The Journal is where CR&J captures the breadth of our golf experience; courses played, places traveled, and ideas that don’t always warrant a full architectural review. Not every course demands 4,000 words, but many still deserve to be seen, rated, and contextualized. The Journal allows us to build a meaningful ratings record, explore regional golf, and document how courses fit into the larger landscape of the game. In each Journal entry, we will try to provide short-form ratings for three to five courses in the same general geographic area.
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Courses Reviewed in this Journal:
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Course Review: Atlantic Dunes
CR&J Final Rating: 60/80 (Best in State List Contender)
Atlantic Dunes is one of two little-sibling courses to Harbour Town Golf Links and was originally designed by George Cobb. Atlantic Dunes was reconstructed by Davis Love III in 2016 (he is now leading the restoration of Harbour Town). Originally dubbed the Ocean Course, Atlantic Dunes is actually the oldest course on Hilton Head Island. Notably, the reconstruction was not a “redesign,” per se. The par-values of each of the holes remained the same, but for the tenth and eleventh holes. Other than those two holes, the green sites, water hazards, and general shapes of each hole are the same as they were before. It appears Davis Love III focused his work on changing bunker placement and redesigning the tenth and eleventh holes.
Atlantic Dunes now combines a bit of Pinehurst aesthetic with some callbacks to the design language of Pete Dye, and a routing established by George Cobb. Remarkably, it blends quite well into one cohesive course. That is mostly because the routing remains unchanged from the original design, and the improved bunker placement and aesthetic brings the course up to modern standards.
What Works: We found Atlantic Dunes to be well conditioned, moderately challenging (mostly due to the repeated and constant threat of water hazards), and fun. Atlantic Dunes has a design language that is internally consistent. I once referred to Shingle Creek as having different colors of Play-Doh pressed together; Atlantic Dunes is the opposite — a fruit smoothie. The influences are blended into something cohesive rather than clashing or competing. The course is particularly strong in its par-4 holes, having strategic short holes, doglegs that work each way, and lengthy, challenging holes.
Best Hole: From an architectural perspective, Atlantic Dunes doesn’t have any “standout” holes, but rather, a nice collection of solid holes that compliment each other. However, my favorite was likely the mid-length par-4 sixteenth.
The hole aggressively doglegs to the right from an elevated tee. The tee shot works between three bunkers on the inside of the dogleg, and a messy waste-like set of bunkers on the outside of the dogleg. Unless you have a big fade in the bag with driver, the hole essentially forces a tricky layup between the bunkers, and the more aggressive that layup is, the tighter the fairway, more trouble, and more fade is required.
Basically, this hole gives you a nice, safe layup option, and provides the option for a player to try a heroic shot from the tee by precisely controlling a very large fade. Once in the fairway, the green is large in both depth and width but is protected by a lion’s mouth bunker right on the centerline of the green, which can make front pins tricky. I liked this hole best because it was the most atypical of the par-4 holes, but one of the most strategic.
Interesting Hole: While perhaps not the most architecturally interesting hole at Atlantic Dunes, the mid-length par-3 fifteenth is the most famous, signature hole, due to its view of the Atlantic Ocean. Undoubtedly the most aesthetic hole at the course, with the green framed by the sand dunes and lone tree, stepping on the putting surface reveals one of two holes on the entirety of the island that have ocean frontage. I also love Love III’s usage of the railroad ties surrounding the short waste area, which blend the course with Pete Dye’s Heron Point and Harbour Town Golf Links.
Limitations: While I was complimentary of Love III’s decision to stick with the original routing, as it does make the course feel more intentional and cohesive, that original routing also served to box the reconstruction into some decisions that Love III may not have chosen to build himself. A few of the holes, particularly the sixth, eighth, twelfth, and the finishing seventeenth and eighteenth are probably holes that could have used a more significant redesign. These holes give off the impression that Love III was simply making the best out of the situation he inherited. Atlantic Dunes is surrounded by homes, so there was very little blank canvas here to reimagine. Where they did reimagine, on the tenth and eleventh, I found those holes to be a bit pedestrian, but the eleventh does present some real options off the tee as a short par-4. The original routing was a catch-22, a blessing and a curse, because it is good but not great. The course feels cohesive and like a complete round of golf but packaged and boxed in a layout that is just getting the most out of what it has to offer.
Final Thoughts: Atlantic Dunes is a wonderful resort course, and would make a great members course as well, if one lived in Sea Pines. It is certainly worth playing on any trip to Hilton Head, and while the routing and the individual holes don’t lead to any truly buzzworthy holes, they form a cohesive set of eighteen holes that present a ton of variety and distinctiveness. I’d consider it a must play on a trip to Harbour Town Golf Links.
