The Ford Field and River Club

This property, just a half-hour south of Savannah, was once the winter retreat of Henry Ford and his family, but golf didn't arrive until the 1980s when a new owner hired Pete Dye to build a course. Dropped blindly on any of the holes on the first nine and you might think you were at almost any of Dye's southeastern courses--is this Harbour Town? Oak Marsh? Long Cove Club or Barefoot Resort? The tells are all there, from the moss-draped oaks to the strip bunkers to the bulkheaded water features and moguls and hollows surrounding small greens. But there's no mistaking the second nine for anywhere else. These holes circle over an open isthmus of land projecting into the Ogeechee River. The treeless plain is full of Dye's architecture that looks particularly good in this exposed setting, particularly the wonderful drive and pitch 10th with a green set hard against the water, the par-4 14th with a bunkerless elevated green, and a nice rendition of his often used 5-3-4 finish tacking back toward the large antebellum clubhouse. The six-time host of the Georgia Open is also full of dozens of alligators that blissfully bask on the banks.