Oyster Reef Golf Club, on the island’’s north end in Hilton Head Plantation, opened in 1982. I began writing extensively about golf in the area beginning in 1998. But it took me all the way until 2010 to pay a visit to this excellent facility. Shame on me.

Rees Jones is the architect of record, and his has been a stellar design career in this area. Haig Point is a special golf course in a spectacular setting on bucolic Daufuskie Island. Ocean Forest down the interstate an hour or two in Georgia’’s Golden Isles is a venerable enough venue to have hosted the Walker Cup Matches. Oyster Reef, though not as well known, is another fine example of Jones” design acumen.

The course received 4 stars on the 2008-2009 Golf Digest list of the “Best Places to Play,” and has been voted one of the Top 20 Courses in the Carolinas, both honors richly deserved. This broad-shouldered, well-bunkered layout winds around lagoons, lush vegetation, and lovely views of the inlet to Port Royal Sound, including the signature Par-3 sixth hole, one of the most recognized and photographed golf holes in the Lowcountry. It’’s a wonderful hole, as are most of the rest of the remaining 17 at one of Hilton Head’’s most worthwhile semi-private courses.