Charleston SC Golf Weekend

Golf Digest, 3/10

Drinking Made Easy, 2012

Golf Magazine, 7/09

My Town:  LPGA Tour Pro Beth Daniels' Charleston

By Ron Sirak, Golf Digest

A large part of the charm of Charleston, S.C., is that while it was the cultural and economic center of the pre-Civil War South, economic malaise for much of the 20th century spared it the ravages of urban renewal. So much of the old city is perfectly preserved, it truly feels like a trip back in time. The porches and window boxes alone are worth the trip.

Beth Daniel was raised in the midst of the city's throwback joys. The LPGA Hall of Famer started playing golf at CC of Charleston when she was 6, and though she now lives in Florida, she returns often to visit family and friends. Needless to say her passion for her hometown has never moved away.

COURSES I like the Fazio course at Wild Dunes Resort. You really get a feel for the ocean and the beach. It's a neat layout that winds through the sand dunes. All the courses at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort are really good, but I play the Nicklaus one the most. The Ocean Course is great, but it beats you to a pulp. Of course, people like to play that one because they want to see it. The GC at Briar's Creek, designed by Rees Jones, also is a lot of fun. You look across the river right into Kiawah, which is beautiful. It's private so you'll have to finesse your way on. Then there is Cassique GC, which is very unusual. Two other private courses that are worth making the effort to get on if you can arrange it with a member are the CC of Charleston, where I learned the game, and Yeamans Hall CC.

DINING & NIGHTLIFE This is a town for food, especially in the downtown peninsula area. Garibaldi Cafe has an Italian flavor, but it also has a little bit of everything. Anson is a great place in the Market area. Magnolias on East Bay has a huge bar and is a great place to meet people. Loud but fun. Athens Restaurant & Grill is a place the locals know off the beaten path. You can walk in there right from the course in your golf clothes. Triangle Char and Bar on Savannah Highway is an old gas station turned into a fantastic sports bar. You don't expect good food in a sports bar, but they have it. TVs are everywhere. My parents love it, and we always go when I'm home. The other place is Bessinger's. It's the best barbecue in the world.

WHERE TO STAY The Planter's Inn right on the corner of Market and Meeting Streets puts you in the middle of everything. The Charleston Place Hotel, which is also on Meeting Street, is where my Hall of Fame party was. The rooms are awesome, and they have a great spa. The bed-and-breakfast places are a dime a dozen in Charleston, and they are all really good, very quaint and romantic.

DON'T MISS Take a bus tour or a carriage tour and you can see all kinds of history. Just remember, some of the drivers make up their own history. They also have bike and walking tours of the downtown area. Go to Middleton Place Gardens or Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. The South Carolina Aquarium on the harbor is fantastic. The Confederate Museum has a lot of cool artifacts, and the Hunley Museum displays a submarine that was sunk in the harbor during the Civil War and was salvaged several years ago.

Where To Booze & Grub, Charleston: 

Maxim's Bar Tour of the genteel city of the South, Charleston—a.k.a. Chucktown:

Your Cotton-mouthed crawl starts here, y’all.

11 a.m. Closed for Business
What’s wrong with snarfing spiced barbecue pork rinds and sampling craft beers in a cozy room that feels kind of like Grandma’s basement? Absolutely nothing.

1 p.m. Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park
When the minor-league RiverDogs are in town, part-owner Bill Murray (yes, that one) often shows up to cheer them on and down a hot dog topped with slaw and pickled okra.

2 p.m. Poe’s Tavern
Across Charleston Harbor is the beach town of Sullivan’s Island, where this tavern serves up cheap beer, fat burgers, and subtle nods to its namesake, like “Edgar’s Drunken Chili.”

3 p.m. Market Street Saloon
It’s a familiar concept: shot girls in halters and short shorts shaking it on the bar. Doesn’t get old, though, does it?

5 p.m. Voodoo Tiki Bar & Lounge
Drinks for sharing, a dizzying tequila menu, and weird Hawaiian-inspired food like teriyaki Spam kabobs? Sounds barfproof to us.

8 p.m. Silver Dollar
This packed college bar hosts Greek parties and features dollar bourbon specials twice a week. That’s $1 for real drinks, not shots. These are real Southern gentlemen.

