Bluffton. Here's a golf 'til you drop opportunity.  Stay off-island and play all the nearby courses.  There's a chance to play 36 a day.  Accommodations are double occupancy, continental breakfast, exercise facilities and outdoor pool.  Cost includes all taxes, green fees and carts.

Crescent Pointe Golf Club
With all the major names in course design represented, it is difficult to believe the only Arnold Palmer in the area just opened in 2000.  It is truly a shot makers delight.  It features dramatic marsh views, native sand areas indigenous to the Lowcountry and beautiful, large live oaks, pines and magnolias.  The crew moved a good amount of land to create elevation changes not normally found in the area.  The biggest element you will soon realize is water … everywhere.  In fact, the liquid stuff comes into play on virtually every hole.  The King takes it easy on you for the first 5 holes, and then comes a par 5 with water from tee to green and the putting surface is an island.  Number 7 is the #1 handicap hole with water right and left, a waste bunker (with the cart path going through) on the right and a green with a very tough bunker.  The 8^th is a 467 yard par 4 dogleg left with a narrow green and #9 is a 219 yard par 3 with carry over a marsh.  Get a beverage at the turn, because you’ll need it.   Marvelous course!

Eagle’s Pointe Golf Club
Who knows the area better than five-time Heritage Champion, Davis Love III?  He designed a beauty here just off the island.  It features a risk-reward layout just like his game along with natural beauty, variety and classical lines.  Winding through stands of moss-draped live oaks and pines with fresh-water wetland and lagoons, this track will give you every challenge in the book.  When you approach the greens and you see their size, you start to salivate until you realize that the best angle is not directly in front.  Most of them feature a large bunker in the front and then add the variety of pin placement, the realization of accurate approach shots start to sink in you brain.  Even though there is plenty of water and wetlands on the course, most are lateral.  The only forced carries are on #1 and the 159-yard 11^th.

Old South Golf Links
Rated by Golf Digest as one of the top ten new public courses in the country for 1992, this Clyde Johnston design is one of the favorites in the Hilton Head Island area.  Built on a former thoroughbred breeding ground, called Roller’s Horse Farm, begins with a drive through an oak-lined entryway to a huge farmhouse.  On the course you will find a constant change of terrain, from oak forest to open pastures, then to tidal marshes.  Johnston used all the elements to create very interesting holes.  The course features not one island green, but three island greens.  The signature hole is #16, a 417-yard par 4 that requires a shot over water to an island green.  The designer added, “Old South Golf Links was designed not only to provide an enjoyable yet challenging golf game, but also to preserve the natural beauty of the land.”  He succeeded.

Island West Golf Club
On this course Clyde Johnston takes Fuzzy Zoeller under his wing and works with him to create a fun track.  The fairways vary between wide open and tree lined.  The green are medium-sized and in excellent shape.  Water hazards in the form of ponds and creeks come into play on ten holes.  This is a place where the good golfers will be challenged, but will also offer safe routes fore the more cautious players.  The signature holes are actually both par 3’s.  #8 and #17 are very similar with holes requiring tee shots over lakes to double-tiered greens.  If first you don’t succeed, try again.

Hilton Head National
This 27-hole complex is among the best of the area courses.  The original 18 holes were designed by Gary Player and the “New Nine” by Bobby Weed that features a style reminiscent of “The Slammer and The Squire course at World Golf Village”.  National is a host site to the nationally televised Amoco Centel Golf Tournament.  The nines are played in three 18-hole combinations.  The original National/Player design features a low-country layout with tree-lined fairways and gently rolling mounds along the edges.  All three layouts are fairly short, averaging a little over 6600 yards, but will be a great test of your golf skills.  Gary Player said it best about this track, “The course sums up my design philosophy: minimal hazards in the line of play; slightly undulating rather than difficult greens; multiple tees for variety; bunkering that allows both professionals and amateurs equal opportunities.  Hilton Head National is my promise to you of an enjoyable golf experience.”  Enough said.  Enjoy!

Country Club of Hilton Head
This Rees Jones design happens to be the new home course for my father-in-law.  If you see him, say “hi”.  I agree with him when he tells me that this course has the greatest variety of all the area courses.  It rambles over a variety of terrain, including rolling, open expanses, pine and oak woodlands and freshwater hazards, boldly contoured fairways, pot bunkers and sculpted bunkers, and grass hollows.  Constant elevation changes are encountered with elevated greens, landing areas and greens as well as the only punch-bowl-shaped green in the area.  The layout features 13 doglegs and two par-5 holes that stretch more than 575 yards in length.

Oyster Reef Golf Course
Designed by Rees Jones and built in 1982, this track features elevated tees and lush fairways lined by thick stands of live oaks and pine.  In 1983, it was rated one of the top 25 new courses in America.  Ownership had changes and the course was rescued and now is in great playing shape.  The Crenshaw greens vary in size and their well-defined tiers demand accurate approach shots.   As you play the course, you will encounter numerous dogleg fairways with strategically placed mounds and bunkers.  In many ways, it reminds you of the Country Club of Hilton Head, Jones’ other creation on the island.  The signature hole is #6, a 192-yard par 3.  The green on this hole has the Port Royal Sound as its backdrop.  Don’t be surprised if a passing boater doesn’t give you a wave or two.