Looking to add something different to your next Myrtle Beach golf vacation? There's a special place along the North Carolina coast. But be careful. If you go, you may not want to ever return home.
It's part of the Brunswick Isles Golf Trail. So here's an easy way to have it all: Call the Glens Golf Group, book your golf vacation at The Village at the Glens and make that your home base. Play their outstanding courses. Smack in the middle of your vacation, schedule one full day at Bald Head Island Club.
That's right. Schedule an entire day. Because you'll be sorry if you don't.
To get to Bald Head, you'll have about an hour drive from Village at the Glens north to Southport, N.C. From there, you'll take a 20-minute ferry ride for Bald Head. AND, YES. IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH THE TRIP.
As the ferry glides across the Cape Fear River, you can sit inside the air conditioned cabin and chart your course strategy. Or you can go all lazy and relaxed on your foursome and sit up top where the wind and the water views get you in the island mood.
On the island, you'll see people driving only golf carts, bicycles and boats. Oh yeah. And little trucks attached to the tram that picks you up and takes you to the course. On the way there, you'll glide through a spectacular maritime forest and along the dunes and beside houses that are on the beach.
The course at Bald Head was etched into the island in 1974 by architect George Cobb.
Golf geeks know Cobb as the designer of Augusta National's little gem of a par 3 course. Of course, he got a little consulting help there from two guys named Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts.
Bald Head is one of Cobb's many individually-realized designs. This island is a natural treasure and Cobb knew it. So he took the fairways through the forests, along the marshes and used the ocean as a backdrop. Lots of eye candy surrounded a pretty terrific course. And, hard to believe, the next guy up made it even sweeter.
After 35 years of being beaten by ocean winds and Carolina sun, the grass and bunkers needed some serious help. So, in comes the talented Mr. Tim Cate to give it a little facelift. An award-winning architect, Cate's many gems include Tiger's Eye, a course Golf Digest ranks among the Top 100 public golf courses in the country.
Cate worked some real magic at Bald Head — all without changing Cobb's routing. Some tees were raised 10 to 12 feet to create panoramic ocean views. Greens slid just a little so that they cozy up to some humongous natural dunes. Bunkers got some new curves around the edges. When he needed real dramatic framing, Cate built his own massive dunes. He topped it off with Mini-Verde on the large greens and Celebration on the tees. Cushy.
Cate made his work a true collaborative effort, even with Cobb long gone. He gave it his own personal touch without losing any of Cobb's. He even built the double-tier greens on #12 and #14 that were in the original Cobb course drawings but never actually built by Cobb.
Now close your eyes. Imagine par 3s with tees perched so high they deliver panoramic views of the Atlantic. Ocean breezes that play with the palms and move nearly every shot. Huge, fast greens with lots of undulations, but that don't look like elephants are buried in them. Pampas grass and palm trees dotted within huge waste bunkers that line wide, wide fairways. Twelve impressive lagoons with wildlife teaming in and around them. And looming over it all — the historic Old Baldy lighthouse.
Yeah, baby. You're definitely not on the mainland anymore.
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