We've all emptied our wallets to tee it up at a trophy course only to spend the day hacking up the place like an Irish turf cutter. And there's nothing like a daylong pass on the bogey train to focus your mind on the expensive greens fee. Sea Island Resort in Georgia, long one of the Southeast's premier golf destinations, offers a perfect compromise: eye-opening instruction from the game's top teachers, and three quality courses to gradually test your new swing.
Seaside Course
7,005 yards, par 70
Greens fee: $260 (includes cart and fore caddie)
Architect: Tom Fazio (1999)
Harry Colt and Charles Alison originally designed Sea Island's best course in 1929. This blustery layout is superbly bunkered, with greens tougher to read than a Jackie Collins novel, and is the ultimate test of your new swing.
Plantation Course
7,058 yards, par 72
Greens fee: $210 (includes cart and fore caddie)
Architect: Rees Jones (1998)
If Seaside is a test of determination, Jones' renovation of this Walter Travis original places a premium on accuracy. There are wide fairways, but the tidal creeks, lakes and trees can make a solid round unravel faster than a cheap suit.
Retreat Course
7,106 yards, par 72
Greens fee: $210 (includes cart and fore caddie)
Architect: Davis Love III (2001)
This Love field should be your first stop after swing rehab: it's Sea Island's most forgiving layout, with overly generous fairways and trick-free greens.
CLASS IN SESSION
WHO TO SEE
GOLF Magazine Top 100 teacher Todd Anderson works with many PGA Tour pros, including Davis Love III. He joins mental-game guru Morris Pickens, Ph.D., for a Two-Day Playing School April 20-21. The package includes two hours daily on the range and two hours of on-course instruction. Limited to six students per session.
Cost: $1,390 per person; 800-SEA-ISLAND
Mike Shannon is the Picasso of putting whose students include Tiger Woods. And what he teaches Tiger is exactly what he will be teaching at his Two-Day Short Game School April 6-7. Prepare to be humbled when Shannon places a board behind the hole, asks you to aim at the cup and then fixes a laser on your putterface. Darren Clarke was just one pro stunned to find his aim missed the board entirely.
Cost: $1,190 per person; 800-SEA-ISLAND
STAY AT...
The Cloister Hotel opened last year and is rivaled only by the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island as the best in the Southeast. Rooms start at $750. Call 800-SEA-ISLAND or visit seaisland.com
Seaside Course
7,005 yards, par 70
Greens fee: $260 (includes cart and fore caddie)
Architect: Tom Fazio (1999)
Harry Colt and Charles Alison originally designed Sea Island's best course in 1929. This blustery layout is superbly bunkered, with greens tougher to read than a Jackie Collins novel, and is the ultimate test of your new swing.
Plantation Course
7,058 yards, par 72
Greens fee: $210 (includes cart and fore caddie)
Architect: Rees Jones (1998)
If Seaside is a test of determination, Jones' renovation of this Walter Travis original places a premium on accuracy. There are wide fairways, but the tidal creeks, lakes and trees can make a solid round unravel faster than a cheap suit.
Retreat Course
7,106 yards, par 72
Greens fee: $210 (includes cart and fore caddie)
Architect: Davis Love III (2001)
This Love field should be your first stop after swing rehab: it's Sea Island's most forgiving layout, with overly generous fairways and trick-free greens.
CLASS IN SESSION
WHO TO SEE
GOLF Magazine Top 100 teacher Todd Anderson works with many PGA Tour pros, including Davis Love III. He joins mental-game guru Morris Pickens, Ph.D., for a Two-Day Playing School April 20-21. The package includes two hours daily on the range and two hours of on-course instruction. Limited to six students per session.
Cost: $1,390 per person; 800-SEA-ISLAND
Mike Shannon is the Picasso of putting whose students include Tiger Woods. And what he teaches Tiger is exactly what he will be teaching at his Two-Day Short Game School April 6-7. Prepare to be humbled when Shannon places a board behind the hole, asks you to aim at the cup and then fixes a laser on your putterface. Darren Clarke was just one pro stunned to find his aim missed the board entirely.
Cost: $1,190 per person; 800-SEA-ISLAND
STAY AT...
The Cloister Hotel opened last year and is rivaled only by the Sanctuary at Kiawah Island as the best in the Southeast. Rooms start at $750. Call 800-SEA-ISLAND or visit seaisland.com
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