HILTON HEAD GOLF

Avid golfers will tell you, there’s no finer place than a golf course for kids to gain life skills and the leadership abilities they’ll need to make their mark on the world.

Knowing this, and knowing the challenges involved with creating affordable, community-based junior golf programs, the PGA Tour of America helped created The First Tee in 1997. Blending instruction on the game’s fundamentals with an eye on showing young players who those fundamentals apply to their lives, The First Tee spread quickly.

The members at Long Cove Club recently approved a golf course restoration plan that will begin in May. Founded in 1981, Long Cove is widely recognized as one of Pete Dye’s finest designs. The more than 7,000 yards, par 71 Long Cove course will close in May for a restoration plan that includes regrassing fairways with Celebration Bermuda, regrassing the greens with Tif Eagle Ultra Dwarf Bermuda, restoring bunkers to their original design, upgrading drainage systems, and replacing multiple bulkheads and all cart paths.

Sea Pines Resort announced its new Atlantic Dunes by Davis Love III golf course will open in October. The layout is a complete reconstruction and recreation of the resort's historic Ocean Course, the first built on Hilton Head Island. Love Golf Design, the firm founded by Davis and his brother Mark, has done numerous course designs and renovations in the region including Retreat at Sea Island in Sea Island, Georgia; Laurel Island Golf Club in Kingsland, Georgia; and the Love Course at Barefoot Resort in Myrtle Beach.

Harbour Town Clubhouse has been named the "New Public Clubhouse of the Year" by Golf Inc. magazine. For more than 20 years, Golf Inc. has annually honored premier new clubhouse designs. Nine projects earned scores high enough to be honored in this year's competition. Harbour Town Clubhouse's winning selection in the public category was announced in the magazine’s July/August issue. The clubhouse opened to rave reviews last March, just before the 2015 RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing.

Beijing, China, native Cheng Jin is the 2016 Players Amateur Champion. He joins an impressive list of past champions including Rickie Fowler and Bill Haas. The incoming University of Southern California freshman started the final round in the lead but bogied the first three holes, giving several others a chance at the win. “I had an awful start.

International Junior Golf Academy alumnae Shanshan Feng, Mariajo Uribe and Stephanie Meadow will be competing in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Last year, Feng, a native of Guangzhou, China, became the first player from China to win the Ladies European Tour’s Order of Merit after capping off her season with a victory at the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters. Bucaramanga, Colombia, native Uribe was the first Colombian to ever win a USGA title when she won the 2007 U.S.

Berkeley Hall Club recently announced the launch of the private club’s golf course enhancement and drainage improvement project. “Berkeley Hall is committed to providing a premier golf course experience,” said Adrian Morris, general manager and COO of Berkeley Hall Club. “The project will further upgrade our golf course playability, signifying an important investment in our community, one that will help us remain one of the premier golf communities in the Southeast.”

Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resortoffers some of the best golf on Hilton Head Island. Now it also offers the island's best custom club-fitting experience.

That's because Chris Wycoff, after running the island's most successful custom club-fitting business at his Golf Etc. store, has moved his SwingFit operation to Palmetto Dunes and the Robert Trent Jones Ocean Course clubhouse. Wycoff didn't move his entire retail operation, of course, but he set up a covered hitting bay at the end of the range and a shop underneath the clubhouse where he has thousands of components on hand to build clubs for both resort guests and residents.

Sea Pines Resort has received the inaugural Editors' Choice Award from Golf Digest in the “Best Golf Resorts in the Americas” category. Other notable properties on the list included Pebble Beach Resorts, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Kiawah Island Golf Resort and Keswick Hall & Golf Club. Sea Pines’ iconic Harbour Town Golf Links also was recently ranked No. 2 in Golfweek's "Best Places You Can Play State-by-State" in South Carolina. The Inn & Club at Harbour Town — its 60-room boutique hotel — is currently rated No. 5 in Conde Nast Traveler's "Best Hotels in the U.S."