Hilton Head Golf Courses | The Best Golf Courses in South Carolina
Hilton Head Island - Come Play Our Bucket List Golf Vacation Experience
Hilton Head Island has 20 golf courses, 15 of them open to the public, and 45 across the wider area with Bluffton and Daufuskie. Harbour Town Golf Links, home of the RBC Heritage, is the best known.
The 6 Best Golf Courses in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Ask which are the best golf courses in South Carolina and this stretch of coast answers more than any other — a genuine PGA Tour venue, three resort courses in one plantation, and daily-fee tracks priced for a vacation budget. Six that stand out for different reasons:
The tournament test. If you play one round on the island, this is the one; Pete Dye’s course rewards precision over power, and the 18th at the lighthouse is worth the green fee alone.
The only oceanfront round. Nowhere else on the island puts you this close to the Atlantic mid-round.
Best for mid-handicappers and vacationing groups. Playable, coastal-feeling, and forgiving without feeling easy.
Resort golf without the Sea Pines/Palmetto Dunes price premium, on a course with real history built into the land.
The best public value in Bluffton. Marsh views on the Intracoastal for a fraction of a resort-course green fee.
The island’s cheapest round, and its oldest course still in play, open to the public since 1974.
ⓘ Want to save money on golf? See Hilton Head Golf Packages & Deals.
Playing more than one round? Stay-and-play packages and multi-round savings.
Golf packages & deals →Golf Courses on Hilton Head Island
Public or private?
No membership needed. Resort courses (open to guests and the public with an advance tee time), daily-fee courses, and privately owned clubs that sell public tee times alongside member play, often listed as semi-private. Book directly.
15 of 20 golf courses on Hilton Head Island
18 holes · Par 71 · 7,131 yds · Slope 146
Hosts the RBC Heritage, South Carolina’s biggest PGA Tour tournament, every spring since 1969. Its par-4 18th plays straight at the Harbour Town Lighthouse.
Designer: Pete Dye / Jack Nicklaus
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,035 yds · Slope 134
Dramatic bunkering and elevation changes on a course redesigned for modern risk-reward play.
Designer: Pete Dye
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 7,065 yds · Slope 140
The newest of Sea Pines’ three courses — a coastal-style rebuild of the island’s original 1960s layout.
Designer: Davis Love III
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 7,005 yds · Slope 135
The only truly oceanfront course on Hilton Head Island — its par-5 10th hole runs along the Atlantic.
Designer: Robert Trent Jones
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,651 yds · Slope 139
Rolling terrain and lagoon views, one of Palmetto Dunes’ three resort courses.
Designer: Arthur Hills
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 70 · 6,873 yds · Slope 145
No par-5s and tight fairways make this the shot-making test of Palmetto Dunes’ three courses.
Designer: George Fazio
Course details & par, yardage →
27 (3 nine-hole courses: Clipper, Galleon, Brigantine) · Par 72 · 6,878 yds · Slope 140
Three nines combine into an 18-hole round in any of three pairings — book by which pairing is playing that day, not a single fixed course.
Designer: George Cobb / Willard Byrd
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 6,507 yds · Slope 135
One of the island’s original courses, open since the early 1960s — tight, tree-lined holes that reward accuracy over power.
Designer: George Cobb
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 6,614 yds · Slope 125
Built on the site of a former Civil War fortification.
Designer: George Cobb / Pete Dye
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,014 yds · Slope 136
A classic parkland layout in Indigo Run, where well-placed water and bunkers reward accuracy over raw length.
Designer: Jack Nicklaus
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,006 yds · Slope 131
Opened 1982 and ranked among the top new courses in America that year; 190 acres of Lowcountry terrain.
Designer: Rees Jones
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 6,606 yds · Slope 135
The island’s oldest course still in play, opened in 1974 as Hilton Head Plantation’s first course.
Designer: Gary Player / Ron Kirby (greens rebuilt 1993 by Clyde Johnston)
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,804 yds · Slope 134
Audubon-certified and tucked deep inside Hilton Head Plantation, with Super Dwarf TifEagle greens built for Lowcountry heat.
Designer: Rees Jones
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,918 yds · Slope 147
One of Palmetto Hall’s two courses, at an antebellum-style clubhouse just northwest of the airport.
Designer: Arthur Hills
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,079 yds · Slope 149
Bold, computer-shaped fairways and greens at Palmetto Hall’s second course, sharing a clubhouse with the Arthur Hills course above.
Designer: Robert Cupp
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,449 yds · Slope 138
Sea Pines Plantation’s fourth course — separate from the resort’s three public ones, and open to members only.
