Some 12 miles long and 5 miles wide,
Hilton Head
is a maritime jewel off the southernmost coast of
South Carolina about 40 miles northwest of
Savannah,
Georgia.
Blessed with beautiful white sand beaches, lush pine and live oak forests, and an old-style
southern charm, Hilton Head is among America's leading vacation
resorts and places to live.
Island visitors enjoying a beautiful day on the beach or ambling down a lush fairway might be pardoned for
thinking it has always been a peaceful haven, but, in fact, this tiny island had a contentious history long
before golf came to Hilton Head in the 1950s.
In the 1500s the Spanish drove out the native American Indians but not without fierce resistance. In 1663
Capt. William Hilton discovered the island and claimed it for the British Crown. During the Civil War
50,000 Union troops garrisoned on the island to protect American trade routes and plan attacks against
the Confederacy.
After the war, former slaves who had worked the indigo, cotton and rice fields on the island's plantations
remained on Hilton Head, preserving their unique Gullah culture and language even to this day.
More recently, in the 1940's Hilton Head was rediscovered as a hunting ground for wealthy sportsmen who
later saw the commercial potential in the mature pine trees that covered the island. As the timber
industry grew, electricity came to the island for the first time in 1950. Six years later, the bridge
connecting the mainland to the island was completed, and Hilton Head stepped into the modern age for good.
Remarkably, golf wasn't introduced to this thickly forested barrier island until 1956 when the first
course, the
Ocean Course,
opened. The course is in Sea Pines Resort, a 5500-acre residential/recreational
development pioneered by Charles Fraser, son of a timber magnate who is heralded as modern Hilton Head's
Founding Father (see profile).
Fraser had the vision and planning acumen to create a very progressive legal template by which the island
could be developed without destroying its rich natural heritage. His pioneering smart-growth ethic,
undergirded by strict covenants aimed at controlling development and harmonizing it with natural preservation,
have served as a model for community planners everywhere.
Sea Pines Resort is a model of wise planning in a spectacular natural setting. Clean roads snake through
a lush forest of pines and hardwoods that drape like huge umbrellas over widely spaced luxury homes and
condominium rental complexes. The resort includes a Harbour Town, a village of restaurants,
shops, and a circular yacht basin.
Sea Pines also has a large tennis complex and four other golf courses, led by world famous Harbour Town
GolfLinks, home of the MCI Heritage, which is held every year right after The Masters. Created by Pete
Dye with Jack Nicklaus consulting, and opened in 1969, the course is a favorite among Tour professionals.
The Heritage is the single biggest event on the Hilton Head calendar and a major impetus for tourism.
Towering directly over Harbour Town is a 200-foot tall candy-striped lighthouse, the island's most visible
landmark. Visitors climbing to the top of the lighthouse are rewarded with a spectacular view of Calibogue
Sound to the south and west and Harbour Town GolfLinks' signature finishing hole. Just to the southwest is
Daufuskie, a sparsely populated island popularized by writer Pat Conroy in his novel, The Water is Wide."
Accessible by ferry or private helicopter, Daufuskie reflects a by-gone era of the Old South. There are no
traffic lights or grocery stores on the island, but it does have three of the best golf courses in the Hilton
Head area. These include two courses at the Daufuskie Island Resort by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf/Jay
Morrish, and Haig Point, a private Rees Jones product.
Hilton Head is warmed by the Gulf Stream. It has an average temperature of 70 degrees that assures a
year-round golf season. Water and Live Oak, Hickory, Wax Myrtle, Magnolia, Palmetto, Yucca trees and
Swamp Maple are just some of the abundant tree species on the island rich in marshland species of flora
that include bayberry and cassina bushes (whose red berries make great tea), marsh lace, and sassafras
(another good tea source). As for fauna, marsh hawks, eagles, and deer are just the tip of the iceberg.
Golfers among Hilton Head's 2.5 million annual visitors log a million rounds a year. There are 24 golf
courses on Hilton Head Island. Six are private including
Long Cove,
a Pete Dye creation in the most exclusive
gated community on the island. According to insiders, Long Cove is the finest course on Hilton Head.
Another 40 courses lie just west of the island in and around Bluffton, SC.
Hilton Head proper is made up primarily of plantation-style communities. Some have resorts and all have
private homes. In addition to Sea Pines Resort, these include Palmetto Dunes with three fine golf courses
and two hotels, the Marriott Beach and Golf Resort and the Hilton Oceanfront Resort. Also, Port Royal
Plantation includes the Westin Resort and three courses, which are ideally suited for casual resort play
and outings. Hilton Head Plantation doesn't have a resort hotel but boasts one private and three semi-private
courses, including the Country Club of Hilton Head and Oyster Reef, both Rees Jones creations.
Indigo Run has a public and private course, both signature Jack Nicklaus designs. Palmetto Hall Plantation
boasts an Arthur Hills course, one of the best on the island, and a course configured entirely on computer
by Robert Cupp. For all its quirky geometrical features, including triangularly shaped bunkers, this is a
fine, scenic test of golf.
Popular courses off the island include
Old South in
Bluffton, a marsh-dominated venue designed by award-winning
architect Clyde Johnston. Closer to the island bridge is another Johnston offering, Old Carolina, built on a
former horse farm.
South Carolina National,
a recently renovated George Cobb creation in Beaufort County, is worth the 45-minute drive from Hilton Head.
Within minutes of Hilton Head on Highway 278 are two magnificent private golf communities-Berkeley Hall and
Colleton River Plantation-both of which rival Sea Pines for their natural endowments, privacy, luxury homes
and quality of golf courses. Berkeley Hall boasts two gorgeous Tom Fazio courses that wind through forest and
out along the Colleton River. They are served by a colonial-style red-brick clubhouse that has "seven distinct
dining experiences." Endowed with equally spectacular pine wooded and riverfront scenery, the 800-acre Colleton
River Plantation has a stunning Jack Nicklaus signature layout and the more recently opened Pete Dye gem, where
scenes in the film, Legend of Bagger Vance, were shot.
There is no shortage of things to do on Hilton Head. The island has over 200 stores, some of which are at Shelter
Cove, the island's lone shopping mall. It boasts numerous specialty shops as well as two outlet centers just off
island. There are over 250 restaurants on the island serving every type of cuisine, especially seafood fresh off
the boat.
Hilton Head is also getting a reputation for its vast arts and cultural offerings with dozens of great galleries
and the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, the second largest theater facility in the state which showcases original
Broadway productions. In addition to nature and boat tours, biking is very popular on miles of trails and the
hardpacked beaches.
Visitors to Hilton Head quickly notice the absence of billboards and other intrusive features of commercialism.
Hilton Head's night life is somewhat tame, as it is primarily a family destination. A couple of popular dance
spots and sports bars are sprinkled throughout the island. Traffic, particularly in high season and on turnover
day, can be a headache on this island of few major roads but traffic notwithstanding Hilton Head offers a respite
from a frenzied world. 
