Scouting Golf on St. Simon's Island Georgia 7.0
- bgtriptips
- Apr 10
- 8 min read
Updated: Apr 11
As I reported in my last post, we can all agree that The Master's is the best golf tournament held in Georgia. 😎 Ha ha!! How about the best on the planet?
Okay agreed, so now who can tell me the Best Golf Resort in Georgia?
My vote is the Sea Palms Golf Resort on St Simon's Island, Georgia.
If you didn't pay close attention to the prior, photograph. Go back and look at it again.
Read all the labeling in White. Once here, everything you could want for your entire stay is within a Pitching Wedge.
Sea Palms Resort was kind enough to invite me and Katherine (wife & photographer) to visit their resort on a Golf Scouting Trip this week and it was Awesome!!!
Many thanks to Caroline Brandon, Director of Sales & Marketing who arranged everything for our visit including the hotel and rounds of golf at their Sea Palms course and the King & Prince course.
The hotel rooms all look out onto miles & miles of open marshland facing the ocean.
All of the Resort amenities represent everything you would expect in a First-Class Golf Resort. And for the non-golfers in the group, you can even enjoy a relaxing day at their Spa. Oh wait, pardon por favor..... I forgot, KDawg likes to do that Couples Massage thing. Not my bag....but whatever!
While Mr. & Mrs. Dawg are doing their thing.....after the rest of us finish our Buffet Breakfast, we will be playing the spectacular Sea Palms golf course. No automobile needed here just for golf. The Pro Shop is a Lob Wedge from your room. Check in, jump in a cart and off you go.
After a short cart ride of about 20 feet, you arrive at their massive practice putting green.
Add a couple of cars with head lights and its perfect for a night golf putting tournament.
The first hole is a PW across the street and starts with fair hole offering a generously wide fairway for your first tee shot of the day.
I love it when a course gives you a nice-fair warm up hole to start.
Hole # 2 is a straight away tee shot with a slight left bend to the green. Notice how the magnificent oak trees frame and line the fairway. But unlike most of our local Jax courses, check out the pristine tee box below with real beautiful green grass.
The 3rd hole is a perfect par 3. What's to say? The picture tells the story.
I challenge any course in Jax to match the conditions found at Sea Palms. See below photos. It's green and green and more green. Tour player condition.
Hole # 9 is a short par 3 that plays back to the Resort for reloads and refills.
The island green does offer a bail out left option for the faint at heart.
Note the down slope on the right side. Avoid sucker pins here.
Hole 12 is a classic risk-reward hole which plays as a short dog-leg right.
A gutsy shot to carry the lake and you are home in 0ne. Anything short faces a penalty drop to hit your 3rd shot from 170 over the lake again. Love this hole!!!
Hole 14 (par 4) and hole 16 (par 5) also offer interesting dog leg fairways. Both holes will give the high-long ball hitters the option to try and carry the tee shot over the trees into the fairway. Two more classic risk-reward holes. See graphics below:
Stately old Georgia homes line many of the fairways.
Photo below is the home hole taken from the green looking back at the fairway. Hole 18 offers a straight away tee shot with nothing but water on the left.
Somehow, I managed a score of 81 on the Sea Palms course, my lowest score of the year. I credit much of my good round to the pristine course conditions.
My golf group will love this golf course and I'm already planning our first golf trip to Sea Palms this summer.
For dinner on St. Simons, you will have your choice of dining at Sago, the Sea Palms Restaurant or the many Bars and Grills and Restaurants in the downtown area of St Simons, near the St Simons Island Pier.
Also, in this area the ladies can find some good boutique shopping.
Given the many choices for dining, I selected the most recommended and highest rated restaurant, which was Echo, located in The King & Prince Resort Hotel. The K&P can be found about a Driver distance from downtown.
Having no prior knowledge of the best food options on St Simons, Katherine and I both agreed I made a Hole-in-One with Echo in K&P. The restaurant looks right out onto the beach from inside or you can choose to sit on the patio.
FOODIE ALERT!!!
Our wonderful server Jordan suggested we order the Seafood Appetizer to start. It included shrimp & calamari fried tempura style. What a delight!!!
For our mains, I ordered the Redfish w/Etouffee and Katherine ordered the Georgia Style Shrimp & Grits. Both confirmed by Jordan to be excellent choices.
After consuming about half of each dish and asking Jordan for a Go-Box, we both agreed, there is no restaurant in Jax serving food this good.