Designer: Arnold Palmer & Frank Duane (1973); renovated by Clyde Johnston, 2001
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 71 · 7,094 yds · Slope 147
Tucked along Broad Creek on the island’s south end, routinely ranked among the best private courses in the country — even though its own members rarely talk about it.
Designer: Pete Dye and Alice Dye
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,110 yds · Slope 138
The last championship course built on Hilton Head Island, inside the Indigo Run community.
Designer: Jack Nicklaus & Jack Nicklaus II
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,919 yds · Slope 146
A quiet, members-only round inside Hilton Head Plantation on the island’s north end.
Designer: Rees Jones, ASGCA
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,913 yds · Slope 150
An Arnold Palmer-renovated course in the gated Wexford Plantation community on Hilton Head Island.
Designer: Arnold Palmer
Course details & par, yardage →Public Bluffton, SC Golf Courses
Public or private?
No membership needed. Resort courses (open to guests and the public with an advance tee time), daily-fee courses, and privately owned clubs that sell public tee times alongside member play, often listed as semi-private. Book directly.
7 of 24 golf courses in Bluffton, Okatie & Beaufort
18 holes · Par 71 · 6,580 yds · Slope 131
Just over the bridge from the island — a local favorite for pace of play, conditioning, and value.
Designer: Gary Player / Bobby Weed
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 6,772 yds · Slope 141
Panoramic marsh views along the Intracoastal Waterway, generally regarded as one of the area’s best-value rounds.
Designer: Clyde Johnston
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 71 · 6,780 yds · Slope 136
A friendly, walkable layout with strategic bunkering rather than length as its main defense.
Designer: Davis Love III
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 71 · 6,773 yds · Slope 149
Elevated tees and marsh-view holes make this one of Bluffton’s most scenic public rounds.
Designer: Arnold Palmer
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,803 yds · Slope 144
Wide-open fairways and forgiving greens make this an easy, low-stress round for groups of mixed skill levels.
Designer: Fuzzy Zoeller, Clyde Johnston & Brad Bartell
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,588 yds · Slope 131
Set inside Rose Hill Plantation under a canopy of century-old live oaks — one of Bluffton’s more scenic public tee times.
Designer: Gene Hamm (redesigned by Arthur Hills, 1988)
Course details & par, yardage →
18, plus a short course · Par 72 · 7,300 yds · Slope 140
A lake-laced Hardeeville layout with its own short course for a quick warm-up round — easy to book same-day.
Designer: Tommy Fazio
Course details & par, yardage →
36 (two 18-hole courses: North, South)
Members get their pick of two full 18-hole courses on one Bluffton property.
Designer: Tom Fazio & Beau Welling
Course details & par, yardage →
36 (two 18-hole courses: Nicklaus, Dye)
A two-course club on the Colleton River — members choose between a Nicklaus round and a Dye round on the same visit.
Designer: Jack Nicklaus (Nicklaus Course) & Pete Dye (Dye Course)
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,503 yds · Slope 140
Closed for a full renovation and reopened in 2023 — members now play a meaningfully different course than the original.
Designer: Pete Dye (2004); renovated by Nathan Crace, reopened 2023
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,090 yds · Slope 141
The one Palmetto Bluff course open to Montage resort guests, not just members — the community’s other two courses are members-only.
Designer: Jack Nicklaus (Jack Nicklaus Signature Design)
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,133 yds · Slope 152
Routed through Lowcountry rice-field history in Okatie, just south of Bluffton.
Designer: Greg Norman
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,229 yds
A Hardeeville club offering both social and resident golf memberships.
Designer: Nicklaus Design
Course details & par, yardage →
9 (reversible: two routings, The Hammer and The Press) · Par 36 · 3,150 yds
A reversible match-play course that alternates routings daily — no two rounds set up quite the same.
Designer: Rob Collins & Tad King (King-Collins Golf Design)
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 71 · 6,619 yds · Slope 141
A Beaufort course shaded by moss-covered live oaks, with water in play on a dozen holes.
Designer: George Cobb (1985); renovated by Jeff Brauer (2008)
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 70 · 6,560 yds · Slope 137
A Coore & Crenshaw course in Okatie built for walking, with a caddie program and a Lowcountry cottage-style clubhouse.
Designer: Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw
Course details & par, yardage →
36 (two 18-hole courses: Devil's Elbow South, Devil's Elbow North)
Two Fazio-designed courses, Devil's Elbow South and North, at the gateway to Hilton Head Island.
