Ocean Course Clubhouse — Restaurant in Kiawah Island

I was able to play this amazing course with my bucket list crew recently, it was the second time for me.

To sum it up, The Ocean Course is unlike almost all other courses out there. It has so many holes right on or in full view of the ocean which makes this an obviously picturesque course.

Interestingly, the course has no 'bunkers' per se. If you are aware of this course, you might be scratching your head. The official rule is that - there are no bunkers... all the sand is considered waste areas. Believe me when I say that there is a lot of sand/waste areas, much of which is definitely in play on almost all shots to be played here. Considering this, the course is definitely a challenge for the average golfer & even the better than average golfer. Many/most approaches to the greens are met with raised doomed greens that just let your balls slide off into the greenside waste areas.

The course is kept in very good shape & the design is excellent. Caddies are pretty solid & definitely earned their wages the 2 days we played the course. I say that they earned it because unfortunately, during our 3 day stay the winds were near zero & also headed from the mainland side. It was "unusual" yes, but not unheard of. This caused 2 things to occur during our visit : a crazy out of control swarm of mosquitos on 15 out of the 18 holes played. Even if you were in the center of the fairway(although that was best), their incessant buzzing/biting was at best terribly distracting & at worst caused the entire round to be a complete disappointment. One player on our group had close to 40 stings/bites. Numerous foursomes quit their round after only 3-6 holes being played, yes it was that bad. No, bug spray/repellant whatever- it had only a 2-4% effect(i.e. basically no effect).

The other 'thing' this 'unusual' weather/wind pattern caused was a tornado that turned into a waterspout right between the course(Kiawah Island) & the mainland. See pics, very cool.

The clubhouse restaurant food & drinks were very good, but not cheap as to...

BUCKET LIST ✅.... The slow mph drive let's you soak up what you'll be coming to the edge of the United States in a magnificent beautiful un matched piece of property, oh yes they have a golf course here also at the end of the drive through 2 security gates and winding through just a beautiful drive and watch out for the deer, plus the people biking lol... This golf course is just something out of this world, as your playing it just wondering how tough it was to design this and push dirt to design this great golf course between the Atlantic ocean and marsh lands... Clubhouse is beautiful pulling up to drop off your clubs at the bag drop, decent sized and well equipped high price good quality options, great balcony at the restaurant/bar.... Great practice facility and driving range... Caddies are good to have with but having your own gps and a laser shooter also gives you everything you need as for the most part the course is all right in front of you, such a great layout and so we'll designed.... I'd strongly suggest walking using a caddie as almost every fairway is raised and you can't drive at all on the fairway so it's up and down the stairs so also bring a few clubs with you to cut down on the back and forth.... The finishing stretch the holes are built into the beach, so so beautiful!!!! The winds are everything as they'll pick up and die down and swirl a bit but they can make this course play so so much more difficult.... Yes I STRONGLY RECOMMENDED playing this course if you get the chance and if not, you might want to add it to your "to do" list before...

Was super pumped to get here and play. And left absolutely annoyed. Staff was all great but as soon as I stepped onto the “driving range” I was trapped. It was basically like hitting balls at a public park near your house. Bumpy as could be from the million divots, it was not the typical driving range you find at shy other course. First hole was beautiful until you get into the green. Thousands of ball marks litter the entire greens. Not just where the pins are, but the ENTIRE greens. It was really really shocking (in a disappointing way). The price to play here is ridiculous- really is not worth it unless money is no issue for you and you just don’t care. I’d add a pic but I didn’t take any. lol Overall- from my experience of the course maintenance and what you think you’re going to expect, find somewhere...