10 p.m. Big John’s Tavern
When Charleston son John Cannady left the NFL in 1954, he opened this old-fashioned dive, which attracts sports lovers, pool players, local bands, and serious drinkers only.

For more Charleston booze & grub, see also: Wild Dunes GL

Zane Lamprey's Drinking Made Easy Guide To Charleston, 2012

Charleston, South Carolina is known for its good manners and for its historic architecture which is why many describe the city as a ‘Living Museum’. Zane and Steve get to check out some of the fine drinking establishments and taste breakfast drinks, fizzy gin drinks, classical drinks, and even some drinks chilled to -320 degrees.

WHERE WE WENT

  • Husk: Located in downtown historic Charleston, Husk offers traditional gourmet meals that pay homage to Charleston culture. With their innovative freestanding bar, Husk offers drinks which they describe as “designed to honor the traditional spirits of the Southern table and trace the historical lineage of regional mixology.” 76 Queen St Charleston, SC 29401 (843) 577-2500
  • The Gin Joint: This pre-prohibition style “gin joint” offers up that timely speak-easy vibe with friendly bow-tie wearing bartenders and a huge selection of gin cocktails. The atmosphere is casually energetic yet refined. The drinks are classically made in a way that America’s original bartender would be proud. 182 East Bay Street, Charleston, SC 29401 (843) 577-6111
  • Red’s Ice House: As its name entails, this port side bar began as an ice house opened by Lewis ‘Red’ Simmons to provide ice to local fishermen. It was Red’s desire that it be transformed into a public gathering place at the water’s edge where locals and visitors, regardless of their age, wealth or culture, could gather, watch the boats go by and help celebrate, preserve and protect the rich and storied traditions of Shem Creek. 98 Church Street Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 (843) 388-0003
  • Grill 225: Like your martini shaken…stirred…super-chilled? Come experience the new NitrotiniTM cocktail, the latest unique luxury from the prime beef pioneer, Grill 225. Cooled to –320 degrees Fahrenheit, the Nitrotini is Charleston’s only cocktail super-chilled with liquid nitrogen. Choose from over 20 Nitrotini selections. 225 E. Bay Street, Charleston, SC 29401 (877) 440-2250
  • FIG Restaurant: Laid-back, eclectic and unpretentious, FIG is one part retro diner, one part neighborhood café, and one part elegant bistro. Warm hues, soft lighting and an unexpected quirkiness encourage guests to settle in, get comfortable, and have a great time. 232 Meeting Street Charleston, SC 29401 (843) 805-5900
  • Firefly Plantation: From muscadine grapes grown right on their property to real tea grown a couple of miles away at America’s only tea plantation, Firefly products are crafted with real ingredients, from their own backyard. Firefly Distillery opened its doors in 2008 and is one of the very few in the country to be both a vineyard and a distillery. 6617 Maybank Hwy Wadmalaw Island, SC 29487 (843) 559-0383

WHAT WE DRANK 

 Southern Screwdriver Recipe

 Poquito Picante Recipe

 Violet Fizz Recipe

 Slow Gin Fizz Recipe

 Gin Basil Smash Recipe

 Winchester Recipe

 South Side Swizzle Recipe

 Firefly Lemonade Recipe

 Nitro Mallow Recipe

 Negroni Recipe

What We Featured

  • Firefly Sweet Tea: “Created in a small still on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina, Firefly became the world’s first hand-crafted sweet tea flavored vodka. Keeping true to its Southern roots, Firefly is distilled four times, infused with tea grown on a plantation five miles from the distillery and blended with real Louisiana sugar cane. It tastes just like real sweet tea, but with an even sweeter kick! Imitators try to achieve the taste of tea with artificial flavors and you will instantly know the difference with one sip. The real stuff just tastes better!”
  • Firefly Skinny Tea: “Firefly Skinny Tea is our original sweet tea flavored vodka, minus the sugar. It is handcrafted, infused with real South Carolina tea. The difference is in the sweetener. Our Skinny Tea is made with Truvia™ (truvia.com)–naturally sweet and sugar free. Try Firefly with spring water over ice for a refreshing treat.”

