The Robert Trent Jones course at the 54-hole Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort on Hilton Head Island was the first 18-hole layout to open for play at this venue in 1968. An open, non-returning track, it was renovated in 2002 by Roger Rulewich.
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The Robert Trent Jones course at the 54-hole Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort on Hilton Head Island was the first 18-hole layout to open for play at this venue in 1968. An open, non-returning track, it was renovated in 2002 by Roger Rulewich.
Palmetto Dunes (Robert Trent Jones)
Many assume that Harbour Town kicked off the golf craze on Hilton Head but famous architects had their boots on the ground before Pete Dye. Robert Trent Jones was among them, designing his title course at the Palmetto Dunes Resort one year prior to the aforementioned PGA host opened. It was also the first course to open at Palmetto Dunes, followed by designs from George Fazio and Arthur Hills.
The signature hole at the Jones course is certainly the signature for the resort: a straightforward par five that travels for 550 yards between bunkers, culminating in a green where players can look across the beach to the Atlantic. The course is a traditional out and back routing, and the turn will be marked by two par fives…this one and No. 9, a dogleg right that plays along the largest lagoon on the course.
No. 11 will be hugged on both sides by the same body of water, and No. 12 will also use the reservoir as its primary hazard. Players must cross and play a fade of the proper distance to a green that measures nearly 60 yards in length.
Roger Rulewich returned during 2002 to renovate his mentor's course.