The Ocean Course — Local services in Kiawah Island

Bland. If it wasn't for the history here you'd think it's just a private club near the ocean. You can't even see the ocean until you play holes 14 through 18. Don't get me wrong, those holes offer a spectacular view. However, for the price point this course is only worth about $100 to play. The fairways and greens are no different then your local semi private course back home.

No trees on the back nine. I played on absolutely perfect day. Rained in the morning so the greens were moderate speed. Practically no wind to speak of. Sunny. Couldn't have been a better day for golf.

The caddie could have helped some if he knew how to read the greens. He had a range finder...carried our clubs...and that was it. I have my own range finder and started using mine because I didn't trust him. His green reading was bad I started putting on my own by hole 6 before he attempted to throw me off line. Since that hole that were 4 times I putted opposite of what he "read" and it broke exactly like I thought it would. One time the other bag he was carrying...that guy remarked "up hill? I have it all downhill?" and the caddie responded it starts down but goes up. The guy headed to the caddie, hit it 12 feet past, dropped another ball and hit it within 2 inches. At the end of the round they expect you to pay $100, on top of what you've already paid for the round? I told the front desk guy an amount and he said "we suggest $100" to which I replied "do I have a choice in the matter? because it isn't worth that much" and the desk clerk looked astonished at me.

Overall I enjoyed sitting at the clubhouse looking at the ocean as much as the golf. The clubhouse isn't much to speak of but the style is that of a beach cottage which is perfectly fine, suits the setting very well.

Not a bad overall place, just worth only 1/3rd of what you pay...and maybe $40 for a caddie, not the...

Every year, our group takes a golf trip and plays some of the top courses around. The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island was the standout highlight of this year’s trip. The course was in great shape, the views were absolutely stunning, and the wind made it a serious challenge — definitely a bucket list experience.

The only downside was our experience with one of the caddies, Barron. Unfortunately, he wasn’t friendly or engaging from the start. There was no introduction — his first words were, “You’ve got one too many clubs in your bag.” I get that they’re carrying two bags and there are rules, but a little bit of friendliness would have gone a long way. Attempts at small talk throughout the round were met with silence or disinterest. It made things awkward and put a damper on the experience.

On the other hand, Will, the other caddie with our group, was great. Very fun guy to have on the course! He actually apologized on behalf of Barron, noting that he wasn’t sure what was going on either.

We still tipped Barron $100 each, despite the poor service — the suggested amount was $120. After receiving the tip, he told us, “It’s supposed to be $120,” in a pretty rude tone. I let him know that a better attitude would’ve made it worth even more, and he walked off angry. Thankfully, the course manager was professional and ended up comping our round, which is NOT what we wanted but I appreciate the manager dealing with the situation — though we really just wanted to enjoy the experience.

To be clear, the course itself is world-class and worth the visit. But when you’re spending this much money and looking forward to something all year, it’s disappointing when a key part of the experience is affected by someone’s attitude. If you’re a caddie having a bad day, either take the day off or try to reset — because your attitude has a real impact on someone else’s...

Course is an amazing layout, if you ever get the chance to play. Do it. With that said, I hadn't visited in a couple years, but had a friend in town that played yesterday and we met this afternoon for a couple drinks at the clubhouse.

We met on the range after his round and I have to say that the conditions of it were pretty awful to say the least. The teeing ground was set in a place where there was barely any grass, due to excessive divots and use. The ground was completely unlevel, and no real signs of attempting to level it in the past with basic landscaping or sand leveling / no grass to actually hit off of - It was basically a few blades short of hard pan. Not to mention the targets on the range, bunkers, and greens show little to no effort to maintain those either after they redid the range about 7 or 8 years ago.

After that, he went over to hit a couple putts on the practice green and that green was also struggling. Patches of bare areas throughout the green were also not characteristic of a top listed world golf course. I felt bad for him coming down here with high expectations of a pristine golf course while customers are paying $600 to $700 plus dollars to play during peak season, it's really not a good look.

As far as the course goes he said it was in okay shape as well, which it shouldn't be, it should be in fantastic shape for that amount of money. Just so disappointing seeing the course have much better days and experiences in year's past. Hopefully they'll focus more on the details and first impressions...