Lowcountry Resurgence at Callawassie Island

There is a half-mile-long ribbon of road that connects the mainland of the South Carolina Lowcountry to Callawassie Island, a sensual swirl of 880-acres tucked between Hilton Head Island and the coastal town of Beaufort, and fully wrapped by what Jacques Cousteau once called, ‘the most beautiful and fertile collection of salt marshes in the world.’

The ribbon of road would have been highly sought after by a medieval king who could limit the breadth of marauders that could attack his island castle. Of course, if marauders blocked the road out, they could lay siege to the island, which in effect was what COVID-19 did during shelter in place.

According to head golf professional Wes Grantham, PGA, golf eased the siege in 2020, and it is thriving today as a result.

Grantham shares, “What I think golf did during the pandemic was to open the door to people who had left the game for myriad other pursuits, hobbies, our 60 social clubs, grandchildren, traveling.”

All told, Callawassie’s three stunning nine-hole courses, designed by Tom Fazio, played around 30,000 rounds in 2018. In 2020, that number rocketed to 39,000 rounds, a remarkable 30 percent increase. And the community is on track to equal that level this year.

“A lot of our club members came back to the game last year,” adds Grantham. “We know that because people would show up with their 10- to 15-year-old clubs and want to buy a new set in the golf shop. We also sold 80 pushcarts in 2020 to meet the massive increase in people wanting to walk the courses.”

Callawassie Island exudes a gentile coastal charm and a profound dedication to environmental preservation. It was the first community recognized as a Wildlife Habitat in the state, and Callawassie’s 27 holes of golf gained status as a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary in 2017.

Amenities abound, including both fine and informal dining, a fitness center, a River Club with a swimming pool and glorious long-range views of the pristine Colleton River ecosystem, plus an inviting clubhouse for festive community gatherings. Callawassie Island’s racquet sports pavilion offers six Har-Tru tennis courts and four brand new, lighted pickleball courts.

Oceanfront Resurgence at Seabrook Island

Head Golf Professional Brian Thelan, PGA, has but to walk a few paces from his office to be refreshed by the benevolent breezes coming off the Atlantic that wash across the gorgeous new oceanfront clubhouse and the crescent shaped shoreline of Seabrook Island, a private, gated community tucked neatly on a barrier island off the coast of South Carolina just south of Charleston.

Thelan joined Seabrook in 2006, the same year a comprehensive, years-long “Horizon Plan” was initiated to refresh and/or replace the aging amenities originally designed largely for seasonal golf and beach resort guests. The plan was to bring the level of all of the facilities—infrastructure, beach house, equestrian, tennis, restaurants, the two golf courses, and countless other amenities—up to a nationalclass level, while gracefully transitioning the community from a resort destination into a private club to be owned and managed by the residents and club members.

Seabrook Island was actually the first in South Carolina, and 75th in the world, to receive the recognition as a certified member of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for golf courses. Seabrook is also one of the world’s only Audubon International Certified Sustainable Communities.

The benevolent breezes turned into a daunting headwind when the great recession blew in like a gale. But, as Thelan puts it, “Seabrook Island persevered through those lean years, continued execution of the Horizon Plan, and came out on the other side with all beautiful new facilities.”

In each of 2018 and 2019, Seabrook’s two golf courses, Ocean Winds and Crooked Oaks, combined to play around 45,000 annual rounds. A major component of the Club’s Master Plan was to renovate Ocean Winds, built in 1973. Through all of 2019, Thelan meticulously planned for the Rees Jones enhancement of the course scheduled for April to October of 2020. Not great timing!

Here comes the surge! While following every conceivable pandemic protocol, the renovation of Ocean Winds went off without a hitch. So, how in the world did Seabrook Island, during the height of the shutdown, play 59,000 rounds in 2020 when one of their two courses was closed for six months?

Turns out, Seabrook had 110 stalwart golf carts charging up under the clubhouse, 55 designated for each course. Well, when the CDC/USGA mandated one person per golf cart, that requirement was a cinch for Seabrook … with Ocean Winds closed. They had double golf cart capacity right on site.

Says Thelan, “That number of rounds would never have been possible without the outside staff tirelessly turning golf carts, the golf shop magically managing tee times, and the maintenance crews keeping the course beautifully conditioned for that large of an increase in play. We also benefitted from the sandy island soil, which quickly drains heavy rains, meaning we rarely needed to close or require cart path only guidelines.”

With both courses open all of 2021, Seabrook Island expects to closely match the 59,000 round mark for the whole year. There also may be plans for Rees Jones to renovate his second course at Seabrook, the Crooked Oaks course designed by his venerable father, Robert Trent Jones, Sr.

High Country Resurgence at Red Ledges Club

Roughly 1,800 miles northwest of Seabrook and Callawassie, and a grand 6,000 feet higher in elevation, is Red Ledges Club, an elegant 2,000-acre private mountain community that rambles across a high valley floor, through almost 1,000 feet of elevation change, past rust-colored rock outcroppings and boulders, all framed by the striking Wasatch Mountains just minutes south of Park City, UT.

Like several other upscale destinations in the mountain west, Red Ledges has enjoyed steady growth in real estate sales and, by extension, rounds of golf played over the past decade. Yet still, there has been an extra surge in golf played at the community through and coming out of the pandemic. In fact, the 2020 Census ranked Utah as the fastest-growing state in population at 18.4% from 2011 to 2020.

While Red Ledges is less than half an hour from the posh ski resorts of Park City and Deer Valley, its elevation is 1,000 feet lower, hence the temperature is a bit warmer. So, in March of 2020, with the ski resorts COVID-19-closed and an unusually light winter snowfall leaving the community’s stunning Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course the color of green instead of white, the demand for golf at the community was eagerly met earlier in the year than normal.

“We experienced a 35% increase in golf rounds in 2020, and we’re ahead of that pace so far in 2021." According to Red Ledges’ general manager, John Johnson, "Residents who used to play once or twice a week are playing once or twice a day. We’re also seeing a broader resurgence in the American outdoor lifestyle as people are creating new habits, learning to fly fish, mountain bike, swim, snow ski, and play golf.”

In addition to the championship 18 at Red Ledges, there’s also a unique, familyfriendly, 12-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Park, where the short-ish golf holes share space with parkland for dog walkers, picnics, baby strollers, and Frisbee and soccer players (kind of reminiscent of St. Andrews in Scotland on a Sunday when the course turns into common area for locals). One community resident walks out his back door and onto the Golf Park barefoot, carrying a wedge and a putter, trusty dog off-leash running ahead. He plays a few holes and heads back home. Sounds idyllic!

Npk

So, did you know, or have you looked up what NPK is?

It’s nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The nutrients that make grass blades healthy and resilient. The billions of grass blades that remarkably have and continue to help make us healthy and resilient.

Red Ledges gracefully integrates its luxury cottages, mountain villas, club cabins, and custom homes into the valley terrain with a “mountain modern” aesthetic defined by the founder’s vision of designing with nature. Residences are meant to blend with the surroundings and situated to maximize views of the Wasatch Mountains and bountiful amenities.

Family fun can be found at the Red Ledges Village Center, complete with a resortstyle swimming pool, water slide, lap lanes, and casual poolside dining. The clubhouse features a fitness center, tennis club, fire pit, and fine dining in the Juniper Grill. Worldclass sports instruction is available at the community’s Jim McLean Golf School and the Cliff Drysdale Tennis School.

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