Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Golf Course

Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Golf Course is the only round on Hilton Head Island that actually plays along the Atlantic — its par-5 10th hole runs directly along the shoreline, not just near it. Built in 1967 inside Palmetto Dunes Resort, it’s the resort’s oldest of three courses, renovated by Roger Rulewich, Jones’ own protégé, and named South Carolina’s Golf Course of the Year in 2003. Wide fairways and big greens make it playable for most skill levels, while the open exposure means the shifting coastal wind is the real defense — the same hole can play very differently morning to afternoon. For the island’s other eighteen courses, see the full Hilton Head golf courses directory.

Hilton Head’s Only Oceanfront Golf Course

Robert Trent Jones designed this course in 1967 as the first of Palmetto Dunes Resort’s three courses, and it still carries his name and his era’s open, generous style — wide fairways and expansive greens rather than the tight, tree-lined test at Sea Pines. Roger Rulewich, who worked alongside Jones for decades, led a later renovation that reshaped bunkers and added a new lake while keeping the course’s original character, part of the work that earned it South Carolina’s Golf Course of the Year in 2003.

Eleven of its eighteen holes play along Palmetto Dunes’ interior lagoon system, but the course is known for one stretch above all: the par-5 10th, a straightaway hole played into the prevailing wind with the Atlantic running the length of the fairway. Reaching the elevated green in three shots rewards patience over an aggressive line, and the ocean view from up there is reason enough on its own to play this course over Palmetto Dunes’ other two.

Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Golf Course, Hilton Head Island, SC

Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Golf Course is on Trent Jones Lane inside Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort, on the central Atlantic side of Hilton Head Island, SC. Palmetto Dunes is not a gated community the way some other resorts are, so the course and clubhouse are straightforward to reach for a booked tee time.