Disclaimer: For all of our Course Reviews, we do not tell the staff that we are coming, we do not accept free or reduced greens fees or any other hand-outs. We also do not announce ourselves or the fact that we are reviewing. This is as review of the same experience as you would get walking through the door with a tee time and a credit card in hand.
Hilton Head National, Bluffton, SC
Site - HiltonHeadNational.com
Date of Play - 11/19/20
Price - $73.49
Grounds - Let's start with this. In this area most courses you play will be a part of a community and every inch of them that's not surrounded by water will likely be surrounded by homes. Hilton Head National feels like its on a forest preserve. Cut into the woods with zero, I said zero, homes on property. There is a current construction project going along side hole 10, but it seems like it's going to be set back by a bit and separated by water. Otherwise, trees, water, etc. is all immaculate. 9.5/10
Clubhouse/Pro Shop - This part of Hilton Head National doesn't knock your socks off, but it also doesn't let you down. If you forgot some of your shit at home, you can buy whatever you need. It's probably not going to be from a deep selection, but that's what you get leaving your shit at home. They do have some course branded apparel and accessories if you're a collector of items like that. They have a nice little pub style bar that will get you pretty much whatever you have your heart set on. 7/10
Staff - The coffee must brew strong in the break room. We have zero critiques on this area and we were literally the first tee time of the day. The moment you pull up to the bag drop the staff here treats you like you're at a substantially higher priced or even private course. Quick to help and very friendly, but also very genuine. Pro Shop, Pub, Starter, and hell even the Ranger joked and smiled. 10/10
Carts - Pretty standard for the area on these. Updated carts with a workable GPS system. Whoever found out how to add GPS pop-ups mid round should slow their roll as the thing was dinging throughout play even with an ad to run your own ad. Our GPS did die with two holes to go but we will chock that up to being more of a fluke than anything so we won't hold it against them. 7/10
Range - Nothing jaw dropping here, but big open range with plenty of room to let the driver rip. They did have newer bag stands with towels attached which was a nice touch. If there's one downfall the closest you can get your cart when the shooting area is forward can be a bit of a walk compared to other courses. All in all it was in very good shape and you can tell it was cared for. 8.5/10
Putting/Chipping Practice - The course offers two big putting greens basically next to each other. No chipping allowed, sorry guys. Greens will give you a good read as to what you'll see speed wise on the course, but they are about as flat as it gets. 6.5/10
Course Layout - This place really uses the property well. There are times where you have to haul a decent distance between tees so we definitely wouldn't suggest walking it, but riding you'll get to see the grounds and admire the care they take. With only one real hard dogleg You don't have to do a ton of shot working and wide fairways allow you to golf your ball even if you're a little sloppy off the tee. It doesn't feel like a ton of elevation change, but they do a good job with elevated tee boxes and valleys that they have at their disposal. 8/10
Tee Boxes - Flat, clean, not huge, but not beat up. The par 3 holes could use to be rotated around a bit more, but we've seen a hell of a lot worse. 8.5/10
Fairways - For a fall round with the amount of foliage on this course the fairways were very clear. The course does a lot with hills and fairway bunkers on long holes that make it fun even though most of the hills will funnel your shanks back where they belong. You'll get some roll on your drives, but there are a few drains that sink a little further than you'd expect. Don't try to hit out of those if you find one. 8/10
Greens - The Hilton Head National greens can be deceiving. They are very smooth and well kept, but look like they are going to be faster than they play. They were just about right in terms of firmness as our long iron shots weren't shooting off the green but also weren't creating giant craters. There were two hole placements on the sides of hills that made us wonder if whoever chose them had a fight with their significant other the night before. 8/10
Hazards - There are plenty of water and sand hazards through both sides. Although they add a lot to the look and attractiveness, if you're in control and play it safe you can keep most of them out of play and just admire them. Not that we didn't wind up in the drink a few times trying to get aggressive off the tee. 7/10
Difficulty - With few forced carries and pretty wide open fairways you can take this course at your skill level. Good players can take aggressive lines and push for low scores while others can play it safe and try to ride the center of fairways. A great place for a scratch golfer to play with that one friend. You know the one I'm talking about. 7.5/10
Other - This is going to sound like a stretch, but hear me out. Cart paths are one of those things that you only notice when they go wrong. The paths at Hilton Head National are exquisite. I wish the roads in the city of Bluffton were in as good of shape as these cart paths. Everyone else, take notes. 10/10
Final Thoughts - To be honest, we hate to give this place a high score simply because it seems like the best kept secret in the area. From the experience you get you would expect a massive backlog to get a tee time, but from what we can see the place seems incredibly easy to get on to. Do yourself a favor if you're in the area and give it a shot. You'd be shocked how well it stacks up against the courses that are twice or even three times the price.
Final Score - 8.1/10
