Resort Courses

[DBake]

Bandon, Pinehurst, Sea Island, American Club, Kuawah

What gives you the best bang for your buck? Bandon, Pine Hurst, Sea Island, American Club, Kiawah

[Funderpants]

Those aren't really really the value savings types of trips.

I was at Pinehurst last week, didn't a chance to play. The course was absolutely empty because of the cold weather and I did walk out on the #2 18th green and roll a few balls then just went out to the tee box. Pretty awesome place, the entire town is all about golf.

[harbourtowncaddy]

Sea Pines Resort baby!!

[harbourtowncaddy]

Two Pete Dye courses and a Mark Mcumberg, plus we've got great package deals... just sayin

[stevopagolf]

I have been to 3 of the 5 you mentioned--Bandon, Kiawah, and American Club. None of them I would call a value play. Bandon is all about golf, there really is nothing else there. Bandon is a quaint tiny town that offers little to the overall experience. The American Club is the same way all golf. Kind of has an older feel due to the Hotel. Again nothing around there to add to the experience. Plus the Straits and Irish course is a pretty good trek from the Hotel.

Kiawah really only has one stellar course, The Ocean and the rest are very good but not spectacular. It does have the beach you can enjoy as part of your trip and Charleston is only 30 minutes away and offers some great restaurants and other distractions.

From the West Coast, Bandon has to be the better value when you take in travel, plus its the closest thing to playing in Scotland or Ireland in the US--less manufactured than say the Straits course at Kohler. For me I enjoyed Bandon better than Kiawah and Kohler from a pure golf experience. Also, at Bandon you can play 36 for about $350(replay rate) which brings the cost down for top 20 in the US courses.


For a total vacation, Kiawah might win out over Bandon with the Ocean and Charleston.

From the East Coast, I might say Ireland is the better deal. Airfare is about the same as to Bandon, the golf is generally less and the hotel deals are cheap. As the Euro continues to drop, this may be the year to take a trip to Ireland or Scotland.

hope this helps some.

Bend is a pretty good value with three very good courses...Tetherow, Pronghorn and Crosswater at Sunriver....

[oliversax]

Thanks for the fair and detailed reviews, Stevo. I'm debating a trip to Bandon or Whistling Straits later this year and your comments definitely help.

[volrus]

For the entire experience (golf, lodging, food, etc.) you can't beat Pinehurst. And when you say "Pinehurst" you have to remember there is the Pinehurst resort which is second to none (especially #'s 2, 4, 8) but then there are hundreds of other courses in the Town of Pinehurst and surrounding area. With the recent changes to #2 I still say there is not a single course that is more fun to play when you figure in the history and the layout. Nothing but class. HOWEVER, when you're talking "value" there isn't much to be had on Pinehurst resort. By the time you figure in caddy fee and caddy tip you're staring at $400+ to play #2. Still, well worth it for a bucket list trip. There is a little more value off the resort but it still isn't cheap. Pine Needles is probably my second favorite course over there...another famous Ross design.

[MyBluC4]

I've only played a few: Kiawah, Sea Island and Pine Hurst and would say Kiawah is the biggest bang for the buck. The Ocean Course goes without saying, but there are 4 other terrific tracks to play and the food is terrific. Kiawah is very laid back, lots to do and see and there is a beach.
Loved Sea Island, but it's very expensive.
Pine Hurst is special with as great a collection of courses you will find, especially 2, 4, 7 & 8. It's all golf, all the time.
The biggest bang for the buck to me is either PGA National or staying in Pawley's Island (Caledonia, True Blue, Heritage, TPC & Founders Club).

[sabram]

I have no doubt that Bandon offers the best bang for the buck of those mentionedFirst of all it has 4 of the top 50 public courses in the US. Other than #2, Pinehurst has no course that compares to the 4 at Bandon. Likewise, Kiawah has the Ocean course and no others that compare to Bandon. The other courses are good, but the four at Bandon are like no other collection of public access courses in the U.S. In addition to having the best four aggregate courses, Bandon, although not cheap, is the least expensive of the four places with respect to both green fees and lodging. At peak season you can play unlimited golf per day at Bandon for $330. I think one round on Pinehurs #2 costs close to that in peak season. The cheapest room and 1 round on #2 is $670 at Pinehurst in season. Sea Island is at least that expensive and doen't hold a candle to Bandon's 4 golf courses. In off season Bandon gets pretty inexpensive. You can play 2 rounds and have a nice room for a little more than $300/day. The biggest draw back to Bandon is the difficulty and cost of getting there. I've also played the 5 Pawleys Island courses mentioned in the above post. They are nice, and relatively less expensive than the others. However, least expensive doesn't equal best bang for the buck. The "bang" at Bandon is huge. Altough the courses in Pawleys are worth a visit,they are not world class...not in the same league as Bandon.