Kiawah Island Resort Oak Point Course

About Kiawah Island Resort Oak Point Course:

The resort purchased Oak Point in 1997, rounding out the championship rotation of five courses that makes Kiawah Island Golf Resort one of the world’s great golf destinations. Clyde Johnston, a noted Southeastern golf course architect, designed Oak Point on the grounds of former cotton and indigo plantation. With its close proximity to the Kiawah River and the Haulover Creek, with its surrounding maritime forest, Johnston was able to mold the rolling landscape into a first-class layout. Undulating fairways and challenging greens are some of the unique features of Oak Point.

In 2004, in consultation with Johnston, major renovations to the front nine were completed. Gone was the notoriously challenging par-4 third hole that featured a sharp dogleg right requiring an iron off the tee, then a short iron to a green with absolutely no margin for error. To make up the four shots to par that the elimination of the hole caused, the green on No. 1 was pushed back approximately 130 yards, changing the hole from a 402-yard par 4 to a demanding 535-yard par 5 with the green guarded by water on three sides. Additionally, a new 152-yard par three 9th hole was added next to the new clubhouse with a picturesque view of the Haulover Creek as a backdrop.
Oak Point is a shotmaker’s course. Strategy and a thinking approach to the golf course will be rewarded over pure power. In this sense, it is a bit of a throwback to the classic courses of the 1920s where the ability to place the ball in a certain portion of the fairway or a certain spot of the green was more important than power. Throw in the beautiful vistas and it is easy to understand why Oak Point recently received a near-perfect 4½ stars from the readers of Golf Digest magazine in their biennial “Best Places to Play” poll where it was rated one of the best values in South Carolina.