Designer: George and Tom Fazio
Course details & par, yardage →36 (two 18-hole courses: Cotton Dike, Morgan River)
Two courses, Tom Fazio's Cotton Dike and Arthur Hills' Morgan River, on a private gated island near Beaufort.
Designer: Tom Fazio (Cotton Dike) & Arthur Hills (Morgan River)
Course details & par, yardage →
36 (two 18-hole courses: East, West)
Two Tom Fazio courses, East and West, in Bluffton; host of the 2019 PGA Professional Championship.
Designer: Tom Fazio
Course details & par, yardage →
27 (three nines: Dogwood, Magnolia, Palmetto)
Twenty-seven Tom Fazio holes, in three nines, on a private island in Okatie.
Designer: Tom Fazio
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 7,032 yds · Slope 152
Arnold Palmer's Old Tabby Links, a walkable course on a private Lowcountry island in Okatie.
Designer: Arnold Palmer
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,953 yds · Slope 136
The longest of Sun City Hilton Head’s three courses, with undulating greens and collection areas that test the short game.
Designer: Mark McCumber
Course details & par, yardage →
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,719 yds · Slope 128
Sun City’s first course, through pines and marsh, with greens and fairways regrassed in a 2025 renovation.
Designer: Mark McCumber
Course details & par, yardage →
18 (executive, par 61) · Par 61 · 4,150 yds · Slope 104
An 18-hole executive course, par 61, built for a round that takes a morning rather than a day.
Course details & par, yardage →The Hilton Head Island area has 45 golf courses, twenty of them on the island itself, from a PGA Tour venue to easy-to-book daily-fee tracks a few miles over the bridge in Bluffton. This guide covers the twenty-two that take visitor tee times — public resort, daily-fee, and club courses on Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton — plus quick reference facts on the other twenty-three: the area’s private clubs and resident-only courses. Search for the best golf courses in South Carolina and Hilton Head’s names turn up again and again — Harbour Town Golf Links has hosted the RBC Heritage every spring since 1969, and the resorts around it (Sea Pines, Palmetto Dunes, Shipyard, Port Royal) run championship layouts by Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones and Davis Love III. Above: a short best-of list and the full directory of golf courses, filterable by public or private, Hilton Head Island and Bluffton alike. Below: a tee-time pointer, a plain breakdown of which HHI golf courses are open to the public versus resort guests or members only, and the FAQ. For trip-planning basics and the RBC Heritage, see the golf overview.
Book Hilton Head Golf Tee Times
Ready to book golf tee times? Use the Book tee times button on any public course in the Hilton Head Island or Bluffton lists above. It opens that course’s own booking page. Tap a course name for its par, yardage, and full details, or open a scorecard without leaving the list. The area’s private clubs list membership contact info instead of a booking link.
Looking for last-minute tee times Hilton Head courses have open today or tomorrow, or a better rate than a course’s own rack price? Our Hilton Head golf packages & deals page rounds up multi-round and stay-and-play savings.
Resort, Daily-Fee and Private Golf
Twenty-two of the forty-five hilton head golf courses covered here are public: you can book a tee time without a membership. That includes resort courses open to guests (and the public with an advance tee time), straightforward daily-fee courses, and clubs that sell public tee times alongside member play (often listed as semi-private). The other twenty-three are private: member-only clubs, plus Sun City Hilton Head’s three resident courses. Every public course can be booked whether or not it happens to sit inside a gated community (Hilton Head Plantation, Indigo Run, Palmetto Hall) — just check in as a golf guest at the community gate on your way to the clubhouse. Each course is labeled Public or Private and filterable by it in the Hilton Head Island and Bluffton directories above. What each course charges, which are the best value and the full list grouped by resort, semi-private and daily-fee play are on our public golf courses guide. Many resorts also sell golf packages that bundle a room with discounted rounds, and not traveling with your own set? See Hilton Head golf club rentals. For the members-only side, see private golf clubs & country clubs below. Guides by area: Bluffton golf courses, Hilton Head Plantation golf, Indigo Run golf, Palmetto Bluff golf and Daufuskie Island golf.
All 22 courses open to visitors, by resort, semi-private and daily-fee play.
Private Golf Clubs & Country Clubs in Hilton Head
Hilton Head’s private golf courses are some of the best in the Southeast. Several are ranked among the best private golf courses in the country, yet few visitors ever play them. These are member-owned golf clubs and country clubs, usually inside a gated community, and none of them sells tee times online. Getting on usually means playing as a member’s guest or having your home club pro arrange reciprocal play. At May River, a stay at the Montage Palmetto Bluff also gets you on, and Haig Point, out on Daufuskie Island, takes a limited number of daily guests who come over on the club’s ferry. Many of the country clubs in Hilton Head and Bluffton tie membership to owning a home in the community. Every club below has its own page with its designer, phone number, and how members and guests get a round.
