Colleton River Plantation Dye Course

Private Golf Course in Bluffton, SC

Architect	Year Built	Par	Yardage	Slope
Pete Dye		72	7121	145
Golf Season	USGA Rating	Grass Type	Greens Type	Driving Range
Year round	74	Bermuda	Bermuda	Yes

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Colleton River Plantation Dye Course - Reviews

The heavily forested front side, which features a stunning 205-yard par 3 to a devilishly bunkered, elevated green, is complemented by a back nine that has all the earmarks of architectural greatness. Holes 1, 9 and 10-18 all offer unobstructed views of the tidal marsh on the Chechessee River and of Port Royal Sound beyond. On a clear day, you can even see the open sea, and as Dye remarked last summer when hosting a tour of his new layout.The 72-year-old architectural legend has sculpted a work of art with dramatic elevation changes in a bottomland hardwood environment that is awesomely scenic. And once it matures, the course should take its place up there with the other famous creations in his prized portfolio.

Dye fans will see all of his devilish tricks here, especially his mounding which dominates the track. In creating all those mounds, Dye was left with half a dozen lakes that figure prominently on many holes, including the 205-yard 17th, arguably one of the most difficult and certainly one of the most beautiful holes in the country. The green sits tight against the lake on the right, is heavily bunkered on the left and is framed in back by magnificent trees. Some golfers will definitely find Dye's mounding, huge contoured greens and ubiquitous bunkers objectionable.

The Dye golf course was great. I rate it a 5 out of 5. The views are incredible. The course is like a golf course from Scottland. I think it was the best new course I have ever played.

It is a total package of Pete Dye strategies and invention. For every hole on which you can let out the shaft there's a wide open fairway that will sucker you into a bad position. For every hole you can play point to point there's one that demands you work the ball. If there's a flaw in this course, it's that certain holes don't quite compare with their apparent inspirations. The 190-yard third, dubbed "Redan" is simply not a Redan-type par 3. It just isn't. And the 335-yard 14th, sort of a mirror image of Long Cove's hidden green fifth, fails as a stern test of tee-shot placement because you can blow it well left into the 12th fairway and get a clear view of the green. But the main criticism I've heard about Colleton's Pete Dye Course is that it has two distinct nines, the front in dense woods, the back on an open, windswept peninsula in a tidal marsh of Port Royal Sound. Too stark, I've been told, two different courses lacking continuity. But that's part of its charm. Colleton provides it full bore, with all housing along fairways (set well, well back) confined to the wooded front nine. The last word about Pete's course at Colleton concerns its turf. The rough is wide-bladed, low-growing, crunchy-to-the-step centipede grass, a perfectly fine turf for a rough, in that it may offer a spotty lie, but you'll always find the ball and be able to play it. It's never irrigated, fertilized or even mowed. It's a low cost, low maintenance rough that's the perfect foil for the hybrid Bermudas in all areas of intended play. Centipede's yellow-green color offers a distinctive hue during most months, and in the fall it develops seed-head stalks of a reddish color that looks even better.

This is one of the most beautiful courses I have ever played. Out of all the Carolina courses this is one of the nicest. Greens were perfect, fairways, great and the rough which is centipede grass was quite different. Tough course, with the two very different nines.

*Sources of reviews are a combination of Golf Hilton Head Island staff, Golf Digest's Places to Play, Golf Publisher Syndications and information from the course and its members and players.