Fun Facts

  • Due to its maintained architectural history, Charleston is often referred to as a “living museum”.
  • The “screwdriver” made its first print appearance in Time magazine, in 1949.
  • Charleston has been called the “best-mannered” city in the US.
  • In true Southern style, Husk treated the crew to what they refer to as “on of the best meals of their lives”.
  • The term “gin joint” became mainstream after its appearance in the 1942 film, Casablanca.
  • Vodka was rarely consumed outside Europe before the 1950′s.
  • The bow tie was made popular by Croatian mercenaries during Prussian wars in the 17th century.
  • Shem Creek has been used for fishing, shrimping, and travel since the 1600′s.
  • Ice houses were large buildings, normally built next to a natural source of water, made to store ice year round.
  • Marshmallows where first consumed by ancient Egyptians.
  • Nitrogen gas makes up 78.1% of the volume of the earth’s air.
  • Nitrogen is odorless, tasteless, and colorless.
  • A “Steve-Penis” is an accepted unit of measurement for something small.
  • Firefly utilizes tea leaves from America’s only tea plantation, just a couple of miles from their farm.
  • Sweet tea is mad by adding sugar to bags of black tea brewing in hot water while the mixture is still hot.
  • Firefly is both a distillery and a vineyard.
  • In the early 1900s, sweet tea was a luxury item used to ‘show off’ due to the expensive nature of tea, sugar, and ice.

Travelin' Joe's Guide to Charleston Golf Courses
By Joe Passov, Senior Editor (Courses/Rankings) 
Golf Magazine, July 29, 2009

If Rhett Butler were ever to patch things up with Scarlett, he would definitely take her to Charleston for at least a long weekend — with clubs in tow. Charleston, South Carolina is that rare destination that combines authentic Southern charm, a double dose of American history — both Revolutionary War and Civil War battles were waged here — and must-play trophy courses in one handsome package. Charleston is that rare bird in that it's equally compelling as a golf destination for families and couples as it is for buddy trips.

What's New in Town
It's mostly quiet on the Eastern front, with one wildly popular exception: The magic is back at Wild Dunes. The hole and course that put Charleston on the map was Wild Dunes Resort's 18th, on the Isle of Palms north of the city. The year was 1980, and Tom Fazio's first major solo design set tongues wagging and tee sheets ablaze, thanks to a rolling landscape draped with marshes, ancient oaks and scrub-covered dunes that Fazio called "an architect's dream."

Its par-5 18th hole, the Atlantic hard by the left edge, quickly became one of the most-photographed in golf. Encroaching real estate, a hurricane and conditioning issues knocked Wild Dunes down a few pegs, but the 18th (on a course renamed the Links, following the opening of its sibling, the Harbor, a few years later) always shined — until 2007, when an unwelcome visitor crashed the party: massive waves. Natural beach erosion hammered the 18th fairway for 20 months, eating away at the hole until the resort had no choice but to close it — then re-open it in 2008 as a par-3. Finally, after a comprehensive beach restoration project and assistance from Tom Fazio and his long-time associate Andy Banfield, Wild Dunes' 18th is back in action as a par-5. Once again, Wild Dunes' Links course is a must-play.

The Trophy Collection
With Wild Dunes' Links course intact again, it's certainly one of Charleston's stars, but make no mistake, there's only one giant in town: The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Resort. Its reputation as the nastiest resort course in the U.S. for sheer difficulty has been tough to shake, but the reality is that twice over the past 16 years, Pete Dye has softened The Ocean Course to where it's unquestionably great, not just hard. Ranked No. 28 in our Top 100 Courses in the U.S., the Ocean Course burst onto the scene as a four-month-old infant, hosting the 1991 "War by the Shore" Ryder Cup, blowing away players and spectators alike with its lethal, wind-addled blend of tidal marshland carries, grass- and scrub-covered coastal dunes and wildly undulating greens.

Today, the 7,356-yard layout plays much fairer, if still relentlessly tough (they can stretch it to 7,800 yards), yet it reels you in with its tranquil Lowcountry environment, a gorgeous new clubhouse and a finishing stretch of holes along the Atlantic that offers a second-to-none mix of beauty and brawn. To complete the big-time feel, it's walking-only, with caddies until noon. After proving a worthy test for the 2007 Senior PGA Championship, The Ocean Course hosts the flat-bellies for the PGA Championship in 2012.

