Hammock Coast golf courses make list of America’s Top 200 best

Golfweek magazine, one of the game’s most respected voices, has revealed its list of the “Top 200 Resort Courses in the U.S.,” and a pair of Hammock Coast public layouts figure prominently in this year’s rankings.

Caledonia Golf & Fish Club was the area’s highest ranked layout, checking in at No. 47, while its sister course, True Blue Golf Club, was No. 73. The Mike Strantz designs are located less than a mile apart, and they deliver contrasting, yet no less memorable, experiences.

Strantz’s first solo effort, Caledonia is equal parts art and architecture. The course is immaculately maintained and in the spring, when the azaleas are in bloom, there are few prettier venues in all of golf.

The layout plays through a stunning piece of Lowcountry property, and Caledonia’s natural beauty is matched only by the quality of its design. The course rewards precision shot-making as much as raw power, and that’s particularly the case on an unforgettable back nine.

The par 3 11th features a stream that winds from the tee box toward the green before emptying into a pond just in front of the putting surface. It’s an unforgettable one-shotter whose difficulty is greatly influenced by the pin location on a kidney shaped green.

Your round only gets better from there, concluding with Caledonia’s unforgettable 18th hole. The par 4 demands a carry over water to a green that resides in the shadow of the course’s antebellum style clubhouse.

Golfers often congregate on the clubhouse deck to watch players attempt to hit the green, applauding their approval for good shots and groaning with disappointment when a ball meets a watery grave.

While Caledonia rewards touch, True Blue presents a much brawnier challenge, opening with a 624-yard par 5 that perfectly sets the stage for the round to come. The first hole features a fairway that’s nearly 100 yards wide and a waste bunker that runs along the left side, providing high handicappers plenty of margin for error while tempting better players to assume risk in an effort to make par or better.

True Blue is home to Hammock Coast’s widest fairways and its largest greens, a memorable combination for a layout that challenges golfers with short par 4s, long par 5s and everything in between.

Both Caledonia and True Blue weren’t the only area layouts honored by Golfweek.

The magazine also ranked the “Top 200 Residential Golf Courses in the U.S.,” a list DeBordieu (No. 178) and The Reserve Golf Club (No. 182) made.

A Pete Dye design, the golf course is the centerpiece amenity at DeBordieu Colony, a private community that includes oceanfront access. DeBordieu is one of the area’s most exclusive tee times and the course is highlighted by the par 4 17th, which plays along water from tee to green.

Greg Norman designed the acclaimed layout at The Reserve and golfers able to secure a tee time rave about the private course. The Reserve plays around protected conservation areas and 160 acres of natural wetlands, taking full advantage of the property’s natural beauty.

For more information on the area’s abundant golf options, go to www.HammockCoastSC.com.

— By Chris King