Kiawah Island Golf Resort is a resort at Kiawah Island, South Carolina which is located along a mix of island and beachfront property approximately southwest of Charleston. Opened in May 1974 it consistently ranks as one of the country’s top resorts. The resort is home to The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, a Forbes Five Star/AAA Five Diamond 255-room hotel and spa. The resort also manages nearly 500 private villas and homes and has more than a dozen restaurants. Best known for its

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

courses, the resort also contains the Roy Barth Tennis Center, which features 22

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

courts and is home to the Barth-Hawtin Tennis Academy.

Golf

Kiawah Island Golf Resort is home to five championship

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". ...

s, most notably The Ocean Course, added in 1991.

The Ocean Course

The Ocean Course is the most famous course at Kiawah Island, and was designed by Pete and Alice Dye. The course was designed so that players have a view of the shoreline of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, but also to expose golfers to the often-strong winds in the area. The Ocean Course has been consistently named as one of the best courses in the world by several publications such as '' Golf Digest'' and ''

Golf Magazine ''Golf Magazine'' is a monthly golf magazine. It was started in April 1959 by Universal Publishing and Distributing, who sold it to Times Mirror in 1972. Time Inc. acquired it in 2000. It was acquired by Howard Milstein in 2018. It was the world ...

'' as well as being named a "Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary" by

Audubon International Audubon International is a not for profit 501(c)(3) environmental education organization based in Troy, New York. Established in 1987, the organization works with communities, developments, resorts, and golf courses in 36 countries to plan and i ...

. , the Ocean Course was rated 25th in '' Golf Digests 100 Greatest Golf Courses in America. The Ocean Course is a par 72 course and from the championship tees, it stretches to with a slope rating of 155 and a

course rating A golf handicap is a numerical measure of a golfer's potential that is used to enable players of varying abilities to compete against one another. Better players are those with the lowest handicaps. Historically, rules relating to handicaps have v ...

of 79.1, the highest in the country, according to the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

. Because of its large slopes, numerous bunkers, and challenging

Bermuda grass ''Cynodon dactylon'', commonly known as Bermuda grass, is a grass found worldwide. It is native to Europe, Africa, Australia and much of Asia. It has been introduced to the Americas. Although it is not native to Bermuda, it is an abundant invasiv ...

, it was named the toughest course in America in 2010 by ''Golf Digest''. The Ocean Course was featured in the

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film '' The Legend of Bagger Vance''. In October 2008, the Ocean Course became the first course to be available to play in the online

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

that was developed by

World Golf Tour ''World Golf Tour'' (abbreviated ''WGT Golf'' and WGT by Topgolf) is an online multiplayer virtual golf game. It is played virtually on actual golf courses located in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada and Mexico, usin ...

. Helicopters equipped with cameras and GPS tracking devices were used to photograph and record the entire course to produce a geographically accurate simulation.

Scorecard

Tournaments held

The Ocean Course first became well known in its first year when it hosted the Ryder Cup in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

. The United States team defeated Europe 14½–13½. The windy Ocean Course made for difficult playing conditions, and the United States team only won when

Bernhard Langer Bernhard Langer (; born 27 August 1957) is a German professional golfer. He is a two-time Masters champion and was one of the world's leading golfers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1986, he became the sport's first official number one ran ...

of Germany missed a par-saving putt that would have defeated

Hale Irwin Hale S. Irwin (born June 3, 1945) is an American professional golfer. He was one of the world's leading golfers from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. He is one of the few players in history to win three U.S. Opens, becoming the oldest ever U.S. Op ...

