Sea Island GR
St. Simmons Island (or Sea Island), GA (about 90 minutes north of Jacksonville FL)
Golf Digest, 5/08
T&L Golf, May 2006
Seaside: 1999, Tom Fazio
Plantation: 1929, Dick Wilson
Retreat: Davis Love III
Seaside: 6550, Par 70, 126
'03 Fees: $185-$225 (includes forecaddy--I friggin' hope so!)
T&L Golf Review, Seaside Course: 5/5 stars. 18 consecutive postcard holes. You're dropped directly into the fryer; the first 4 holes conclude with the course's toughest, a 421-yard par 4 into the wind. The gauzy Low Country light and swaying golden reeds of the marshlands calm the nerves in dealing with Ross-like crowned greens and tightly mown chipping areas. The fairways are edged with white sand, flowers, and ferns, and the bunkers are like catcher's mitts. The personable caddies add to the throwback atmosphere; Player: "Putt looks pretty straight to me." Caddie: "There are no straight putts at Seaside, sir."
Golf Digest Review, 5/08: Play all three courses, but try to play them in this order: Plantation, Retreat (both $230 peak, $200 off-peak) and Seaside ($325 peak, $250 off-peak). Plantation is a good warm-up for the other two. Redesigned by Rees Jones in 1998, its back nine is better than the front. I especially liked 10 and 18, which are near the porch of the Lodge and have views of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Retreat is a few minutes down the road from the Lodge and was redesigned by Davis Love III and his brother, Mark, in 2001. It's inland and set among trees and houses, but hole by hole it's a better course than Plantation.
The reason you should play Seaside last is that it's by far the best. The minute you finish playing Seaside, redesigned by Tom Fazio in 1999, you want to play it again, and you might not especially care about the other two anymore. That's not a knock on Plantation or Retreat but more a compliment to Seaside. They're all good walking courses, and I recommend taking a caddie. The stories they tell about the history of the property make it a better experience.
2010 Update from Golf Digest Senior Travel Editor Matty G.: "2007 multi-year, multi-million dollar upgrade: the renovation of three golf courses, two new private courses and all the infrastructure that goes with it; the rebuilding of the Cloister, the addition of the Lodge, a beach club, a spa the size of several football fields... Both the Cloister and the Lodge have since returned to earning five stars... led up to the 2009 economic downturn and Sea Island Co.’s bankruptcy... the sale of the resort is pending in October... staff was cut from 2,300 to a number closer to 1,000... 2010 has been busy with reduced rates, the resort was packed for my stay; I couldn’t get a room at the Lodge on a Saturday night. Colt & Alison, the formal steak house at the Lodge, was busy all three nights I was there. Most of the local merchants were claiming their busiest summer in years. The golf courses, the Plantation and Seaside, one of my favorite resort courses in the country, even after a 40-percent cut in the maintenance budget, were in great shape. (The Seaside course is the host of this week’s PGA Tour event, the McGladrey Classic.) Service was still better than almost every high-end resort I’ve been to in the country."
Best Bar Nearby: A perfect spot for post-round drinks is the on-premisis Oak Room Bar, patterned after NYC's famous Oak Bar. Named to Golf Digest's 2008 50 Best 19th Holes list. "See dolphins surfacing in the bay outside the windows of the Oak Room bar at the Lodge; the mojito is the drink of choice in this dark-wood, four-sided bar, and be sure to order the black-eyed pea hummus and homemade flatbread; live music always seems to be playing, including 'great bagpipes at dusk.' "
Where To Grub: T&L Golf likes The Cloister Main Dining Room if you can afford it (Sea Island at the Cloister, 800-732-4752, Continental, $$$$). The formal restaurant offers a combination of classic and new cuisines in a romantic setting, with a vast wine list. OR, the on-premisis Colt & Alison's will only set you back one paycheck (100 Retreat Ave, St Simmons Island, 800-732-4752, Steak, $$$). Jackets required, but the superb dry-aged beef and excellent wine list produce a joviality that keeps stuffiness well at arm's length despite the elegant atmosphere. Also on-premisis, The Terrace (Continental, $$$) is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Continental cuisine with a Southern flair. The fried lobster tail is highly recommended. For some local flavor, Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives digs Southern Soul Barbeque (www.southernsoulbbq.com, 2020 Demere Rd, St. Simmons Island).
