, most too many to mention. While nearly all offer special bargains out-of-season for visiting golfers from all over, there are a few resorts that have captured national attention:

Kiawah Island Golf Resort Ocean Course--Home of the 2005 World Golf Championships World Cup, The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort has hosted golf’s best pros. The Ocean Course presents seaside views of the Atlantic Ocean, and each hole puts you in touch with pure nature. Since its opening in 1991, the course has received numerous accolades including -America’s Toughest Resort Course” by Golf Digest and -Golf Course of the Year” by the National Golf Course Owners Association. This course made its made its big screen debut in the movie -The Legend of Bagger Vance” starring Matt Damon, Will Smith and Charlize Theron.

Part of Sea Pines Resort and home to the esteemed PGA Tournament Verizon Heritage Golf Classic each April, Harbour Town Golf Links is perennially ranked amid the top golf courses in the world. Good scoring depends on poise and shot making rather than strength. Harbour Town's set of par-3s rank among the elite in the world, and its par-4 18th hole is one of the most feared in all of professional golf.

Golf Course Facilities in South Carolina

One of the reasons that golfers from literally the world over revisit to South Carolina to play—as well as its splendor, friendly people, and climate—has to do with the amenities that most golf courses present. The vast majority of these amenities have to do with unique golfing packages presented by many of the golf resorts and courses situated in the Grand Strand and Lowcountry areas of the state. These package deals, which typically run during the normal off-tourism season of September through February, can consist of everything from discounted lodging, meals, women’s only golfing, green fees, and entertainment to entice golfers. Many tourism-related businesses in these areas work in combination with the golf courses to offer these amenities and special bargains as a way of providing a steady stream of customers during the off season times.