CR&J Final Rating
of Atlantic Dunes:
Shot Options: 7; Challenge: 6; Layout Variety: 9; Distinctiveness: 8; Aesthetics: 7; Conditioning: 8; Character: 8; Fun: 7.
Total: 60/80 (Best in State List Contender)
Course Review: Heron Point
CR&J Final Rating: 55/80 (Very Good)
The dueling sibling course of Atlantic Dunes and the third of the Sea Pines collection on Hilton Head Island is Heron Point, a Pete Dye reconstruction opened in 2007, which was a reconstruction of the Sea Pines’ Sea March course, designed by none other than 1964 Pete Dye. Pete Dye’s design language changed considerably from 1964 to 2007, and the 2007 version of the course probably is more recognizably Pete Dye. Heron Point delivers all the small pot bunkers, long skinny bunkers, random bunkers, visual clutter, and railroad ties you’d normally expect. Heron Point was in similar condition as Atlantic Dunes, but had a distinctly different character, reflecting Dye’s bold design language.
What Works: Pete Dye kind of always works, particularly in his more modern form. Like Atlantic Dunes, Pete was kind of boxed in by his prior work here but adapted it into some inventive hole designs that were distinctively his own. A few of the holes remind me of TPC Sawgrass, just with a more lowcountry vibe. The first and eighteenth could be put right into TPC Sawgrass or Dye Fore and feel like they belong. However, unlike any of the other Dye courses I’ve played, Pete used a ton of hard doglegs at Heron Point, likely boxed in by his early shot-shaping dominant course design. The fifth, ninth, eleventh, and seventeenth all elbow at more than 50-degrees. This creates a hybrid of the two Pete Dyes; one that forces some shot shaping to occur, but also has to deal with the typical Dye hazards and traps.
Best Hole: The massively redesigned eighteenth hole takes best hole at Heron Point, as I am a sucker for a short, option-laden par-4 hole. This one is under 400-yards and works its way around a lake to the left, with a classic Pete Dye flat-bottom skinny bunker between the fairway and the lake that ends right at the end of the driving area. This hole, just a two-option hole is just Pete Dye executing good golf design in a simplistic way.
Pete gives a reasonable option to use driver but pinches the landing area between the angling bunkers to just 25 or so yards, narrowing by the yard. However, the reward might be worth it, because if the player succeeds, the second shot is played from a great angle right up the green, and the second shot will not have to travel over the water hazard on its flight to the green. The second option from the tee is to hit less than driver, which plays into a football field of width behind the angling bunker. But if the fairway is hit, a longer approach awaits from a cornering angle that makes the green much shallower and requires some water carry. The hole is a masterclass on simple, effective course design.
Interesting Hole: I have got to be honest, I’m not really sure what Dye was thinking on this mid-length par-5. First the hole requires you to navigate a very short, forced layup into a tight area of fairway. The tee shot tests distance control with a fairway wood more than direction. Then, the hole aggressively turns at around a 100-degree angle to the left leaving another shot of the same distance into the green.
I am not a huge fan of forced-layup par-5s, but I think it is okay sometimes; this one feels particularly penal and disorienting due to the nose of that inside bunker choking any depth out of the fairway. This was a unique and memorable par-5, but perhaps not the most rewarding; the best way to play this hole is probably with three irons.
Limitations: Much like Atlantic Dunes, the limitations that Dye faced when rebuilding this course was that his canvas had been boxed in by houses from the previous routing, leaving little room for adjustments. I’d imagine he may have made a few different decisions if he were truly rebuilding the course on a blank canvas. Where he had more room, he did make significant changes on the first and eighteenth holes that are less surrounded by residential real estate. Comparing Heron Point with Atlantic Dunes is inevitable due to them sharing the same property and clubhouse, so I will partake. Heron Point is less aesthetic than Atlantic Dunes, and the holes are significantly less distinctive. The holes that really stand out in my mind are the first and second, fifth and sixth, ninth, eleventh, and eighteenth. Many of the other holes get lost inside my mind.
Final Thoughts: Pete Dye being Pete Dye, the course is challenging and has a lot of that Pete Dye character that you would expect. Heron Point has a distinct and different character than Atlantic Dunes and Harbour Town, due to that difference in Dye’s modern design language, and represents a moderately fun round with a few questionable design decisions. Overall, if I were staying at Sea Pines, I would play Heron Point, but I would probably pass it up on a non-Sea Pines trip, just due to the abundance of golf in the area. That said, Heron Point is a legitimate, modern Pete Dye design, and is comfortably in the best five or six courses, public or private, on Hilton Head Island.
