Ocean Forest - Georgia - USA

Ocean Forest is an absolutely spectacular golf experience. It is a must play if you are able to get on. Course conditions are immaculate. Every hole is a challenge especially off the tee. Driving the ball is definitely the most important aspect. The staff does a great job to make sure you have a memorable day. I would recommend to anyone.

Ocean Forest is located on the end of a barrier island where the Hampton River meets the Atlantic Ocean and the area is blessed with pine trees, sand dunes, oak trees, marshes, wetlands and a river estuary. The principles Rees Jones used to design the course are:

1. Small greens. The average green size is 5,300 square feet. The notable exception is the par three 17th green, which has an 11,000 square foot green

2. Greens with low profiles, in order to maintain playability in high winds

3. Slopes around the greens which direct missed shots away from the hole

To quote Jones, "I learned from Brookline that you don't need extraordinary length if you have small greens. When the targets are smaller, the penalty for missing them is magnified because there is a greater likelihood that they will be missed." Jones' term for the green designs at Ocean Forest is 'straight back', which means that there are no greenside features to throw wayward shots back toward the hole or stop balls that have been played too long. The greatest dangers at Ocean Forest are behind the greens. What makes the course unique is that it is essentially a links course, but without one of the central features of a links course, which is the ability to bump and run shots up to the green. The way Jones designed the greens, you have to pitch the ball onto them, which requires you to hit the ball high, as opposed to bumping it up. The approaches to most greens are narrow, with bunkers on both sides, making it a demanding course, particularly if the wind is blowing.

The 10th hole was my favorite on the course. Jones calls ten "the most thought provoking, risk-laden hole." The tee shot on this 545-yard par five demands a shot hit to a fairway which is set at an angle, over marsh grasses. It is a classic risk-reward shot. The further to the right you can successfully hit, the closer to the green you are. A shot hit short of the fairway is gone. There is a beautiful marsh along the entire right side of the hole. The green is treacherous, well protected by bunkers and has a lateral hazard on the right and to the rear.

Ocean Forest has all the essential elements of greatness present, but there is just something I can't put my finger on that keeps me from becoming a big fan.

John Sabino is the author of How to Play the World’s Most Exclusive Golf Clubs