As a family who lived 4 years in New Orleans, we can attest, these dishes are equal to anything found there.
Thank you Echo for an exceptional meal and thank you Jordan for your service.
Katherine and I both were amazed with the New England Style Charm we found in the downtown area of St Simons. No Targets, or Walgreens or Red Lobsters to be found there. Just small locally owned businesses featuring southern cooking and boutique shopping.
St Simons Island is what many of the Florida beach towns should be, rather than all the pirate junk shops found in many of them.
For day 2 of my golf scouting trip to St Simons, our host Caroline at Sea Palms had arranged for me to play the golf course at the King & Prince. I just can't say enough good words about the exceptional hospitality offered by Sea Palms; even booking golf for me at their competition.
At this point, I think I should attempt to explain some of the logistics on St Simons Island.
The two resorts mentioned in this posting do not feature all of their amenities in the same location.
For example, today I will play the King & Prince Golf Course which is located about 15 miles North of the King & Prince Resort.
Earlier I mention that the Sea Palms Resort where we stayed, features a Beach Club, which is near downtown about 5 miles away. If you are only staying and golfing at Sea Palms, no car needed. Having a car available is a necessity to be able to enjoy all the amenities at both resorts, unless you are an Uber frequent flyer.
My tee time at King & Prince was booked at 11:00 AM and following my motto of:
'if you are always early, you can never be late,"..... Katherine and I headed that way at 9:00 AM. GPS is a must have to find this golf course.
You will pass through some round-abouts, bare land and old houses. When you start to see houses that surely cost a million dollars, you are getting near. Once your home price estimate approaches 5 to 10 million dollars, you are now close.
Eventually GPS will deliver you to the gate in the photo below.
Note, you see nothing about entry to a golf course.
Later this situation reminded me of a very private golf course I used to play in Texas.
There was no signs into the golf course, no signs on the course indicating the hole or nothing pointing to where the next hole was.
Once when playing with a member there I complained...."why don't you guys put up some signs, so we know where to go?"
My golf partner and host replied, "our position is, if you don't know where you are, or where you are supposed to go, you have no damn business being here."
Eventually, I surmised that must be the case here. If you arrive at this point, go ahead and pull forward and you will find a small keypad with one tiny line below it to indicate a code number to press for the golf shop. When pressed and answered, the golf shop will buzz you in.
Once you are into Hampton Plantation and arrive at the King & Prince Golf Club, you will receive the First-Class Service expected at any high-end private club. The Pro-Shop is filled with beautiful and unique golf clothes and the Grill offers a good place to unwind after a great day of golf.
Playing the front 9 at King & Prince is much like the Sea Palms course. Excellent condition and a great course design. For my Jax readers, Sea Palms and the King & Prince front 9 are very much like the Omni Oak Marsh course in Amelia Island.
Once you reach the King & Prince back 9, it's a whole different story. If you have ever been fortunate enough to play Long Point at Amelia Island, the back 9 at King & Prince is Longpoint on steroids.
From the 11th green, you get a sense of what's about to happen. The cart path seems to head straight out into the marsh toward the ocean, but you're thinking there's no dry land out there?
In the center photo below, you will see the bridge that delivers you right out into the middle of the marsh. For those with a keen eye, or just go ahead and use the magnifier, yes that is a deer walking across the bridge to greet us.
From the 13th green, you will realize you are completely surrounded by swampy marshland.
What a feat the course designer accomplished hauling in tons of fill dirt to make not only island greens, but also nice wide Island fairways.
The 3 photos below are of holes completely out in the marshland.
I would be remiss not to mention all of the natural beauty found on this golf course. As mentioned, we saw deer walking bridges, along with alligators getting suntans and hundreds of different seabirds.
So many new courses and home developments today bring in bulldozers and flatten everything in sight. When questioned, their response is, we followed the guidelines and planted a new baby tree. Most of us will never live to see what that planted tree could or will become
The tree in the photo below is only one of many that line this course.
Thank you, John Lee (course designer), for understanding the beauty and value of a 100-year-old oak tree.
I had another good round of golf playing the King & Prince Golf Course and I can't wait to bring my golfing buddies back here in August.
If you are looking for an awesome golf trip that won't break the bank, consider coming to St. Simons Island and staying at the Sea Palms Resort. You won't be disappointed.
Please share my web site with all your golfing friends and leave me a comment at the bottom of this post. I love to hear feedback from my friends and readers.
And don't forget, every golf shot makes somebody happy!!
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