At most resorts, Turtle Point would take center stage. Here, it's just a terrific test that's understandably overshadowed by its very big brother, The Ocean. Designed by Jack Nicklaus in 1981 and refurbished a couple of years back, Turtle Point is a low-profile treat with surprisingly tight fairways for a Nicklaus course. The greens are fairly shallow, often set on the diagonal and usually fronted by trouble (think typical early '80s Nicklaus), but once you're aboard, the flattish putting surfaces will allow for plenty of opportunities to hole putts. Holes zigzag through lush vegetation and meander along marshes and out to the ocean. The cake frosting here are 14, 15 and 16, holes that are actually closer to the Atlantic than any on The Ocean Course. You can hit a sunbather if you yank a shot. Some will argue that homes crowd too many of the holes, including those on the water, but all told, this Turtle will likely have you racing back for more.

It may lack any ocean holes, but Kiawah Island Resort's Osprey Point makes a compelling case for No. 2 at the resort — and a strong one at that. This 1988 Tom Fazio creation starts with its own terrific clubhouse, then tosses into the mix four large natural lakes, inlets of saltwater marsh and maritime forests of old live oaks, pines, palmettos and magnolias. Short, strategic par-4s, water on 15 holes and a network of wooden bridges that links one hole to the next distinguish Osprey Point.

Best of the Rest
Charleston's most underrated track is Cougar Point at Kiawah Island Resort, a 1996 Gary Player redesign of an earlier executive job his company did years before. The extended layout runs 6,875 yards, with a handful of holes routed along the Kiawah River. Being that it's a Kiawah course, it's not cheap to play, but resort packages help — and the graceful shaping, along with beautiful woods and marsh backdrops make for a very entertaining round.

Wild Dunes' sibling to the Links, the Harbor, is another Tom Fazio design that measures up pretty well with its bolder, more memorable brother. Nearly every hole encounters lakes, salt marshes or the Intracoastal Waterway — and it's significantly cheaper to play than the Links.

The Charleston area's best golf bargain is the Links at Stono Ferry, a Ron Garl design that's sprinkled with relics from the Revolutionary War. An appealing, if unmemorable front nine twists through the forests, but things heat up on the back nine, owing to a handful of scenic holes along the Intracoastal Waterway. The all-carry, 159-yard par-3 14th and the 343-yard, par-4 18th, with its new island green, are standouts.

The Oak Point Golf Club at Kiawah Island Resort is Kiawah Island's least-acclaimed track — and it's actually located just off-island, outside the Kiawah guard gates. A 1991 Clyde Johnston design, the course was substantially reworked five years back, with Johnston consulting. Hazards on nearly every hole might prove too much for some ball flight-challenged players, but alligator sightings, an interesting new par-3 9th and a slightly goofy, but undeniably beautiful par-4 closer that skirts Haulover Creek will linger long in memory.

Charleston National was intended to be an exclusive private club, but right before its opening 20 years ago, Hurricane Hugo altered that plan. Plenty of forced carries over marsh characterize this Rees Jones design, but handsome Lowcountry vistas of Hamlin Sound, Bulls Bay and the Intracoastal Waterway will make the sting of losing a few spheres more palatable.

Long a favorite of local residents Hootie and the Blowfish, Dunes West hits plenty of right notes in its 6,859-yard journey. Arthur Hills carved out this course in 1991 from land that was once part of the historic Lexington Plantation. The experience starts out so strong at the antebellum clubhouse that you may not want to venture onto the course, but ancient live oaks, tidal marshlands and Bermuda-topped dunes are all part of the challenge and beauty that serve as powerful enticements. The unusual closing hole is a 456-yard par-4 that tiptoes by the marsh, but there's a second green that's used on occasion that shortens the hole by 80 yards, but which is nearly encircled by sand.

In October 2006, Annika Sorenstam signed on to redesign Patriots Point Links, but zero progress has been made on that front. For now fans have to be content with a pretty plain design, yet one with stunning backdrops, on the banks of Charleston Harbor, with views of downtown Charleston, Fort Sumter and the neighboring sea islands. The closing four holes form an especially stirring stretch."