Old South Golf Links

Overview: Old South Golf Links is an 18-hole Clyde Johnston design in Bluffton, just west of Hilton Head Island. The course sits beside the Intracoastal Waterway and McKay's Creek, combining rolling ground, live oaks, marsh views, lagoons and coastal wildlife. From the gold tees it measures 6,772 yards at par 72. The routing uses the Lowcountry as its playing surface rather than as a decorative backdrop: some holes open toward marsh and water, while others turn through mature trees and quieter inland corridors. It is a scenic public course whose strategy comes from choosing lines around the natural edges and managing the changing width of the landing areas.

History: Old South opened in 1991 as a public Hilton Head-area course designed by Clyde Johnston. Its identity was shaped by the landscape between Bluffton and the island, where tidal marsh and live-oak country create a very different setting from a conventional inland parkland course. The course later received recognition from Golf Digest as one of the top ten new public courses of 1992, helping establish it as one of the area's notable daily-play options. The layout's appeal has remained tied to its combination of playability, scenery and low-country character.

Did You Know? The course is known for giving golfers repeated views into the marsh while keeping most of the homes away from the immediate playing corridors. That separation, together with the wildlife around the lagoons and tidal edges, is a major part of why Old South feels connected to the Lowcountry rather than to a built-up resort strip.