My 36 hour trip to Kiawah 11/15/19-11/20/19

[socccer4life3]

Just got back from a 36 hour trip trip to Kiawah and figured i would share my experience. The pictures are on my phone and i am way to lazy to try and get them on the computer.

 

Anyways, a buddy of mine and i booked the Golf or Gourmet package when it first came out and were able to book the first weekend available. For those that aren't familiar with it, you get 2 rounds of golf, and 2 nights stay for $500 total for two people. Costs an extra $50 pp ($100 total) to play the ocean course per round. So we booked ocean course one round and Osprey the other. I had been watching the weather all week and the forecast for rain. To be more specific there was an average of 98% chance of rain on Friday, and slightly less than that on saturday. Couple that with a high of 52 on Friday and 48 on Saturday, i didn't think we were getting in much golf.

 

Flight was smooth, about an hour and a half on Jet blue and we were on the ground around 7:30. We met a guy in the airport who recommended Cougar over Osprey so i made a call and changed our Saturday round. Got our clubs and tried to request an Uber, but it was going to be 22 minutes until it got to the airport, and was going to be $65 to get us to Kiawah. A quick google search and found a car from Alamo all i for $85. SOLD!

 

Rental car was fine, get to check in and get our keys at about 9ish maybe 930? don't really remember exactly. The women at the check in center informed us that it was about a 20 minute drive to the Ocean course where we had an 11:10 tee time. Get to to villa and our keys don't work. Long story short we didn't have time to wait for security, so we took all our crap over to the Ocean course with us. Got the clubs unpacked and checked in and asked about any open tee times on the ocean course for Saturday's round. We locked up an 8:40 tee time just in case we deided we wanted to play it again but still hadn't cancelled our original time at cougar. and changed in the locker room. The staff here is top notch and very friendly. Hit some balls on the range and met our caddy for the day named Danny.

 

My buddy had forgotten his glasses somehow (guess thats what happens when you have a 5am flight), and he had informed Danny prior to the round that he wasn't going to be able to follow the ball in the air, or see where it lands. Danny seemed fine with that. It was now 11:05 and time to get on the shuttle to the first hole. This having been my first time at the Ocean course i had just assumed the first tee was around a corner somewhere. A short shuttle ride later and we are on the first tee, and the rain is coming down. Finished 9 and there was another shuttle waiting for us to take us to 10. I wont bore you with the details of the round, but we had a great time. Even though the weather didn't' cooperate we still had a blast. On about the 4th hole we decided we were going to play the ocean course again on Saturday. Danny our caddy was great, we asked him if he was around Saturday to caddy for us again. Went inside, cancelled Cougar, showered and changed in the locker room and went over to the ryder cup bar for dinner.

 

Sat at the bar and the food was pretty good, we both had burgers. I had 2 of their local beers and my buddy had one of their cocktails. After dinner we went back to check in, went over to the supermarket to pick up some granola bars and breakfast etc and then back to check in to get keys. Finally around 7:30 we were able to see our villa for the first time. I was pretty impressed with it, it was a 1 bedroom 1 bathroom villa with a full kitchen, living room and screened in porch. I lost the flip so i ended up sleeping on the couch which all in all wasn't bad.

 

Up around 7am the next morning for our second round at the ocean course, where believe it or not the weather was even worse than the previous day. We went out as a 2 some, and there was another 2 some that went out ahead of us but we never saw them the entire round, and only once or twice saw another group out there the entire day. Felt like we had the course to ourselves. Danny was once again our caddy and we had another great day. Around the 14th hole i could no longer feel my fingers, from the combination of rain and cold but what can you do. Friday's round was slightly under 5 hours, and this one maybe 4:30. We were really taking our time, and hitting some extra puts etc. When you have the course to yourselves there really is no reason to rush.

 

Finished up the round, showered in the locker rooms, packed up our bags and headed back to the villa one last time. Pakced up a few remaining things and headed over to the check in center to check out. WHile the special comes with 2 nights we were only staying 1 night. We checked out and headed to the airport.

 

Skipped some of the boring details but the things to take away from this trip are:

1) Danny was an awesome caddy, great guy, been there 11 years, has knowledge of the course, very friendly etc. Can't say enough about him and when i go back i will defintitely try an dhave him as my caddy

2) 36 hours was a short trip, but well worth it. Flights from NYC to CHS were roughly $100 R/T

3) we got very unlucky with the weather, they said it was the worst 2 days weather wise all year. a few days prior to our arrival it was 70 and sunny, and the day after we left it was in the 60s

4) Can't wait to go back

 

If you have any questions feel free to ask. It was a great experience and will try and do it again before the end of February

 

[mci711]

Going this weekend, 4th year going. For anyone reading this just a heads up - It is almost impossible to uber out of Kiawah. Getting there is fine, but there really aren't any ubers on the Island so you are F'd and have to most likely get a "limo" - black car, ordered from the front desk. $200 bucks or so. So that 20 minute uber wait saved you a headache at the end of your trip. The first time I went I made that mistake and my caddie ended up driving me to the airport (he lived by it so it worked). 2nd if it is your first time you should definitely play the Ocean Course twice.

[tiderider]

it's a horrible deal ... STAY AWAY ...

[balladm]

"Costs an extra $50 pp ($100 total) to play the ocean course per round." - I thought it included 2 rounds at any course if you chose the villas or sanctuary? Is this misleading?

[puttnforthe8]

There are options for the package. So if you go the Players choice, then you need to add $ to play Ocean instead of one of the other courses.

Champions ChoiceIncludes accommodations and eithertwo rounds of golf at any courseOR two dinners at any resort restaurantOR one round of golf and one dinnerVillas from $300 per night*The Sanctuary from $400 per night*Players ChoiceIncludes accommodations and eithertwo rounds of golf at any course except The Ocean CourseOR two dinners at select resort restaurantsOR one round of golf and one dinnerVillas from $200 per night*The Sanctuary from $300 per night*