Hilton Head Sports

LOWCOUNTRY GOLF HALL OF FAME RECOGNIZES THOSE WHO PUT — AND KEEP — HILTON HEAD ATOP GOLFERS’ FAVORITE DESTINATIONS

For decades, Hilton Head Island, Bluffton and the rest of Beaufort County have been golf destinations, drawing thousands of players a year to private and public courses and communities made famous by the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing, movies such as “The Legend of Bagger Vance” and poll results that list Hilton Head as the favorite location for PGA Tour players. 

Since 1969, when swashbuckling Arnold Palmer mesmerized television viewers with one of his patented final-round charges on Harbour Town Golf Links to win the inaugural Heritage Classic (as it was then called), the Sea Pines Resort has topped the charts as a must-play golf destination. Myriad honors from top golf publications have followed year after year, but no one would ever accuse the Lowcountry legend of resting on its laurels.

NO MATTER HOW OTHERS MIGHT UP THE GAME, THE AREA STAYS ON TOP

Ask anyone about Hilton Head Island, and the first or second thing out of his or her mouth likely will be our outstanding golf opportunities.

It has been that way for nearly 50 years, thanks to a gutsy move from a brilliant developer.

11TH ANNUAL HILTON HEAD HARBOR WAHOO SHOOTOUT GIVES LOCAL ANGLERS A GOOD REASON TO GAS UP AND HEAD TO BLUE WATER

When I was asked to write about wahoo and the upcoming 11th annual Hilton Head Harbor Wahoo Shootout, my imagination went into overdrive. I do a lot of fishing for just about every species that swims, but if I had to choose one — and only one — fish to go after for the rest of my days, wahoo would be that fish.

Jody Vermilyea remembers the last time bowling in the Lowcountry truly hit the big time. He was a 13-year-old in the crowd in 1988 when ESPN came to town to broadcast the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour Carolina Classic live from Main Street Lanes on Hilton Head Island.

“It was so exciting to see a game I loved getting that kind of excitement in my own backyard,” Vermilyea said.

Hilton Head Island and the Lowcountry have become a golf mecca for a variety of players, from PGA Tour stars to the weekend warrior looking to play a round in a sun-drenched, world-class setting. As much as adults flock to area golf courses, the island has also become a center for a thriving junior golf industry.

From locals looking to raise their games in hopes of earning golf-based college scholarships to international families sending their children to the U.S. to master the game in hopes of PGA fame, Hilton Head has quickly earned a reputation as one of the top training grounds in the world.

Country music icon Darius Rucker returns to Hilton Head Island this month to once again support the collegiate golf tournament that bears his name. Yet with all due respect to the former Hootie and the Blowfish frontman, the true stars of the week will again be the talented women golfers walking the fairways and stalking the greens of the famed Long Cove Club.

From the turf to the register, making it green is the primary concern of golf course operators across the country, including those here in the nature-rich South Carolina Lowcountry. Yet for many right-minded pros, superintendents and owners in Hilton Head and Bluffton, going “green” is equally important to growing and succeeding when it comes to managing a responsible golf course operation.

For more than five decades, Hilton Head Island and the surrounding Lowcountry area have been sharpening their reputations as the finest golf destinations not only on the East Coast, but also around the globe.

When the sun is shining and refreshing winds are blowing during the spring and fall, that designation is difficult to argue with. Even when the temperature is turned up in the summer months, southern Beaufort County’s acclaimed courses are full of vacationing golfers beating the heat by playing in the early morning or late afternoon.