RSM Classic: What’s not to love about Sea Island?
The RSM Classic is a first-class event, and it should be a must-go tournament for elite players and visiting fans alike.
If the Justin Thomas path to a good year is any guide — win in the fall and set yourself up for a great season — then the RSM Classic should be a must on any PGA Tour golfer’s to do list. Really, it tops a lot of tournaments for a variety of reasons.
First of all, there’s the host, Davis Love III. He’s a class act, a southern gentleman, and if you are coming to his tournament, you know he’s the kind of guy who appreciates it. That’s just one reason it’s hard to believe every top name has not yet put this tournament on his list of best places to play.
Love’s done about everything a golfer wants to do when starting out, won a non-Tour major, won The Players twice — and that’s the PGA Tour’s major — won 21 tournaments, been on numerous Presidents Cups and Ryder Cup teams. Rubbing elbows with him can only help your career and your life connections. He’s one of those people that if he’s having a get-together, you don’t want to turn down a chance to be there. If you are already his friend, you know that.
Second, what Love has done with the RSM Classic, and let’s face it, he knows he’s had a great deal of help from the sponsor, is to create an atmosphere that is as relaxed as tournament golf can be in a place that is extra special. The Sea Island Resort. Though they call it Sea Island Resort, it is actually on St. Simons Island. Sea Island is the next one over, and you can’t get on it unless you are a homeowner or have a mother-may-I pass from a homeowner.
Sea Island Resort boasts accommodations, golf fit for a President
But back to Sea Island Resort. The home page says they have 79 five-star and five-diamond awards, which is a pretty good tally of awards over a 90-year career, especially considering the resort predates some of the awards. Sea Island Resort may not have invented posh, but it is certainly under the definition of it in the high-end, resort hotel category.
How posh, you ask?
Early guests included president Calvin Coolidge, who spent Christmas holidays there the first year the resort was open. New York Mayor Jimmy Walker, Edsel Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and others followed. Later, U.S. Presidents Hoover, Eisenhower, Ford, Carter and George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair and their families enjoyed the privacy that an only island vacation can bestow.
Third, there’s the golf. Two championship courses are used in the tournament. The Plantation Course was redesigned by Rees Jones who put together one golden age nine by Walter Travis with another nine to form the current Plantation. But it’s about to be different because Davis and Mark Love will be redesigning it.
“It’s going to be more old school, you know. We keep throwing out historical design ideas and I think make it look like this was an old plantation and it’s an old golf course with a lot of — I love what they did at the Old White course (at The Greebrier). It’s really a classic golf course at a classic resort. I think that’s what we need here,” Davis Love said about the upcoming project.
The Seaside was a redesign by Tom Fazio of the 1929 Harry S. Colt and Charles Alison course.
“The original Seaside nine was a classic nine and they tried to make the whole 18 holes look like that,” Love explained.
The RSM Classic allows you to get your beauty rest – not that there’s any stress
Fourth: Best kept secret on the PGA Tour — the tee times don’t’ start until 9:50 a.m. None of this seven o’clock stuff. That means you don’t have to get up at 4:30 a.m.. In fact, if you are staying at the resort, you can probably sleep in until eight. And because play finishes at 4:30, you can make dinner with no problem.
Fifth: Courses are at the resort. No commuting. Any player who’s ever been stuck in golf traffic knows how important that is.
Sixth: Jet parking. If you have a jet or use NetJets or a similar service, the Lodge is two par fives from the end of the runway. The Cloister is a little farther, but worst case, maybe a five-minute drive.
There are also other places to stay on the island, and the worst traffic jam is usually 10 cars in front of you with lanes of traffic trying to go into a traffic circle, like the one next to Gnat’s Landing or Southern Soul Barbeque. Once on island, and you can even rent a golf cart by the hour, the day or the month.
From the golf to the hospitality, almost nothing compares to the RSM Classic
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The only two events that are similar in golf terms are staying at The Lodge at Pebble Beach and playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach and staying at the resort at Kapalua during the Sentry Tournament of Champions. But at the AT&T Pebble Beach, the courses, except Pebble Beach, are much farther away from the hotel. The AT&T Byron Nelson used to be at the Four Seasons in Irving, but that tournament’s moving, and Dallas traffic was a nightmare 20 years ago.
There’s just no getting around it, St. Simons Island, which is where Sea Island Resort is located, is ridiculously convenient if you are staying there and the commute to coastal Georgia is pretty short from all locations in the eastern U.S..
Seventh, and personal favorite: Savannah Bee Company with Key Lime lip gloss, a shop on Mallory Street. Don’t miss it.
If you are a professional golfer, there’s just no really good reason not to play this tournament. And if you’re a fan, even if you are staying off island, it’s a beautiful place with laid-back restaurants, charming shops and beautiful scenery. Live oak lovers will enjoy the drive with tree limbs draped in Spanish moss reaching over the roadways.
So really, what’s not to love about the RSM Classic?