Private Golf Clubs on Hilton Head Island
18 holes · Par 72 · 6,449 yds · Slope 138
Sea Pines Plantation’s fourth course — separate from the resort’s three public ones, and open to members only.
Designer: Arnold Palmer & Frank Duane (1973); renovated by Clyde Johnston, 2001
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 71 · 7,094 yds · Slope 147
Tucked along Broad Creek on the island’s south end, routinely ranked among the best private courses in the country — even though its own members rarely talk about it.
Designer: Pete Dye and Alice Dye
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 7,110 yds · Slope 138
The last championship course built on Hilton Head Island, inside the Indigo Run community.
Designer: Jack Nicklaus & Jack Nicklaus II
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 6,919 yds · Slope 146
A quiet, members-only round inside Hilton Head Plantation on the island’s north end.
Designer: Rees Jones, ASGCA
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 6,913 yds · Slope 150
An Arnold Palmer-renovated course in the gated Wexford Plantation community on Hilton Head Island.
Designer: Arnold Palmer
Course details & par, yardage →Private Golf Courses in Bluffton, Okatie & Beaufort
36 (two 18-hole courses: North, South)
Members get their pick of two full 18-hole courses on one Bluffton property.
Designer: Tom Fazio & Beau Welling
Course details & par, yardage →36 (two 18-hole courses: Nicklaus, Dye)
A two-course club on the Colleton River — members choose between a Nicklaus round and a Dye round on the same visit.
Designer: Jack Nicklaus (Nicklaus Course) & Pete Dye (Dye Course)
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 7,503 yds · Slope 140
Closed for a full renovation and reopened in 2023 — members now play a meaningfully different course than the original.
Designer: Pete Dye (2004); renovated by Nathan Crace, reopened 2023
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 7,090 yds · Slope 141
The one Palmetto Bluff course open to Montage resort guests, not just members — the community’s other two courses are members-only.
Designer: Jack Nicklaus (Jack Nicklaus Signature Design)
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 7,133 yds · Slope 152
Routed through Lowcountry rice-field history in Okatie, just south of Bluffton.
Designer: Greg Norman
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 7,229 yds
A Hardeeville club offering both social and resident golf memberships.
Designer: Nicklaus Design
Course details & par, yardage →9 (reversible: two routings, The Hammer and The Press) · Par 36 · 3,150 yds
A reversible match-play course that alternates routings daily — no two rounds set up quite the same.
Designer: Rob Collins & Tad King (King-Collins Golf Design)
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 71 · 6,619 yds · Slope 141
A Beaufort course shaded by moss-covered live oaks, with water in play on a dozen holes.
Designer: George Cobb (1985); renovated by Jeff Brauer (2008)
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 70 · 6,560 yds · Slope 137
A Coore & Crenshaw course in Okatie built for walking, with a caddie program and a Lowcountry cottage-style clubhouse.
Designer: Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw
Course details & par, yardage →36 (two 18-hole courses: Devil's Elbow South, Devil's Elbow North)
Two Fazio-designed courses, Devil's Elbow South and North, at the gateway to Hilton Head Island.
Designer: George and Tom Fazio
Course details & par, yardage →36 (two 18-hole courses: Cotton Dike, Morgan River)
Two courses, Tom Fazio's Cotton Dike and Arthur Hills' Morgan River, on a private gated island near Beaufort.
Designer: Tom Fazio (Cotton Dike) & Arthur Hills (Morgan River)
Course details & par, yardage →36 (two 18-hole courses: East, West)
Two Tom Fazio courses, East and West, in Bluffton; host of the 2019 PGA Professional Championship.
Designer: Tom Fazio
Course details & par, yardage →27 (three nines: Dogwood, Magnolia, Palmetto)
Twenty-seven Tom Fazio holes, in three nines, on a private island in Okatie.
Designer: Tom Fazio
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 7,032 yds · Slope 152
Arnold Palmer's Old Tabby Links, a walkable course on a private Lowcountry island in Okatie.
Designer: Arnold Palmer
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 6,953 yds · Slope 136
The longest of Sun City Hilton Head’s three courses, with undulating greens and collection areas that test the short game.
Designer: Mark McCumber
Course details & par, yardage →18 holes · Par 72 · 6,719 yds · Slope 128
Sun City’s first course, through pines and marsh, with greens and fairways regrassed in a 2025 renovation.
