By Bill Kamenjar
“I can’t imagine what we would look like now without it. Once they cleared the land, everything else was a no brainer. It’s almost as if God gave us something to put there.” Todd Miller, general manager of Santee Cooper Golf Resort
George Cobb, the mastermind behind the design of the famed Par-3 Course at Augusta National Golf Club iand Quail Hollow Golf Club (recent host to the PGA Championship) is credited with having started – in 1967 – the Santee Cooper Country Golf frenzy as it thrives today in the heart of South Carolina. But it was a contemporary of his who, a decade later, left the region with, as it turns out, a far greater a gift – one of seemingly never-ending innovation and growth.
All of this transpired near the shores of Lake Marion after architect Eddie Riccoboni engineered a similarly wonderful sister golf course to play alongside of Cobb’s Santee Cooper Country Club design. Called Lake Marion Golf Course, the routing has become such an icon that Riccoboni likely never dreamed of what could be possible.
While Cobb’s creation provided a pristine private golf club experience for locals to enjoy due to its prime location hard on the lake, Riccoboni’s 1978 debut of the adjacent Lake Marion Golf Course paved the way for public golfers from up and down the East Coast to partake in the game on a more readily accessible basis. But its impact would not stop there. In fact, Riccoboni’s intricate blueprint curiously left behind a six-acre-plus, wooded parcel of land in the middle of his front nine that has since been cleared out and transformed into the ultimate golf stay-and-playland.
This result now allows Lake Marion, along with the current semi-private Santee Cooper Country Club course (as well as other area courses across a five-county region) to feature the best all-inclusive golf trip in the South.
The 14th hole at Lake Marion
This former dead zone has been fashioned into a visitors’ oasis complete with an original hospitality suite, 24 golf villas, a pool and an additional 10 townhouses to accommodate up to 136 golfing guests at one time. But the latest stroke of brilliance was the shaping of a 35,000-square-foot, lighted putting course called, “The Palmetto Traverse,” just a few years ago.
This creation from North Carolinean Kris Spence has truly propelled Santee Resort into another dimension. Just listen to the passionate praises of package players while they enjoyed a recent Tuesday night barbeque spread prepared and served to resort guests inside the facility’s centrally located hospitality suite.
Sandy Heineman, from Calabash, N.C., along with her husband Heinie, claims her accompanying group of eight players has been returning yearly to Santee Cooper Resort since 2013.
“When we first started coming here, they didn’t have that,” she said, pointing across the way to the 18-hole putting course. “We love it. The camaraderie we develop out on the big courses and then out there keeps us coming back. At first we didn’t know what it [The Traverse] was, until they explained it to us. Now we go out there and have mini tournaments. We can even play when it gets dark because of the lights.”
And so grows the legend of Santee Cooper Golf, as it becomes more popular with every new wrinkle it concocts (there are even plans on the drawing board for a nine-hole short course). As Teet Breland, marketing director from Santee Cooper Resort likes to remark when asked what her home town would be like if it weren’t for the infusion of golf amenities over time:
“It would at most be a place to stop, eat, get gas and maybe catch a few fish. It would just be another roadside town along the way down I-95.”
Santee is still a fine place to do all those things, but with golf leading the way, it surely isn’t just another roadside fly-by. If the vibrant billboards for golf shoes and other golf accessories aren’t enough to yank you off the highway and drag you into the Lake Marion pro shop, the gravitational pull of big-league golf course layouts certainly will. Once inside the property, you will only begin to learn of the amenities that make the Santee Cooper Golf Resort the home of the best all-inclusive golf packages to be found anywhere along the East Coast.
Lake Marion Villas
Following the debuts of its core courses, the Lake Marion Golf Club golf vacation spot gained added momentum with the construction of its hospitality center. From there, the golf villas began to surround the center and players were treated to pre-existing facilities such as an 18-hole course, pro shop, a lighted driving range, short game area and warm-up putting green.
As package-play demand grew, accommodations were expanded with the addition of golf townhouses along with a pool at the hospitality center. Then came the development of the top-notch putting course that truly catapulted Santee Cooper Golf Resort – with access to no less than a dozen other nearby courses – into another stratosphere. The Traverse was patterned off putting courses found in other famous golf locations.
“We are very proud of it,” said Todd Miller, general manager of Santee Cooper Golf Resort. “I can’t imagine what we would look like now without it. Once they cleared the land, everything else was a no brainer. It’s almost as if God gave us something to put there. It certainly gives golfers another reason to stay.”
Over the years, golf has been intertwined with world-class fishing in the Santee region – one accentuated by green fairways and blue fresh-water bodies. Recently, however, the land game has taken over a more substantial role for sportsmen in the state’s lakes region with no less than 14 golf courses. Where bragging-sized bass and monster catfish were once the talk of this quaint resort town, birdies and eagles have transformed the fertile fishing ground into more of a dual air-and-sea assault.
“There are still great fishing spots around Santee, but we’ve been focusing more on the golf lately,” Miller said.
Santee Cooper Country spreads across five South Carolina counties (Orangeburg, Berkeley, Calhoun, Clarendon and Sumter) sporting two lakes (Marion and Moultrie), two rivers, two canals and a vast swamp that combined form 450 miles of shoreline. It is around these inland waterways that golf courses of a wide variety have flourished within a 45-minute drive of central Santee.
In fact, for those headed to points south for the winter, Santee is positioned right off fast-paced Interstate 95 (it marks the ‘bulls-eye’ halfway mark between New York City and Miami) making it an ideal place to “brake” and spend a few days before venturing onward. Santee is set up like a sprawling resort, with an array of accommodations available and access to golf always just a short spin away.
A good place to start when setting up your value-laden golf package to the region is with Santee Cooper Golf & Travel (www.santeecoopergolf.com). Santee is indeed the best-valued golf vacation on the East Coast. Combine this with good old-fashioned Southern hospitality and you’ll come away with an experience that may have you actually laying-up short of other destinations in the future.
Behind golf counters, alongside first tees, inside classic restaurants, hotels and on the streets of Santee you will find friendly faces and welcoming hosts. It’s that kind of town.
“What makes us so unique is the familiarity,” Miller said. “Golf groups get to know us fairly well. Even many of our residents started out by coming here on a package for golf and fell in love with the area and the people.’’
Feature Photo: The first hole on Santeee Cooper Country Club
Photos Courtesy of santeecoopergolf.com