TOM JACKSON A South Carolina resident, Tom Jackson has designed some 45 private and public courses in the Palmetto State. For public play, venture to the courses at Cheraw State Park in Cheraw and Hickory Knob State Resort Park , both touting little to no development along the fairways, so you will enjoy quiet, forested layouts. Hickory Knob is nestled along the shores of Lake Thurmond, so each hole offers views of the large reservoir. Your game will certainly be challenged by sloped greens, changing fairway contours and widths, not to mention elevation changes. Cheraw offers picturesque, wooded views with lakes and wildlife, along a track that has no adjacent fairways and no homes or structures. This is golf in a parkland setting, as golf is meant to be played: challenging, yet fun. TOM FAZIO Tom Fazio has built outstanding designs up and down the South Carolina coast (24 total in the state), including TPC Myrtle Beach in Murrells Inlet, which offers a stern test of golf. Long off the tee, with penal bunkers and water hazards, choose your tee wisely and hope for ideal weather conditions. The Links Course at Wild Dunes Resort opened in 1985 and starts inland winding along the saltwater marsh until the turn where the holes finish along the ocean. This is the first course for which Fazio got a solo design credit, and it is one of the best public course options in the Charleston area. Osprey Point Golf Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort is beautifully situated along natural lagoons and saltwater marshes and offers world-class golf. Fazio completely renovated the course in 2014, resulting in a course that is very playable with difficult greens and numerous water hazards. Located on the south end between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown, Caledonia meanders through an old rice plantation and is considered one of the top-ranked public courses in the country. A few years later, Strantz returned to Caledonia to create a second course: True Blue . Very different from Caledonia’s tight, well-manicured fairways and compact design, True Blue has wide fairways and huge greens with no rough. But beware the numerous waste areas that make the course play very long — a test of endurance for even the most seasoned players. MIKE STRANTZ Mike Strantz studied course design under Tom Fazio, ultimately branching out to create his own design company in 1994. His first effort resulted with the widely acclaimed Caledonia Golf & Fish Club on Pawleys Island. 20 DiscoverSouthCarolina.com From left to right: The Links Course at Wild Dunes Resort, Isle of Palms; Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, Pawleys Island; Hickory Knob State Resort Park, McCormick
South Carolina Vacation Guide SC 2025: Page 20
