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.
This course was reviewed as part of a broader Journal entry exploring public golf courses in the Hilton Head area.
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)