RSM Classic: Sea Island debuts its new look courtesy of Davis Love III
The RSM Classic takes center stage as the final full PGA TOUR event of 2019, and the Sea Island Plantation Course has a brand new look, courtesy of Davis Love III and his design team.
This week at the RSM Classic, Sea Island Resort will feature the Plantation Course which just opened after a massive redesign by David Love III and his brother Mark Love in conjunction with lead architect Scot Sherman, member of the ASGCA.
For those who are not familiar with the original Plantation Course, it was an old Walter Travis design which opened in 1928 with nine holes. According to Mark Love, the second nine of the Plantation Course was by Dick Wilson. It was done in the 1960s.
Nearly 70 years later, Rees Jones was brought in to redesign the Sea Island Plantation Course, and he worked on it twice, in 1992 and 1998.
Recently it was the Loves’ turn to make some changes. When they began the project, rather than putting a special stamp on their redesign, they wanted to take the course back in time.
“The majority of it is about bringing back some of the elements that used to be on the property, some historical elements,” said Mark Love in a Golf Channel interview.
“We like classic design. We feel like this is a historic resort and needs a historic looking golf course, something that looks like it’s been here for 100 years,” Davis Love III said when the project was underway. “We’re going through the clubhouse, looking at old pictures.”
According to golf course architect
in Golf Course Architecture, the project was a renovation and redesign.
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“The most noticeable things will be the course’s aesthetic, strategy and even some routing changes,” Sherman said about the project. “We will also regrass everything completely, renovate cart paths and make other minor upgrades.”
This is the Loves’ 25th course design. However, this trio, the Loves and Sheman, also worked on the reconstruction of Atlantic Dunes, the first course built on Hilton Head and others.
The Loves’ redesign touches are going to be put on display during the Thursday and Friday rounds of the RSM Classic. It is one of the two Sea Island courses used in the tournament. The other is the Seaside Course.
Here are some things to watch for on the Plantation during the RSM Classic, or the next time you play golf at Sea Island Resort:
The new design is borrowed from the golden age of golf course design as well as historic courses. For example, the Loves used some “chocolate drops” made famous by Herbert Leeds at Myopia Hunt Club on several holes. And the Principals Nose bunker, made famous at The Old Course 16th at St. Andrews, is featured in the 10th fairway. (Despite the fact that the Sea Island web site says it is on the 10th green!)
There are other changes, too. The old 14th through 16th holes were par 5,4,3, and now they are par 4,3,5.
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The 18th, the Loves think, is going to provide a good birdie opportunity at the conclusion of a round, for professionals at least. It is reachable for the long hitters at 560 yards all the way back.
The completed course is 7060 yards and plays to par 72.