Haig Point Golf Course on Daufuskie Island

The Signature Course opened in 1986, designed by Rees Jones with Greg Muirhead, and reopened in 2007 after Jones came back to rebuild the greens. It has 20 holes rather than 18: the 8th and the 17th, both seaside par 3s, each have a second hole of their own. That is what makes the two routings. Played as the Calibogue you take the harder of each pair and more of the forced carries over marsh; played as the Haig you take the gentler ones, and several other holes change angle with the tees you are sent to.

It is a par 72 either way. The card below is the Calibogue, which plays 7,314 yards from the Black tees and 5,707 from the Gold, rated 76.6 with a slope of 146. The Haig plays shorter and easier — 6,735 yards from its back tees, rated 74.4 with a slope of 138, a stroke and a half of difference between the two ways round the same property. The club’s own site quotes a longer number again, 7,380 yards, up from 7,150 before the renovation. Haig Point and the island’s visitor bureau both cite appearances on Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest and Best in State lists.

The nine-hole Osprey Course is the other half of the 29 holes at Haig Point: a par 36 of about 3,595 yards, kept for a quick round, a first round, or an evening nine rather than a second championship test. The club also has a two-way driving range, practice greens, a golf shop, and a clubhouse with the 30th Hole Grill — named, of course, for a course that has 29.

Haig Point is private and member-owned. International Paper founded the community in 1986; the members bought it in 2001 and have run it since 2009. There are no public tee times to book and no published green fee, so the tee sheet is not something you can get onto from a booking site. The club does say it welcomes a limited number of daily guests, and Hilton Head golf-package operators sell rounds here as part of a package with the ferry included — that, or being a member’s guest, is how most visitors play it. Start with the club’s golf line, (843) 341-8192, or member and guest services on (843) 686-2000.

The club does not publish what membership costs. Membership directories put the initiation fee somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000 and annual dues above $15,000, which is a third party’s figure and not the club’s — treat it as an order of magnitude and ask Haig Point for the current schedule. Property owners pay POA fees on top, and those cover ferry transportation for members and guests. Other private clubs in the area, for comparison, are Long Cove Club, Colleton River Club and Belfair Golf Club.

There is no bridge to Daufuskie. Haig Point runs its own private ferry from its embarkation center on Hilton Head Island, at 10 Haig Point Circle, just below the Cross Island bridge — a 25-minute crossing, and the address the club itself gives for its mail. Cars stay on Hilton Head: once you are across, the island moves by golf cart and bicycle. Two pieces of Haig Point history sit within walking distance of the first tee — an 1873 lighthouse, now a guesthouse and event space, and the Strachan Mansion, barged over from Georgia in 1986. Haig Point is not the only course the island has had: Bloody Point is being converted to open space, and the Nicklaus-designed Melrose course, closed for years, has been working towards reopening.

If you are planning a round on this side of the sound instead, the golf courses directory lists every course that sells visitor tee times, and Hilton Head golf packages covers the stay-and-play route. For the island as a day trip, see Daufuskie Island.