Best golf courses near Isle Of Palms, SC

Often considered to be the first course designed for a specific event—the 1991 Ryder Cup—this manufactured linksland-meets-lagoons layout might well be Pete Dye’s most diabolical creation. Every hole is edged by sawgrass, every green has tricky slopes, every bunker merges into bordering sand dunes. Strung along nearly three miles of ocean coast, Dye took his wife’s advice and perched fairways and greens so golfers can actually view the Atlantic surf. That also exposes shots and putts to ever-present and sometimes fierce coastal winds. The Ocean Course will forever be linked with Phil Mickelson and his improbable victory at the 2021 PGA Championship.

Though it contained a classic collection of Raynor favorites, including a Road Hole, a Biarritz, a Redan and even a Prize Dogleg (based on an entry from a 1914 magazine design contest), Yeamans Hall suffered from benign neglect for 50 years, with bunkers overgrown and greens both shrunk by mowing habits and mushroomed by topdressing. But in the later 1980s, the course superintendent discovered Raynor’s original plans in the clubhouse attic. Architect Tom Doak and his then-associate Jim Urbina used the plans to faithfully restore Raynor features. Urbina continues to implement restoration touches.

You’d never know the Bulls Bay site was agricultural land indistinguishable from everything else for miles around. Strantz completely transformed the terrain of this property north of Charleston by excavating earth and creating a ridge on one side of the course. With the clubhouse sitting atop, it’s the focal point of the course and provides elevation changes uncommon for the lowcountry with several holes playing into and off of the high ground. The lower holes are just as enticing with a mix of long and short par 4s, four lovely and diverse par 3s, two boomerang par 5s and a stretch of holes that border Capers Creek and the Intracoastal Waterway.

The Links course at Wild Dunes, designed by Tom Fazio, is one of Charleston's best public options with views of coastal marshes, lagoons, the Intercoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. The course hosted the 1985 U.S. Senior Amateur.

Daniel Island Club's Ralston Creek course is one of the best courses in South Carolina. Check our experts reviews and how they rate the courses.

Wild Dunes Resort: Harbor, in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, is one of the best public courses in the state. Read our experts reviews here.