Pete Dye Talks About
Kiawah Island's Ocean Course
By Craig Distl
Photos courtesy of Kiawah Island
The weather forecast was ominous: rainy, windy and cool.
Not the conditions you want to encounter when teeing it up at one of the world’s toughest golf courses.
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| Kiawah Island's Ocean Course...one of the toughest! |
Nevertheless, a few dozen hearty souls from the Golf Writers Association of America gathered this past spring (2007) at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Resort. This famed layout – on the South Carolina coast near Charleston – burst onto the golfing scene in a big way 16 years ago. How often is a course awarded a coveted championship before it’s even built? Such was the case with the Ocean Course, which debuted in 1991 by hosting the Ryder Cup.
Prior to our round, we were treated to a talk by course architect Pete Dye. The 81-year-old Dye has a well-earned reputation for crafting difficult courses, none more so than Kiawah’s Ocean Course. A national publication recently ranked it the toughest course in America, noting it has the nation’s highest combination of slope rating (155) and course rating (79.6).
I expected Dye to be a curmudgeonly gentleman who would unapologetically defend his design philosophy. That was half right. Dye was certainly unapologetic about his tough golf courses, but he was also amiable and humorous. “Really, the challenge is because you all don’t play too good,” he told the group.
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| Kiawah Island's challenge in South Carolina |
Dye regularly poked fun at himself, and passed the blame for his diabolical par-3s – including Kiawah’s famous No. 17 – to his wife, Alice.
He said that Alice, an accomplished amateur, regularly plays with a group of not-so-talented ladies at their Florida club. One woman in particular can’t break 130, so whenever Dye designs a par-3, Alice makes sure it has one easy tee for golfers like her friend.
Unfortunately, Dye quipped, “She tries like hell to make sure none of the rest of the world can play it.”
As for his general philosophy of building tough courses, Dye noted that several of the most successful clubs in America, like Seminole and Pine Valley, are among the hardest. He claims there are many golfers out there who covet a challenge, who will fly to Scotland just to play Carnoustie from the back tees. So, he decided to give them something special at Kiawah.
“When you build a resort course, you’ve got to make it challenging. You’ve got to make it stern. It’s an image,” said Dye. “People will go and play a difficult golf course. Look at Pebble Beach. They stand in line.”
The Ocean Course has been called the “Pebble Beach of the East” because so many holes play along the ocean. The Atlantic lurks in the distance on the front nine – you hear it but can’t see it until the ninth hole. However, the backside sweeps closer to the water, providing spectacular seascape views from multiple vantage points among the dunes.
A great beginning to every round at the Ocean Course is the practice range. It is a large, flat lawn beside the beach where you hit shots parallel to the ocean while beach-goers stroll casually by. As we headed to the range to prepare for our round, I noticed the skies were getting lighter, the temperatures warming and the winds were fairly calm.
“Maybe this won’t be so bad,” I thought, remembering what Dye said: “The wind really makes the golf course.”
Our round began at the second hole and two things were memorable. One, the tee box was nice enough to be a green on a public course. Two, a pair of baby alligators, looking more cuddly than dangerous, watched us from behind the first green.
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| The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is designed for walking |
We surveyed the scorecard, decided upon the white tees (6,105 yards), and set off on an enjoyable round. Good fortune smiled on us that day. The winds stayed calm, the rain never materialized and an afternoon sun drenched the back nine.
By choosing the white tees, instead of the blue tees (6,744 yards), gold tees (7,356) or black tees (7,937), we didn’t bite off more than we could chew. For the most part, the members of my foursome kept the ball in play from the tee and avoided the vast waste bunkers. The elevated greens were a challenge, but overall we probably lost fewer balls than the previous day on the island’s Tom Watson-designed Cassique Course.
The greens were firm and fast with an unusual strand of grass designed to withstand the seaside environment. This Paspalum turf derives its name – OC03 – from the Ocean Course. It can be mowed to 1/10th of an inch and has virtually no grain, which I found at times to be problematic in reading putts.
I kept waiting for tricks and gimmicks on the front side. However, aside from the live oak in front of the third green, the layout is not deceitful –at least, not after three revisions by Dye in 1997, 2002 and 2003.
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| Home of the 1991 Ryder Cup...the Ocean Course |
“He has come back a number of years to tweak the Ocean Course to get it to where it is today,” said resort president Roger Warren.
As we played the ninth hole, a sweeping dogleg left, the ocean came into view halfway up the fairway, a picturesque precursor of things to come.
The Ocean Course was built for walking and carts aren’t allowed before noon, except to shuttle golfers the distance from the ninth green to No. 10. On the 10th hole, the course gives way to the ocean with fantastic views on every hole.
In general, the back nine flows in and around massive sand dunes, much like the layout at Royal Aberdeen on Scotland’s northern coast. Dye, with an assist from Alice, elevated several areas of the back nine to ensure the ocean’s visibility.
Holes 10 through 13 are down hill (and often down wind). This is obviously a good thing, until you realize you have to turn around and go back. Dye makes this especially tough with the testy par-3 14th hole. It ranges from 151-194 yards uphill to an elevated green not far from the sea. I learned the hard way that you do not want to hit over this green. My ball came to rest in a collection area about 15 feet straight down a slope from a table-top putting surface.
The par-3 17th lives up to its hype. Tee shots carry a cove to a diagonal green guarded by water on the right. Dunes and waste bunkers hug the left. A multitude of tee boxes allow this hole to be attacked from nearly 180 degrees around the cove. The best golfers in the world were humbled at No. 17 during the 1991 Ryder Cup. Calm conditions allowed them to use 7- and 8-irons in practice rounds, but by Sunday, stiff winds forced the players to hit 3-irons and, in some cases, 3-woods.
The last hole finishes on a bluff perched above the ocean. It is a strategic par-4 with a dramatic setting enhanced by the recent opening of a new 24,000-square-foot clubhouse. The structure carries a price tag of $24 million, yet fits into the landscape with a weathered, wood-shingle exterior and wraparound porches. It will no doubt be a signature image during the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah.
If you go to the Ocean Course, do yourself a favor: don’t make plans immediately after your round. Take time to enjoy a beverage and relax on the clubhouse porches overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Reminiscing about your round amid such serene beauty will melt away the course’s bite. You might even be left with the feeling that such a treacherous Pete Dye course is actually okay, especially given its location on the wind-swept dunes of Kiawah Island.
Want To Play the Ocean Course?
Kiawah Island Golf Resort offers a variety of stay-and-play packages. Accommodations range from the posh, five-diamond Sanctuary Hotel to traditional vacation homes to resort villas. The resort has five golf courses, led by Pete Dye’s Ocean Course. The others are: Turtle Point (Jack Nicklaus), Osprey Point (Tom Fazio), Oak Point (Clyde Johnston) and Cougar Point (Gary Player). There are also two private courses on the island – Cassique and River Club – if you have connections.