Where To Stay: The Lodge at Sea Island (100 Retreat Ave, St Simmons Island, $450 & up offpeak, $650 & up peak/night) is a Mobil 5 star hotel. Consider, randomly, the bathroom: heated towel bars, safety button in the shower to start the hot water, unfogging mirrors, and speakers to pipe in the TV. 24 hour butler service, 5 miles of private beach, and stables on-premisis. Named as one of Golf Magazine's 2003 "50 Coolest Places In Golf", and Golf Digest says it's better than the big brother Cloister hotel for buddy trips or couples.
Further Distractions: If it weren't for the pull of the Oak Bar, after the round you'll likely head straight for the Lodge's pool oasis. Splurge and rent an air-conditioned poolside cabana.
The shooting school is a great place to release golf frustration. There's a five-stand sporting-clay field, two skeet ranges and a trap field. Private or group lessons are available for beginners and novices ($100 an hour per person; shells are $39 per box). Ask instructor Jimmy Duncan to show you his shooting skills. Poor "birds" don't stand a chance. Or try the 100-minute stone massage at the Lodge spa ($280).
The New Sea Island
Its famous Cloister hotel has been spectacularly rebuilt and is now even grander than ever. Here, Mark Love and family lead an exclusive tour.
From T&L Golf May 2006
by John Paul Newport
In the last frantic months of construction of the new Cloister hotel at Sea Island, Bill Jones III remembered a letter he had received from a ten-year-old boy worried about what happened to the frogs in the old Cloister's pond. As patriarch of the family that has owned the Georgia resort since its founding in 1928, Jones takes input from his constituents seriously. So he ordered a new pond built for the frogs. It was completed in a matter of weeks.
So it goes at Sea Island, where, when change comes, it's always with a nod to tradition. The voluptuous new hotel, which opened in April with a price tag said to be $250 million, might seem to be a cause for grumbling by fourth and fifth generation Sea Island residents and regular visitors. Not so. In part that's because the hotel has only one hundred guest rooms, making it essentially a boutique hotel in keeping with the island's tradition of intimate hospitality. For another thing, the Jones' Sea Island Company went to extremes to incorporate elements of the old Cloister into the new. The Spanish Lounge, a quasi-medieval hall with stained-glass windows and an oversize hearth, was taken apart brick by brick and reassembled. The solarium, although architecturally fresh, has the same cozy feel as the old one. And, yes, there will be a place for bingo, which still draws hundreds on summer evenings, the men and boys in jackets and ties.
The decision to rebuild at the site of the old Cloister, instead of two hundred yards east on the beach, was also tradition-bound. "That my grandfather helped choose the location made it special," Jones said. The new building includes many old-style resort details, such as a dark-paneled smoking room, a library, a clubroom with a bandstand for tea dances and a bright formal dining room with an antebellum ambience. As for beachfront property, the resort does have fifty-six hotel rooms available in its Ocean Houses and a rental pool of privately owned "cottages."
The new Cloister is not the only big change Jones has engineered. His father and grandfather, schooled by the Depression, were conservative about spending. But Jones III came to believe that success depended on having world-class facilities. First he expanded and renovated the three golf courses, originally laid out by the likes of Walter Travis, Harry S. Colt and Charles H. Alison. In 2000 he opened the princely forty-room Lodge at the golf club. Later this year he will open a 65,000-square-foot destination spa, followed by a new beach club and restaurant complex in 2007.
Jones insists that what hasn't changed at Sea Island is the famously "heartfelt" service and attention to detail. That may be true, but the resort's overall evolution has altered the composition of the Sea Island–St. Simons Island community. "It used to be mostly locals like us and retirees," said Lynn Love, who like her husband, Mark, grew up in the area. "But the influx now is young families and professionals." Local three-story height restrictions help prevent overdevelopment, as does the Sea Island Company's penchant for underbuilding its properties. Take its new ultraprivate Frederica development: Anchored by a Tom Fazio course for which scores of towering live oaks were transplanted, it was originally zoned for six thousand units. Instead it will have only 350 homes on $1 million–plus lots. A family-owned business can afford to take the long view.
Sea Island Resorts: the Cloister, Ocean Houses and Lodge
Sea Island, Georgia. Rooms: from $725 peak/$550 off-peak (Lodge: from $700). Golf: Plantation (redesigned by Rees Jones, 1998); Seaside (redesigned by Tom Fazio, 2000); and Retreat (renovated by Davis Love III, 2001). Greens Fees: $170–$250. Call 800-732-4752 or visit www.seaisland.com.