Designer: Mark McCumber
Course details & par, yardage →18 (executive, par 61) · Par 61 · 4,150 yds · Slope 104
An 18-hole executive course, par 61, built for a round that takes a morning rather than a day.
Course details & par, yardage →Private Golf on Daufuskie Island
29 (a 20-hole Signature Course played as the Calibogue or the Haig, plus the 9-hole Osprey Course) · Par 72 · 7,314 yds · Slope 146
Rees Jones's 20-hole Signature Course on Daufuskie Island, reached only by the club's own ferry from Hilton Head. Two of its par 3s have their own separate holes, so the card can be played as the Calibogue or the Haig.
Designer: Rees Jones
Course details & par, yardage →Watch: Hilton Head Golf Courses: Which One Should You Play?
Hilton Head Island has twenty golf courses, fifteen of them public, and 45 across the wider area. If you play one round, play Harbour Town Golf Links: home of the RBC Heritage every spring since 1969, with the 18th playing at the lighthouse. Published 2026 green fees ran from $378 to $651, cart and range balls included.
Frequently Asked Questions
Updated
How many golf courses does Hilton Head have?
Twenty on Hilton Head Island itself, and 45 across the wider Hilton Head area. The island’s twenty are all 18 holes or more: fifteen public and five private (the private Spanish Wells Club also has a 9-hole course). The other twenty-five are a short trip away: twenty-four on the mainland in Bluffton, Okatie and Beaufort, and Haig Point on Daufuskie Island, reached only by ferry. Of all 45, twenty-two are public and take visitor tee times (resort, daily-fee, and clubs that sell public tee times) and twenty-three are private clubs or resident-only courses.
Is golf on Hilton Head Island public or private?
Both. Twenty-two of the courses here are public, meaning anyone can book a tee time: resort courses (Sea Pines, Palmetto Dunes, Shipyard, Port Royal) are open to resort guests and the public with an advance tee time; several clubs are privately owned but sell public tee times alongside memberships (often listed as semi-private); and the rest are straightforward daily-fee courses. The other twenty-three are private clubs or resident-only courses — every course is labeled Public or Private and filterable by it in the Hilton Head Island and Bluffton directories above, with the one Daufuskie Island club under private golf clubs.
How much does a round of golf cost on Hilton Head?
It depends on the course, the season and the time of day, since most courses price tee times by date. Harbour Town Golf Links’ published 2026 green fees ran from $378 to $651, cart and range balls included. Dolphin Head is the island’s cheapest round, Robber’s Row at Port Royal is resort golf for less, and Old South is the best public value in Bluffton. Golf packages and deals bundle rounds with a room.
Can visitors play the private country clubs on Hilton Head?
Sometimes, but never by booking online. The private golf clubs and country clubs on Hilton Head and in Bluffton are members-only. A round goes through a member who hosts you, or through your own club pro arranging reciprocal play. There are two exceptions: May River Golf Club is also open to Montage Palmetto Bluff guests, and Haig Point on Daufuskie Island says it welcomes a limited number of daily guests, with Hilton Head golf-package operators selling rounds there that include the ferry. Each club is listed under private golf clubs & country clubs above.
Which Hilton Head golf courses are oceanfront?
Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Golf Course at Palmetto Dunes is the only course on the island that plays directly along the Atlantic — its par-5 10th hole runs the shoreline. Atlantic Dunes by Davis Love III at Sea Pines is the closest runner-up, with a coastal-style layout and ocean views without running along the beach itself.
Who designed Hilton Head’s golf courses?
A short list of well-known names shows up again and again: Pete Dye (Harbour Town, Heron Point, part of Robber’s Row), Jack Nicklaus (Harbour Town’s co-design, Golden Bear), Robert Trent Jones (the oceanfront course at Palmetto Dunes), and Davis Love III (Atlantic Dunes, Bluffton Golf Club). The full designer credit for every course is listed in its own entry above and on each course’s own page.
Are Hilton Head golf courses open year-round?
Yes — the mild Lowcountry climate means golf is playable all year, with spring and fall the most popular seasons. Most courses overseed with winter ryegrass each fall, which briefly affects playing conditions for a few weeks; worth knowing if you’re planning a late-autumn round.
Is Chronic Golf one of the courses above?
No — Chronic Golf +Games is an indoor golf-simulator and multi-sport entertainment venue on the island’s south end, not a traditional outdoor course, so it isn’t part of the directory above. See its own page for hours, pricing, and booking.
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