Mission impossible? Here’s the latest ranking of South Carolina’s best golf courses
Want to start a debate guaranteed to spark strong opinions with no concrete answer?
Just throw out the question of baseball’s best current player, Acuna or Ohtani? Go back to yesteryear, Ruth or Cobb? Mantle or Mays? Best quarterback in NFL history, Brady or Mahomes? Manning or ... the list is endless. In the NBA, Michael or LeBron or Wilt? What about Magic Johnson or Bill Russell? In golf, Tiger or Jack?
To a lesser degree, but again with no definite answer, choose the best golf course in South Carolina. With so many options, this challenge borders on mission impossible.
Nevertheless, the S.C. Golf Course Rating Panel tackles the question every year, ranking the best courses open to public play in odd-number years and selecting the best overall in even-numbered years. The latter offers so many possibilities that the courses are split into divisions: modern, those constructed after 1980, and classic, pre-1980.
“When you think about the number of really good golf courses in this state, it’s a daunting task,” said Mike Whitaker, who is retiring after 20 years as the panel’s executive director.
The top courses on the 2024 lists — Kiawah Island Resort’s Ocean Course in the modern category and Sea Pines Resort’s Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island in the classic division — are no surprise.
Afterward? The names are mostly familiar, but the order has changed — which kindles the fire in the debates.
Congaree, Cassique, May River or Long Cove in any particular order on the modern list?
Yeamans Hall, the Dunes, Chanticleer or Palmetto among the classics? Remember: no concrete answers.
Courses represented range from Aiken’s Palmetto Golf Club, which dates to 1892; Seth Raynor’s Lowcountry gem;, Camden Country Club with Donald Ross’ influence; and Robert Trent Jones’ masterworks among the classics. The modern layouts include the handiwork of, among others, Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Mike Strantz.
They range in size from the brawny Ocean Course, which can be stretched to 7,900 yards for a PGA Championship that brings golf’s greatest players to the state to Aiken Golf Club that measures — maybe — 5,800 yards from the tips.
“There’s something for golfers of all skill sets,” Whitaker said. “Courses can be very different, yet very challenging.”
The top five in the classic category include Harbour Town, Palmetto GC in Aiken, Yeamans Hall in Hanahan, the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, and Greenville CC’s Chanticleer Course. Joining the Ocean Course at the top of the modern list are Congaree GC (Ridgeland), Secession Club (Beaufort), Kiawah Island Club’s Cassique Course and Cherokee Plantation (Yemasee).
The Golf Ratings Panel includes 125 golf enthusiasts that represent a diverse range of occupations, handicaps and backgrounds. The group’s objective is to promote excellence in the state’s golf course design and operation through competitive ranking, education and public advocacy. Criteria used in the judging include routing, variety, strategy, equity, memorability, aesthetics and experience. A panelist must have played the course to vote for it.
Full disclosure: I’m a member of the panel and my ballot did not always agree with other panelists’ opinions. And that creates the beauty of the challenge, a debate with no concrete answers that emphasizes the outstanding quality of Palmetto State courses.
South Carolina’s top golf courses
Selected by the South Carolina Golf Course Rating Panel
——Top 50 Modern (after 1980)——
1. Kiawah Island Resort Ocean Course
2. Congaree Golf Club (Ridgeland)
3. Secession Golf Club (Beaufort)
4. Kiawah Island Club Cassique Course
5. Cherokee Plantation (Yamasee)
6. Sage Valley Golf Club (Graniteville)
7. May River Golf Club (Palmetto Bluff)
8. Long Cove Club (Hilton Head Island)
9. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club (Pawleys Island)
10. Old Barnwell (Aiken)
11. Cheschessee Creek Club (Okatie)
12. Bulls Bay Golf Club (Awendaw)
13. Old Tabby Golf Links (Spring Island)
14. Kiawah Island Club River Course
15. Colleton River Plantation Dye Course (Bluffton)
16. Quixote Club (Sumter)
17. Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards (Sunset)
18. Colleton River Plantation Nicklaus Course (Bluffton)
19. Berkeley Hall South Course (Bluffton)
20. Belfair Golf Club West Course (Bluffton)
21. Cliffs at Mountain Park (Travelers Rest)
22. Musgrove Mill Golf Club (Clinton)
23. Golf Club at Briar’s Creek (Johns Island)
24. Reserve at Lake Keowee (Sunset)
25. Tidewater Golf Club & Plantation (Little River)
26. Wachesaw Plantation Club (Murrells Inlet)
27. Heritage Club (Pawleys Island)
28. Belfair Golf Club East Course (Bluffton)
29. Berkeley Hall North Course (Bluffton)
30. Cliffs at Keowee Springs (Six Mile)
31. Grande Dunes Members Club (Myrtle Beach)
32. Grande Dunes Resort Club (Myrtle Beach)
33. Prestwick Country Club (Myrtle Beach)
34. Callawassie Island Club (Okatie)
35. Haig Point Club (Daufauskie Island)
36. Barefoot Resort Fazio Course (North Myrtle Beach)
37. True Blue Golf Club (Pawleys Island)
38. Barefoot Resort Dye Course (North Myrtle Beach)
39. Thornblade Club (Greer)
40. Kiawah Island Resort Cougar Point Course
41. Daniel Island Club Beresford Creek Course
42. Reserve Golf Club of Pawleys Island
43. Kiawah Island Resort Turtle Point Course
44. Barefoot Resort Love Course (North Myrtle Beach)
45. Wild Dunes Resort Links Course (Isle of Palms)
46. Cliffs of Blassy (Landrum)
47. Kiawah Island Resort Osprey Point Course
48. Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf Links (Little River)
49. Daniel Island Club Ralston Creek Course
50. TPC of Myrtle Beach (Murrells Inlet)
——Top 20 Classic (prior to 1980)——
1. Harbour Town Golf Links (Hilton Head Island)
2. Palmetto Golf Club (Aiken)
3. Yeamans Hall Club (Hanahan)
4. Dunes Golf & Beach Club (Myrtle Beach)
5. Greenville Country Club Chanticleer Course
6. Country Club of Charleston
7. Myrtle Beach National King’s North Course
8. Forest Lake Club (Columbia)
9. Greenville Country Club Riverside Course
10. Aiken Golf Club
11. Surf Golf & Beach Club (North Myrtle Beach)
12. Camden Country Club
13. Orangeburg Country Club
14. Pine Lakes Country Club (Myrtle Beach)
15. Florence Country Club
16. Country Club of Spartanburg
17. Fripp Island Resort Ocean Point Course
18. Charleston Municipal Golf Course
19. Columbia Country Club (Blythewood)
20. Furman Golf Club (Travelers Rest)
Chip shots
USC’s fourth-ranked women’s golf team added to its sizzling spring by sharing second place in the Valspar Augusta Invitational. The Gamecocks have won twice, placed fourth and now second in four spring events. A week after sharing first individually in the Darius Rucker Invitational, Hannah Darling tied for second in Augusta. ... Clemson’s 16th-ranked women, led by Annabelle Pancake and Sydney Roberts, finished seventh at Augusta. ... Former USC star Sarah Schmelzel earned second and former Clemson standout Savannah Grewal, playing in only her second LPGA event, tied for fourth in the Blue Bay LPGA tourney in China. ... In the SCJGA’s “Papa Ed” Caddie Classic at Carolina Springs GC in Fountain Inn, Kate Gunnells (Belton) captured the girls’ title and Owen Kinnunen (Taylors) led the boys’ division.