A Jack Nicklaus design unveiled in 1981, Turtle Point was the second layout to debut at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort. A 9-month refurbishment in 2016 allowed tees, fairways and greens to be re-grassed with Paspalum.
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A Jack Nicklaus design unveiled in 1981, Turtle Point was the second layout to debut at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort. A 9-month refurbishment in 2016 allowed tees, fairways and greens to be re-grassed with Paspalum.
Kiawah Island Resort (Turtle Point)
Although the Ocean Course at the Kiawah Island Resort is now celebrated for its extensive number of coastal holes, it wasn’t the first course on the island to bring golfers to the foot of the Atlantic Ocean. That distinction belongs to Turtle Point, a Jack Nicklaus design that opened as the resort’s second course during 1981.
The most famous holes occur during the stretch of Nos. 14-16. Two par threes sandwich the trio, facing in opposite directions so players experience the island’s notorious winds from different angles. In between is a short par four that takes advantage of the dunes to create a potential blind shot for those who avoid trouble off the tee. The inland holes rely on ponds to enforce the risk-reward strategy, an approach later emulated by Tom Fazio at the resort’s Osprey Point course.
Nicklaus returned to the course during 2016 to carry out an extensive renovation, which included replacing all the fairways with paspalum, a sticky, salt-tolerant turf option that first came to prominence at the Ocean Course.