GOLF TRAVEL EDITOR ANDY REISTETTER SHARES INSIGHTS FROM RECENT VISIT TO THE HAMMOCK COAST
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This was my last stop on the 7-week, 17-state, 6,000-mile 2015 East Coast Golf Journey so I was ready to get home by the time I hit South Carolina. But after two nights at the Inlet Sports Lodge and playing Caledonia and True Blue I wanted to stay longer and play longer.
The golf is vintage Mike Strantz, who was based in South Carolina and was named as one of the “Top 10 Greatest Golf Architects of All Time” by Golfweek magazine in 2010. Five years later, having designed only nine golf courses, stricken with cancer he died after barely turning 50 years old.
Caledonia was Strantz’s first solo design and is strikingly different than True Blue. Caledonia is a classic and traditional parkland course that weaves through twisted live oaks with hanging Spanish moss. Some say it is like “playing golf in a garden.” Water comes into play in strategic spots like all the way down the left side of the 415-yard par-4 fourteenth hole and a forced carry to the devilish green on the 383-yard par-4 home hole. Assistant Golf Professional Zach Lawther shares his personal insight into the golfing experience at Caledonia:
CLICK here for a Video Interview with Zach Lawther, Assistant Golf Professional at Caledonia
True Blue, on the other hand, is more wide open, with wide fairways and large greens and playable sandy waste areas. Untrue to its name, water hazards are present but not exceedingly so, most notably on the 190-yard par-3 third hole with an island green, all the way down the left side of the 548-yard risk-reward par-5 fourth hole. Later in the round there is water in front of the 208-yard par-3 seventeenth hole, all the way down the right side of the 449-yard par-4 seventeenth hole and all the way down the left side of the 437-yard par-4 finishing hole. Head Golf Professional Bart Romano, with ten years experience at True Blue, shares his personal insight into the golfing experience at True Blue:
CLICK here for a Video Interview with Bart Romano, Head Golf Professional at True Blue
