Located on Hilton Head Island, the course at Wexford Plantation was originally a rather humdrum mid-1980s Willard Byrd design but a major renovation by Arnold Palmer in 2011 breathed new life into the layout.
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Located on Hilton Head Island, the course at Wexford Plantation was originally a rather humdrum mid-1980s Willard Byrd design but a major renovation by Arnold Palmer in 2011 breathed new life into the layout.
Wexford Plantation
The community at Wexford Plantation did not take too long before bringing in new blood to revamp their golf course. The original 18 had been laid out by Williard Byrd during 1983, but Arnold Palmer arrived less than 30 years later to give the course a total redesign.
As part of this process, Palmer looked for inspiration in both the course’s natural habitat — views across salt marshes and the Broad Creek River are tough to deny — and classic designs from the courses of yore. This includes a few template holes, as well as dramatic spins off of templates as imagined by Palmer.
Although Nos. 12 and 13 play as traditional Road and Redan holes, respectively, No. 16 is a very untraditional Biarritz. The origins for the hole lie in a very long par three, but Palmer incorporates its long swale of a putting surface into a mid-length par four (415 yards), leaving all areas open to pins.
The name of the back tees ("Palmer"), playing to 6,900 yards, is no surprise. More mysterious is the name of the 5,900-yard tee set, which is “Zorro.” Interesting.