The Cloister, 1999

If, as the song says, love is better the second time around, does the same principle apply to golf destinations? Yes, if they happen to be The Cloister and Hilton Head. Visit these destinations for the first time and you are pleasantly surprised to find the promotional material wasn't hype. Go back again, and you remember why you wanted to go there in the first place.

When you are an award- winning golf resort, the tendency is to rest on past laurels. Not so at The Cloister, a favorite spot for legions of vacationers since the early 1900's. Situated on Sea Island, an oceanside sliver of land adjacent to St. Simons Island in the beautiful Golden Isles off the southern Georgia coast, The Cloister takes its lofty reputation very seriously and its board of directors will do nothing to compromise it.

New and repeat visitors can expect the finest in accommodations and such other amenities as its internationally award winning cuisine, health and fitness programs, events and programs for kids, hiking and nature programs, horseback riding, fishing and, oh yes, golf.

Speaking of golf, the last two years have been among the most significant in the Sea Island Golf Club's distinguished history. The resort and private club have had a long and close affiliation. In October '98, The Plantation Course opened to a warm reception. Noted U.S. Open course remodeler Rees Jones had spent the previous 15 months melding two vintage 9's - Retreat and Plantation - into a seamless 18-hole layout that brings out the best of the two courses' woodland features.

Not one to alter the courses merely for change's sake, Jones enlarged lakes, added others, rebuilt bunkers and restored and improved the greens to enhance the quality of the courses without undermining their design excellence. He did, however, add two holes, No. 10 and No. 18, in large part to accommodate relocations of the Golf Digest Academy and to create space for the new clubhouse, now under construction, which will include 30 guest rooms and overlook the Frederica River estuary. The old clubhouse will be used for special events.

The back 9's 425-yard lead-off hole of Plantation is as scenic as it is daunting. From the tee box right next to the estuary and ocean beyond you drive to an expansive fairway that lists left around a large lake to a slightly elevated green overlooking the lake. From the tee and depending on the time of day, you might see a long-line seiner coming in from the sea. The lake on No. 10 also serves as the beauty and the beast for No. 12 and No. 18.

Hole 12 has one of the most interesting, challenging and attractive green complexes you'll ever play. The complex juts out into the lake and the green is virtually surrounded by bunkers. With the river in the background, the view makes you want to stop play and just savor it.

The finishing hole is a relatively short par 5 of some 500 yards, again with a green jutting out into the lake. It is a fine risk-reward hole that requires a perfect second shot. Hit slightly left and the ball is wet, slightly right and you wind up in a stretch of sand running from about 70 yards out on the right side of the fairway all the way to the green.

With an excellent string of holes of varying lengths and shapes woven through immaculately attended natural areas, golfers shouldn't tire of this outstanding resort course. However, if they do, there is always Seaside right next to it.

The new, revamped Seaside opened in October 1999 and is a blend of the old Seaside 9 and Marshside. Designer Tom Fazio has preserved the core routing of the Seaside 9 but altered the routing of all but a few holes on Marshside. The beautiful set of holes wrap around tidal marshes, and some holes on Seaside butt up against the tidal flats. It is a windswept, seaside style course with lots of sand, especially in the prodigious natural areas.

Marshside used to wind through stands of Palmetto trees, but Fazio took most of them out to be consistent with the open, links features of Seaside. He has created new lakes or enlarged existing ones and added or enlarged some bunkers. He has also brought a few fairways closer to the lakes and lowered a few green complexes, such as Seaside numbers 3 and 5. Once elevated and guarded by a cavernous bunker in front, Seaside No. 5 green has been lowered and moved next to the tidal marsh.

On this par-70 6,500-yard course, accuracy, not length, is the key. It has two reachable par 5's, four moderate-length par 3's, and only three par 4's exceeding 400 yards. The greens feature subtle breaks but are not severely contoured. For the time being at least, the golf club requires forecaddies to play this one.

On his third visit to The Cloister and the Sea Island Golf Club, this visitor was not disappointed. In 1998, the club went entirely private, restricting access to a small membership and Cloister guests. With less traffic, completing two rounds in one day was no problem. The club maintains some of the highest standards for service in the industry. Both courses are exceptionally clean and well maintained by an army of workers, and the staff from the top down to the attendants are gracious and helpful.

• 1997 review of The Cloister