Most golf aficianados are familiar with the Sea Island Resort in St. Simons Island, Ga. But in case you aren't, take it from me: It's a paradise on earth -- and not just for golfers.

How do I know this? Because my wife and I went there last year for a long weekend three weeks after I had knee surgery. Unfortunately, I hadn't progressed far enough in the rehab to be able to play golf. Yet I still found plenty of things to keep me occupied for three days. Sea Island has a beach club. It has a riding stable. It has a shooting range. It has a spa. And frankly, it's a beautiful place to just sit in an Adirondack chair and read a good book.

But what it really has -- or what it is -- is a great golf facility. There are two magnificent courses: The Plantation, a Rees Jones renovation of a Walter Travis design. And the Seaside, a Tom Fazio renovation of a 1929 Harry Colt/Charles Alison layout. It has a world-class practice facility, which was the vision of the late great instructor, Davis Love Jr. A measure of Sea Island's excellence came last year, in the first-ever Golf World Readers' Choice Awards, when readers voted it No. 3 in the Best Resort category.

Sea Island also has -- with all due respect to Augusta National's Magnolia Lane -- one of the great driveways in golf: "Avenue of the Oaks," a two-mile ride from the main entrance of the resort through a breathtaking row of centuries-old oak trees to the Lodge, the award-winning hotel located at the golf side of the resort. As an acquaintance said to me recently when we were comparing notes on our visits to Sea Island, "Once your front wheels hit the Avenue of the Oaks, you can't help but believe all is right with the world."

Shortly after turning onto Avenue of the Oaks, visitors will pass Kings Lane, a residential street next to the Plantation Course. Located there, at 4 Kings Lane, is our Golf Home of the Week.

This 3,300 square foot home overlooks the third green of the Plantation. The home was built in 1988, but has had only one owner, and is currently unoccupied. It has three bedroom and four full baths (along with two half-baths). The list price is $1.597 million, but that does not include golf privileges. The new owners would get the chance to apply for membership to the Sea Island Golf Club, which costs $150,000 -- but comes with all the amenities described above.

Klickie Aiken of Georgia Coast Realty, who is handling the listing on 4 Kings Lane, calls this a "rare opportunity." Why? "Because there are just 21 homes on Kings Lane," she explains, "there aren't many chances to move into this special location."

For more houses in the St. Simons Island, Ga., check out Zillow.com.

-- G.R.

Bluffton, S.C.'s Rose Hill Golf Club ceased operations a couple of years ago when its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection. Rumors swirled that condos would be built on the site. It became a true eyesore as you drove along Highway 278 outside Hilton Head.

But then...a rescue. Property owners in the community surrounding the course, Rose Hill Plantation, rallied together and bought the club last year. They hired a management company, yanked out all the weeds, and reopened a few months ago with 18 holes (down from 27). In the words of local real estate Kevin King, it's "looking pretty good."

The semi-private club, about 20 minutes from Hilton Head and half an hour from downtown Savannah, Ga., is the site of our Golf Home of the Week, a regular Deeds & Weeds feature. Thanks to our friends at the real estate site Zillow.com for helping us identify the home.

The address is 17 Fairway Drive in Bluffton, S.C. 29910. This three-bedroom, two-and-half bath home was built in 1994 and has roughly 2,500 square feet. Sitting on about half an acre with very mature landscaping, it overlooks the eighth hole of the West nine. The asking price: $359,000.

That, as listing agent King points out, is a pretty good price point in the Hilton Head area. Sure, you can find less expensive golf course homes in the region -- there are some tract-style homes in the mid $200,000s -- but most are far more expensive. Yes, even in this market...

Joining the club requires a one-time fee of $2,850, or you can pay $500 a year for seven years. The Rose Hill Plantation community dues are $1,500 a year.

Here are some additional Bluffton homes for sale on Zillow.com.

-- P.F.

For the second time in a row, Golf Home of the Week takes us to Arizona -- only this time we're going up in the mountains to Flagstaff, about 2 1/2 hours by car from Phoenix. This home, identified for us by our friends at Zillow.com, is just across from the 12th hole on the highly decorated Canyon Course in the gated Forest Highlands community.

No, it's not on the course. But it's an easy stroll over to the tee box.

The asking price: $610,000.

This house is unusual among Forest Highlands properties. It's small -- three bedrooms, 1,700 square feet -- but unlike a lot of the "cottages" within Forest Highlands, it's surrounded by larger homes. It sits on a nicely wooded lot of a little less than half an acre, notes listing agent Eileen Schreiber of Russ Lynn Sotheby's International Realty.

Membership in the Forest Highlands club comes with the property, though new members are required to make a $32,000 "capital contribution."

Because Forest Highlands really is in high lands (elevation 7,000 feet), the courses are mainly used for sledding in the winter months. But from May through October, they offer some of the best golf you'll find anywhere. Canyon, a Tom Weiskopf/Jay Morrish design, is ranked No. 1 in the state by Golf Digest. Forest Highlands' other course is Meadow, a Weiskopf layout that's ranked No. 8 in Arizona.

Here are some additional Flagstaff homes for sale on Zillow.com.

-- P.F.

Welcome to Golf Home of the Week, a new feature that will showcase homes for sale in notable golf communities throughout the country. Special thanks to the real estate web site Zillow.com, which is helping us find these properties.

This week's home is 40450 N. 102nd Place, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85262.

Click on the address above to visit this house's profile on Zillow, with additional pictures, maps, a "Zestimate" of the home's value, and more.

It's not a bargain-basement home, by any stretch. The asking price is $1.995 million. But that' s down from $2.8 million a year ago. Annual taxes: $7,878.

This is a three-bedroom, three-bath home in Scottsdale's Desert Mountain community. It measures roughly 4,000 square feet and sits on nearly two acres of landscaped (but otherwise undeveloped) property. There's room to expand.

Inside, you get dramatic views in every direction. The one you'll see first when walking through the front door is the second hole on Desert Mountain's Geronimo course.

The house has a barbeque area, deck, pool, a hot tub and a pool.

The home comes with a membership in the Desert Mountain Club, which agent Linda Salkow values at $325,000. The club has six Jack Nicklaus-designed courses, five restaurants, nine tennis courses and a spa. All private, of course.

The clubhouse for Desert Mountain's Geronimo and Cochise courses is an easy stroll down a paved walkway from this home.

The house was on the market for about a year at $2.8 million. That was before Salkow got the listing. She put it on the market at its current price last October.

Salkow concedes the house could "use a little updating," though nothing major. This is partly why it's "the least expensive home in the most exclusive neighborhood in Desert Mountain," in her words.That neighborhood is known as Deer Run. It has only 13 buildable lots.

Here are some additional Scottsdale homes for sale on Zillow.com.

-- P.F.