Course review: Sea Island Resort, St. Simons Island, GA

[StrokerAce]

https://www.seaisland.com/golf/

A friend and I flew from Boston to Jacksonville and then caught an Uber to Sea Island on St. Simons Island. It was about an hour ride.

St Simons is in southeast Georgia and Sea Island is a golf resort that is on part of the island.

 

There are several tour pros that make Sea Island home.

There are 3 'areas' on the resort that are geographically separate.

The Inn - your normal hotel with a pool (where we stayed)

The Lodge - where the courses/range are with separate small lodge style houses and additional lodging

The Cloisters - the super fancy place with very nice accommodations

There are 5-6 different restaurants at the resort; from casual to very nice. 
We had a free buffet breakfast at the Inn (eggs/meat/grits/oatmeal, etc.) and a 50.00 credit for lunch/golf course snacks/drinks.
The food prices are high; about 50% higher than normal; i.e. a $25 dinner is about $36-40. The food is good but imo, overpriced. (we ate at a nice Italian restaurant outside of the resort one night and the meal was excellent and much cheaper)

You leave your clubs at the lodge, they tag and prep them for you each day, and there's a free shuttle that will take you to all of the properties.

We bought a golf package so had access to all 3 locations; the cloisters and lodge both have a guard that will stop you and not let you on the property if you shouldn't be there. It happened to us when we tried to Uber in (long side story, lol)....

There are 3 courses on site.
Seaside & Plantation are the nicest and are used for the RSM classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u49PAQ8EBgc&t=156s
Retreat is not on the ocean and is more of a very nice country club style course.
All are in immaculate condition.

Day 1:
Arrived around 1, checked in to Inn, quick shower and shuttle over to the range/courses.
A nice resort style range - all grass, awesome chipping area and putting green.

We decided to play the back 9 at plantation and I learned really quickly that you need to be careful where you hit your shots. I think I lost 3-4 balls.

Day 2: 
Seaside at 11:30.
Range/putting/chipping at 9:30.
I think I shot 83. 
My friend has played private courses all over the country and he kept saying this was top 3 and compared it to the Ocean Course at Kiawah. He played well and hit some beautiful shots.

Day 3:
Plantation at 11:00.
Range/putting/chipping at 10.
I had a good range warmup and shot 79. I was hitting the ball well and hit some great shots. 
This is the only round we were paired with another 2 and it was a man and his wife from Michigan and it was his birthday. A very nice couple and he probably shot mid 70's.
Another fantastic course with some beautiful and challenging holes.

Day 4: 
Retreat at 11:00.
Range/putting/chipping at 10.
I didn't warm up as well as yesterday and the greens here were a little different and I shot mid 80s.
This course was away from all of the 'activity' of the other courses, quieter and just like a nice private club. Nice wide landing areas but you still had to be strategic.

 

Day 5: 
We had a late flight but didn't plan a round so we had a leisurely breakfast, worked out in the gym and watched the Players Championship at the Inn and in the airport. 

Final thoughts...

• I was pleasantly surprised. Had really only heard of Sea Island briefly when I saw something on Golf Channel about the Love bros (they redesigned some areas).
• There were some funny rules coming from the north - i.e. no hats allowed in certain areas, couldn't use your phone, etc. - but the buildings were amazing.
• The grounds were spectacular. Manicured beautifully, extremely well maintained, and the oak trees with the spanish moss were incredible.
• The courses felt like you were playing on PGA quality courses.
• Tee boxes, fairways, greens, bunkers, rough - everything was beyond what I expected.
• The greens were very fast with subtle breaks everywhere - even right at the cup - and we didn't make a single long putt the entire week (rare!).
• The bunkers were some of the largest I have ever seen but the sand in them was so pure. I had no problem at all hitting out of them and they were always raked smooth.
• Caddies were offered but we didn't use them. We played as far back as possible and it made some of the par 3s long but not unplayable. There are 5 sets of tee boxes.
• The pace was sometimes slow but not excruciating.
• The other players were respectful and were polite.

There are a ton of other activities besides golf there - we walked out onto the beach one day - and I think a non-golf playing spouse would be just fine.

I don't know how you measure affordability, for the 3.5 rounds of golf, hotel, free breakfast and lunch, all the range time you wanted, pool, gym, etc. it was 1500 each.
I could easily go back and play these courses again.