Located about 25 miles from downtown Charleston, Kiawah and Seabrook Islands shine like gems in the sun.
There are five courses connected to Kiawah with one just out the gate, and one on Seabrook providing lots of great golf for the enthusiast. Homes are tastefully interspersed throughout both islands highlighting the natural setting. The only course that does not have homes bordering it is the Ocean Course, but one can see the course in the distance from certain neighborhoods.
KIAWAH GOLF COMMUNITIES
Kiawah Island provides a haven of a lush natural environment for birds, wildlife, guests and homeowners. To enjoy this shelter, ten miles of unspoiled beach and thirty miles of paved, biking trails provide a venue for bird watching, as well as the activity of kayaking and canoeing in the waterways for alligator and wildlife browsing
For virtual tour & more information on the Kiawah courses,
Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Clyde Johnston, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player created the five championship course on Kiawah. The result is a collection of golf courses as diverse as the architects.
The Ocean Course, a Pete Dye masterpiece, is host for 1991 Ryder Cup Matches, 2007 Senior PGA Championship, 2012 PGA Championship, and recently rated the #1 “toughest” course in America by Golf Digest. To read the article, CLICK HERE.
Osprey Point provides water views from every hole, and boasts of a clubhouse offering a Pro Shop of over 14,000+ sq. ft. The Tom Fazio course features four large, natural lakes, fingers of saltwater marsh, and maritime forests of live oaks and pines. Golf Digest "Best Places To Play" 2006 with 4.5 stars.
Oak Point presents a Scottish-American style par-72 course with something for everyone designed by Clyde Johnston. One mile outside the Kiawah gates, this course borders Haulover Creek and the Kiawah River.Rated Also, Golf Digest "Best Places To Play" 2006 with 4.5 stars.
Cougar Point is a par-72 course designed to championship standards that challenges all. This Gary Player course sees acres of needlerush and spartina grass in addition to fine views of the Kiawah River.
Turtle Point, as well as home to state-of-the-art teaching facility, hosts many tournaments including the 1990 PGA Cup Matches. There are three oceanfront holes on the Jack Nicklaus course.
From this house you can see the Ocean Course in the distance.
to see homes for sale around the golf course on Kiawah and Seabrook.
Reprinted Article from the Charleston Regional Business Journal. 6/6/2007
Golfing at Kiawah goes on Web By Daily Journal Staff
San Francisco-based World Golf Tour, an on-line golf outlet, has partnered with Kiawah Island Golf Resort to bring the top-rated course to the Internet, making it available for play by anyone, anywhere.
As the recent host of the Senior PGA Championship and the 2012 host of the PGA Championship, Kiawah Island challenges the world’s best golfers. Designed by Pete Dye, it was recently ranked the No. 1 golf resort in the United States by Travel+Leisure Golf.
World Golf Tour will recreate Kiawah Island Golf Resort online, employing helicopters and professional photographers to capture extensive high-definition footage. World Golf Tour will then merge the photos with its physics simulation engine to bring the images to life, providing players with an online golfing experience.
World Golf Tour will visit the links in July and will begin shooting in October when the course is in peak condition, said Mike Vegis, spokesman for Kiawah Island Golf Resort.
Seabrook has all the same wonderful views and beaches as Kiawah, but perhaps not quite as high-brow. Kiawah is becoming more expensive every day, and Seabrook is holding its own. The addition of the new Freshfields Shopping Center located between Seabrook and Kiawah has brought a much added benefit to the area providing banking and shopping without a trip to Kiawah or downtown Charleston.
Ducks and Duffers Seabrook Island Golf Courses Show The Wild Side Of The Game By Bob Campbell SEABROOK ISLAND, SC - With expanses of open greenways, many small lagoons, islands of native trees and other natural vegetation, golf courses would seem highly attractive to wildlife.
Seabrook Island is proof that wildlife and golf are highly compatible on the island's two courses that are located on about 150 acres within the island's center.
Today golfers enjoy seeing a variety of wild birds, other wildlife and wild vegetation native to the South Carolina Sea Islands on Seabrook's golf links. But it takes a lot of work.
When enhanced by thoughtful golf course management and with the help of Audubon International, Inc., Seabrook's golf courses have become down right wild in nature.
Seabrook's golf management is participating in Audubon International's Cooperative Sanctuary System for Golf Courses, according to Golf maintenance Manager Ashley Davis.
Seabrook's program was certified by Adubon International in 1996 when the golf course manager was Allen Pulaski, a man with vision, says Davis, Pulaski's recent successor.