, tied the overall score at 14-all, and retained the cup for Europe. In 1996, the Ocean Course hosted a match on Shell's Wonderful World of Golf between

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 intern ...

and Dottie Pepper. The course hosted the

World Cup of Golf The World Cup of Golf is a men's golf tournament contested by teams of two representing their country. Only one team is allowed from each country. The players are selected on the basis of the Official World Golf Ranking, although not all of the fir ...

twice – in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and in 2003. In 1997,

Pádraig Harrington Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Champi ...

and

Paul McGinley Paul Noel McGinley (born 16 December 1966) is an Irish professional golfer who has won four events on the European Tour. At the 2002 Ryder Cup, he famously holed a ten-foot putt on the 18th hole in his match against Jim Furyk at The Belfry whi ...

won the team title, with

Colin Montgomerie Colin Stuart Montgomerie, OBE (born 23 June 1963) is a Scottish professional golfer. He has won a record eight European Tour Order of Merit titles, including a streak of seven consecutively from 1993 to 1999. He has won 31 European Tour events ...

winning the individual title. When the World Cup returned in 2003,

Trevor Immelman Trevor John Immelman (born 16 December 1979) is a South African professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour, European Tour and Sunshine Tour. He won his sole major championship at the 2008 Masters Tournament. Early years Immelman was bor ...

and

Rory Sabbatini Rory Mario Trevor Sabbatini (born 2 April 1976) is a South African-Slovak professional golfer. Sabbatini won six times on the PGA Tour between 2000 and 2011 and was runner-up in the 2007 Masters. He spent 21 weeks in the world top-10 in late-2 ...

won the team competition. The Ocean Course hosted the

PGA Club Professional Championship The PGA Professional Championship is a golf tournament for golf club professionals and teachers who are members of the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It has been held by the PGA of America since 1968, when touring professionals spl ...

in 2005, won by Mike Small, the golf coach at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, with a score of 289. It also hosted the Senior PGA Championship in May 2007, when Denis Watson won his first golf tournament in twenty-three years, beating Eduardo Romero by two strokes. The

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

was played at the Ocean Course in August

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with Rory McIlroy winning by a record eight strokes. The championship returned to the Ocean Course in May

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, and was won by

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970), nicknamed Lefty, is an American professional golfer who plays for LIV Golf. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six major championships: three Masters titles (2004, 2006, 2010), two ...

, who became the oldest major champion in history at the age of 50.

Turtle Point

The Turtle Point course was designed by Jack Nicklaus and has also received accolades from ''Golf Digest'' magazine. Turtle Point has hosted regional tournaments such as the Carolina Amateur. The Turtle Point course is a par 72 course. From the tournament tees, it measures and has a slope rating of 73/134.

Osprey Point

The Osprey Point course at Kiawah Island was designed by

Tom Fazio Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

. The Osprey point course is a par 72 course. It measures from the tournament tees, and it has a slope rating of 72.8/135.

Oak Point

Designed by Clyde Johnston, the Oak Point course was purchased by the Kiawah Island Resort in 1997. He designed the course on former plantation lands that grew

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

and

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

. Oak Point plays to a par of 72, and it measures from the tournament tees with a slope rating of 71.9/130.

Cougar Point

The Cougar Point golf course was originally named Marsh Point, and

Gary Player Gary James Player DMS, OIG (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tou ...

redesigned it in 1996. It is a par 72 course and from the tournament tees it measures with a slope rating of 72.7/134.

Expansion

Beginning spring 2018, Kiawah Island Golf Resort launched a three-year development that includes a new

clubhouse Clubhouse may refer to: Locations * The meetinghouse of: ** A club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal ** In the United States, a country club ** In the United Kingdom, a gentlemen's club * A ...

at Cougar Point Golf Course, a non-denominational chapel at The Sanctuary, the West Beach Village Conference Center, a new villa check-in facility in West Beach, four cottages near The Ocean Course Clubhouse, and a complete renovation of Night Heron Park.

References

External links

*
Unofficial Kiawah Island Visitors Guide: www.VisitKiawah.com
{{Ryder Cup venues , state=collapsed Buildings and structures in Charleston County, South Carolina Golf clubs and courses designed by Pete Dye Golf clubs and courses in South Carolina Resorts in South Carolina Tourist attractions in Charleston County, South Carolina Ryder Cup venues