CR&J’s Final Rating
of Heron Point:
Shot Options: 7; Challenge: 7; Layout Variety: 7; Distinctiveness: 5; Aesthetics: 6; Conditioning: 8; Character: 8; Fun: 7.
Total: 55/80 (Very Good)
Course Review: Dolphin Head Golf Club
CR&J Final Rating: 49/80 (Good)
Dolphin Head is a Gary Player designed course on the opposite side of HHI as Sea Pines and is a semi-private club with both a membership and public tee times available. I was a bit surprised by Dolphin Head, as we booked a last minute tee time to play and, from Google Maps, I wasn’t expecting much. However, Dolphin Head was in above-average shape on my day of play. The course is not a difficult or long course, playing only 6,600 yards from the back tees. Although a tier below Atlantic Dunes or Heron Point, Dolphin Head made for an enjoyable round and had some really solid holes.
What Works: Dolphin Head has a lot of very forgettable golf holes but a couple of really good ones. Those good holes are spaced in a frequency that keeps a player engaged and the forgettable holes aren’t bad holes that take away any enjoyment of the round. The course was in good enough shape for the price point in which it operates, has a number of water features, and relatively wide playing corridors. Gary Player used a lot of doglegs here, some with forced layups, but there is enough variety of left/right to keep in interesting. If you pay attention on the fourteenth hole, you can even sneak a peak of the ocean and Dolphin Head park through the trees on the left.
Best Hole: The best hole at Dolphin Head has to be the risk-reward finishing par-5, a shorter-length, heroic hole that presents two distinct options.
The tree that I have circled in red is the critical element to this hole. If the drive finishes in the area just short of the cart path, this tree will force your decision to either be: (1) a draw around the tree to the green, requiring something like 200 yards to reach the green, or (2) a layup to the area before the elbow. It also looks like at some point the past, an alternate right tee and right fairway existed that would have made this a par-4. All around, it’s a very interesting design that brings 3 or 7 into the fold, depending on how that second shot is navigated and executed.
Interesting Hole: I really enjoyed the mid-length par-4 eighth hole that has a bit of a double dogleg, asking for a fade from the tee but a draw on approach. The tee shot will probably be played with less than driver, as the lake on the left appears around 280 yards from the furthest tee. However, if you can shape a fade with driver, between the bunker and lake, the option certainly exists and would provide a better angle on approach. Most will likely layup squarely between the two bunkers and play a draw into the green. I’m a real fan of this hole design, generally, as that gentle bend back to the left in the last 100 yards introduces real decision-making and strategy.
Limitations: Dolphin Head is not conditioned like Harbour Town, certainly a step below that, but that’s expected because there’s $400 in between those green fees. The bunkers were a bit spotty, but nothing that affected playability. Player’s design is decent here, but as I mentioned, too many of the holes are pedestrian and forgettable, including the first few holes. The fifth and sixth are mirrored holes, with one doglegging wildly right while the other goes wildly left, both with forced layups off the tee. The back nine has forgettable stretches, as well. The course has strong holes: the fourth, eighth, ninth, fourteenth, sixteenth, and eighteenth all make up the price of admission. But nobody would mistake Dolphin Head as being the type of course that would be contending for Best in State list, due to its relative lack of aesthetics, distinctiveness, and pedestrian character.
Final Thoughts: Dolphin Head is a better than average round of golf nationally, but likely a dead average round of Hilton Head golf, which enjoys a plethora of good courses on the island and nearby Bluffton. I think Dolphin Head is probably a bit underrated for the area and is worthy of a play. For us as a last minute tee time, it was great, but I’m not sure I would go out of my way to play it, given everything else that is in the area. But if you are looking for a strong round on a more reasonable budget than most HHI area courses, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Dolphin Head.
CR&J Final Rating
of Dolphin Head Golf Club:
Shot Options: 7; Challenge: 5; Layout Variety: 7; Distinctiveness: 5; Aesthetics: 6; Conditioning: 6; Character: 5; Fun: 8.
Total: 49/80 (Good)
Author: Jaxon MacGeorge
Jaxon is the founder and lead course reviewer at The Course Review & Journal. Jaxon has been playing golf for over twenty years, is a scratch handicap, and actively competes in USGA and Tennessee Golf Association amateur events. By trade, Jaxon is an attorney and lives in Gallatin, TN, a suburb of Nashville.
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