Belfair SC: A Gated Golf Community in Bluffton

Belfair is gated, and its entrance road, the Avenue of the Oaks, is the thing people remember. The club describes it as a half-mile canopy of century-old, moss-draped live oaks leading in toward the clubhouse at 200 Belfair Oaks Boulevard. The club’s site quotes Tom Fazio, who designed the courses, calling it the Lowcountry’s version of Magnolia Lane.

The clubs, courses and dining rooms inside are for members and their guests, so a visit starts with a member or a homeowner. The shops and restaurants on Towne Drive, just outside the gate, are open to everyone; see Just Outside the Gate below. To see the community as a prospective buyer, the club runs a Discovery Package that includes two nights in a golf cottage, a round on each course, use of the Golf Learning Center and the Sports & Lifestyle Campus, and dining vouchers. Ask for it at (843) 757-0701.

Belfair has an East Course and a West Course, both designed by Tom Fazio, and a Golf Learning Center. Both are ranked, and the club has been named among the best residential communities by Golfweek. Our Belfair Golf Club page has the scorecards and the course details, so this page stays with the community.

Every home and homesite in Belfair includes a Belfair Family Membership, and a property owner’s membership transfers with the sale of the property. You can’t buy the community without the club, and you can’t buy the club without the property, with one exception: the club offers a select number of Non-Property Owner memberships to people who don’t live here, keeps a list of those for sale, and leaves the price and terms to the buyer and seller.

Belfair is a Troon Privé club, so members also get reciprocal access to other Troon Privé clubs at a preferred rate, up to 50% off at Troon-managed resort and daily-fee courses around the world, and the Troon Privé Connect magazine. Our Belfair homes for sale page covers what a listing leaves out about buying in.

The Sports & Lifestyle Campus is the club’s activity center. Its 6,500-square-foot cardio and training facility runs classes in yoga, Zumba, spin, golf stretch and Pilates, and there is personal training, including golf fitness and rehabilitation work with a member’s physical therapist. Outside are an outdoor pool, an indoor pool pavilion for aquatics classes and a splash pad for children, alongside the racquet sports courts.

The club has five rooms. The 1811 Grille is the à la carte dining room with a pub feel and a reputation for fresh oysters, and the Bistro is the casual restaurant at the center of the Sports & Lifestyle Campus, indoors and out, with a bar. Veranda Dining has fireplaces and looks over the gardens, both eighteenth greens and the Colleton River. For events there are The Oaks, a banquet room for up to 200 with a dance floor that can be divided, and The Magnolia, a private dining room with a fireplace.

The Oaks and the club’s grounds are also a wedding venue, hosting weddings, member oyster roasts and holiday buffets. For the wider choice of places to marry in and around Bluffton, our Bluffton wedding venues page compares them.

Belfair’s everyday errands are just outside the gate. Belfair Towne Village, at 63 to 145 Towne Drive, is a public, Kroger-anchored shopping center and is not inside the gated community. A Publix, Truffles Cafe Belfair and Belfair Barber are nearby too.

Life here is organized around the club. There are more than 50 clubs and interest groups, from photography, art and bridge to book clubs and wine appreciation, and the members run the Belfair Charitable Fund. The community’s own site, belfair1811.com, has the club’s calendar and contact details.

Homes and homesites come up for sale a few at a time. Our Belfair homes for sale page has the current listings, and the Bluffton real estate guide compares Belfair with the other gated communities around it.