Pulaski realized management for a more natural golf course setting would benefit golfers, property owners surrounding the courses, and the Sea Island's abundant and varied wildlife.
Pulaski's program was certified by Audubon two years ago , and according to Davis, Seabrook's program was the first one certified in South Carolina.
Davis, 27, is busy working on re-certification, which Audubon requires every two years. His heart is in his work, a job that is founded on four years of experience at Seabrook and a degree in horticulture earned at Clemson University.
Davis has fully accepted the legacy left by his predecessor and is enthusiastic about Seabrook's golf, wildlife and natural habitat program.
Davis calls it "the naturalization process," but what he means is his management is in partnership with Mother Nature's, and he says that it saves him money in maintenance expenses.
"We're giving this back to Mother Nature," he says, consequently, "we don't have to maintain these turfgrasses to high levels."
Costs for fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are also reduced , he says, "because we don't have to apply these things any more to these areas."
Water samples are taken throughout the golf course , all 18 lagoons, he says, "to show that they are not high in metals, nitrates and any sort of herbicides or pesticides."
While the enhancement of wildlife habitat is a primary goal of the program, surrounding property owners are getting used to a more natural golf courses view, he says.
"One big aspect of the whole program," Davis notes, "is creating more opportunities for wildlife to live," by enhancing the habitat already existing in golf courses.
He cites the "naturalization" of some four acres on his courses by planting native grasses and other natural vegetation including "trees and woody plants to provide cover and feeding sites for birds and butterflies.
By doing this you are creating travel corridors for wildlife to use," he explains, making the entire area more wildlife friendly.
Recently six wood duck nesting boxes provided by the state Department of Natural Resources were erected on several of the property's lagoons and more will be incorporated next year.
Bluebird nesting boxes also are being placed with much success, he says, adding, "we've seen a huge increase in bluebird population in the immediate area around these bluebird boxes."
Davis is planning to put a purple martin nesting house in a few weeks, a house built by a member of the committee of Seabrook residents who advise him.
The Audubon Committee, as Davis calls it, all members of the island's natural history group, include Davis, Andy Ninnemann, Jason King, Jack Clarkson, Pat Failla, Tom Hilton, Bert and Joan Hylander, Ann Kent and Joe Stevenot.
An osprey "is scoping out" a nesting platform Davis and the committee recently erected, and 400 sterile grass carp introduced into the lagoons have reduced the algae and other aquatic vegetation dramatically, Davis says.
"It has worked,: he says of the carp. "It's unbelievable."
Wood storks, large endangered birds that nest in the nearby swamps of the ACE Basin, are more frequently using the lagoons as feeding areas, says Davis.
"In the last few years," he recalls, "we've made numerous accomplishments, all of which have been huge successes," and in the future his plans are to continue the work begun by Pulaski, himself and the Audubon Committee.
"We plan to continue to expand our bird nesting sites for wood ducks and blue birds," Davis advises, and put up more wood duck and bluebird nesting boxes.
I plan to continue with the naturalization process throughout the golf courses with native grasses and other suitable vegetation to complete these travel corridors for wildlife," he adds, "and supply additional food sources."
He plans to naturalize two additional acres of maintained turf this year and two more nest year for a total of six acres over the last three years.
The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Courses is a program of Audubon International, Inc., sponsored by the United States Golf Association.
Sanctuary guidelines for golf courses include "enhancement of wildlife habitats on existing golf courses by working with the golf course superintendent and providing advice for ecologically sound course manage.
Education and the encouragement of golfers, officials and the general public in conservation programs is another sanctuary guideline, according to a Cooperative Sanctuary document.
"It's the way to go," Davis concludes.
It benefits him as manager in savings in maintenance costs and it benefits the environment.
"It's a win, win situation," he observes.
Reprinted from The Islander. January 28, 1999 pg 8 - 10
KIAWAH RIVER ESTATES
Located just outside the gates of Kiawah and surrounding the Kiawah Oak Point Golf Course, Kiawah River Estates sits prominently on Hope Plantation overlooking golf and water views everywhere. Still a little rough around the edges, Kiawah it is not, but affordable it is. Here's a chance to own the same lifestyle that Kiawah offers at a fraction of the cost. The neighborhood is still under construction with many empty homesites yet to be built, and one can find a variety of homes and homesites located here.
There are five courses connected to Kiawah with one just out the gate, and one on Seabrook providing lots of great golf for the enthusiast. Homes are tastefully interspersed throughout both islands highlighting the natural setting. The only course that does not have homes bordering it is the Ocean Course, but one can see the course in the distance from certain neighborhoods.
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