Plantation Course at Sea Island Golf Resort

This post is purely for me to document a lovely golf vacation! If you click on the photos it will open each photo gallery and you will see captions.

This year my golf travel bestie, Donna, was kind enough to come down south to golf and celebrate another milestone birthday. It was unseasonably hot the first few days of her visit but she was a trooper. While in Greenville we did a bit of sightseeing. Below are photos of The Historic Poinsett Stone Bridge and Campbell’s Covered Bridge.

We then drove down to St. Simons Island, Georgia to the Sea Island Resort. We stayed at the Inn at Sea Island. Of the three resort options, it was the most reasonable in price and still convenient to everything (and had a free breakfast). It was very comfortable and I don’t feel like we “missed out” by not staying at the Cloister or Lodge.

The most expensive accommodation is The Cloister which has a spa, room butlers, and promotes the fact you can have warm cookies brought to your room at night. We had access to everything at The Cloister and saw no reason to pay double for a room just to get warm cookies. We did go and have a drink in the Oak Room. And we did play a match on the 18-hole putting green; I can’t resist sharing that I won.

The other accommodation, The Lodge, was very nice. The cottages (which sleep 6 to 10) at the Lodge looked like a great option if you had a larger group. Anyway, we spent time at the Lodge after our round of golf at The Plantation Course. We had lunch and then checked-out the ladies locker room, and of course the pro shop. I thought I would just get a small token of our trip (non of the hats inspired me) so I got a small ball marker; no prices on the display so I was shocked when I found out the price it was $12 or over $13 with tax. You gotta love resort pricing.

Side Bar: While eating lunch I kept seeing women driving by in golf carts and I wondered if they had a league. So at the Plantation Pro Shop I asked if they had ladies leagues and the woman that runs the leagues just happened to be behind the counter. She informed us the 9-hole league has 200 members and the 18-hole league has 125 members. I wondered if the resort (with the three courses) was the only option for ladies on the island; but there are a total of seven golf courses on St. Simons. Also, Jekyll Island has four courses and Brunswick (next to St. Simons) has two courses. Still, I could not believe the number of ladies in the Sea Island leagues! We also saw the ladies locker room and it was quite swanky!! Nice to see a course catering to women golfers.

Retreat Golf Course

Our first day of golf we played the Retreat Golf Course. It was a very nice course. The rating and slope from the Gold Tees 69.0/117 so not a difficult course. There was a very nice range, chipping and putting area. I also like the fact that all these courses have starters so you can ask a few questions about the course.

Donna did not like the fact it starts with a par 5 (water on the right, and bunkers front right and left). We were told the signature hole was hole six. Hole 6 was beautiful and visually intimidating with the water. I was very thrilled to par the signature hole! I debated laying up but told myself “don’t be a chicken, you have this distance to carry the edge of the water.” And I hit my 2nd shot to within 8 feet of the hole. I was so excited. Got to the green and saw I had a downhill putt which I gave too much respect and left about 2 inches short. However, I’ll take a tap-in for a par every time!!

Unfortunately, we faced the typical afternoon southern popup storm and had torrential rain for hole 17 and 18; but the rest of the round was great. Below are images of the Signature Hole. Last photo is a bit blurry but that was my ball from my 2nd shot on to the green.

Plantation Course – at The Lodge at Sea Island Resort

The last day of golf we played the Plantation Course. The weather had changed completely with clouds, wind and it was quite cool. I was hoping for warmer temps but Donna was very happy. The practice area with the range, chipping area and putting area were very nice.

We started on the 10th hole and it was very, very windy. I found the wind challenging because I have a higher ball flight and felt I was not getting my normal distance on my drives. I should have tried teeing it lower but of course didn’t think of that until the round was almost over. Anyway, it was still a fun day. The course is very wide open so I can’t imagine not being able to find your ball (unless you hit it in the water).

Compared to the Retreat Course, the Plantation Course has the same course rating and slope 69.1/117 but the greens on Plantation were much more undulating which we felt made the Plantation course more challenging than the Retreat Course. Plus the wind and the fact the Plantation Course has more water made it seem much harder than a 117 slope.

One crazy (memorable) shot on the plantation course was hole #2 (middle image below with bunker). We had just discussed that the front bunker was so deep with the wood slats. A guy in the group in front of us had been in the bunker and it was above his head. Anyway, my approach shot hit something and bounced straight up and really high in air and landed on the green. Not sure if it hit the wood planks at the face of the bunker or the drain at the front of the green but whatever it hit, I was happy with the crazy bounce! And I parred the hole!!

A few views from the Pool/Halfway House. We enjoyed lunch and a great view. A few lovely butterflies were on the flowers by our table.

The courses were nice but we both felt the course fees were a bit over priced; and not courses we have any desire to come and play again (versus a course like Tobacco Road which I would definitely play again). Of the two courses, if I lived at St Simons, I would enjoy playing the Retreat course as a home course.

Sightseeing – a break from golf

We were supposed to play the Dunes Course on Jekyll Island but the forecast was not great so we decided to pass since we had not paid for that green fee (it was not part of the golf package) so we did some sightseeing instead. We did go to Jekyll Island and the rain did not impact us but it was very windy. We went to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center where they rehab sea turtles and other animals. Driftwood beach on Jekyll Island was very cool with driftwood of full size trees!

We went to the St Simons Lighthouse but we did not go up the 129 steps to the top. The boardwalk by the lighthouse was very pretty. And I loved the moss hanging on so many of the trees on St Simons Island and Jekyll Island.