By From the longleaf pines of the Sandhills to the windswept dunes of the Lowcountry coast, the Carolinas hold some of the most storied golf on the planet. North Carolina alone is home to more than 50 courses designed by the legendary Donald Ross, while South Carolina strings world-class links from Myrtle Beach down to Hilton Head Island. Whether you are chasing a bucket-list round or planning a multi-day golf getaway, these are the courses that define golf in the Carolinas.
Pinehurst Resort: The Home of American Golf
No conversation about Carolinas golf begins anywhere but Pinehurst. Tucked into the sandy soil of the North Carolina Sandhills, this resort village has hosted more single golf championships than any site in America, and its centerpiece, Pinehurst No. 2, is a national treasure. The Donald Ross masterpiece is famous for its crowned, turtleback greens that repel anything but a perfectly struck approach, a design quirk that has tormented major champions for a century.
Pinehurst No. 2 has hosted multiple U.S. Opens and is part of the rotation that keeps the championship returning to the Sandhills for decades to come. While No. 2 gets the headlines, the resort actually offers ten courses, including the dramatic No. 4, the restored No. 10, and the walking-only par-3 course known as The Cradle, which is one of the most fun short loops in golf.
Plan Your Visit to Pinehurst
- Address: 80 Carolina Vista Drive, Pinehurst, NC 28374
- Phone (reservations and tee times): (855) 235-8507
- Access: The courses are primarily reserved for resort guests, so book a stay-and-play package to guarantee a tee time on No. 2.
- Website: pinehurst.com
Pinehurst plays year-round, but spring (March through May) and fall (September through November) bring the most comfortable temperatures and the firmest, fastest playing conditions. Summer is warm and humid but offers a more relaxed pace and a quieter village.
The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island
If Pinehurst is the soul of inland golf, the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort is its windswept coastal counterpart. This Pete Dye design near Charleston, South Carolina, hosted the famous 1991 Ryder Cup (the so-called War by the Shore) and multiple PGA Championships, and it consistently ranks among the toughest courses in the United States. Ten holes run directly along the Atlantic, with the ocean breeze turning a manageable round into a true test in a matter of minutes.
The Ocean Course is the headliner, but Kiawah’s resort lineup runs five deep, each by a marquee architect: Osprey Point (Tom Fazio), Turtle Point (Jack Nicklaus), Cougar Point (Gary Player), and Oak Point (Clyde Johnston). All five feature paspalum turf and are open to resort guests as well as the public, making Kiawah one of the most complete golf destinations on the East Coast.
Plan Your Visit to Kiawah
- Location: Kiawah Island, SC, roughly 45 minutes south of downtown Charleston
- Phone: (800) 654-2924
- Access: Tee times are available to resort guests and the public; the Ocean Course commands premium green fees and books well in advance.
- Website: kiawahresort.com/golf
Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head
Few finishing holes in golf are as recognizable as the 18th at Harbour Town Golf Links, where a candy-striped lighthouse stands sentinel over a green pinched against Calibogue Sound. Designed by Pete Dye with input from Jack Nicklaus and opened in 1967, Harbour Town is a study in restraint: tight, tree-lined corridors and small greens that reward precision over power. Since 1969 it has hosted the RBC Heritage, South Carolina’s only PGA Tour event, played each April the week after the Masters.
Set within The Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island, Harbour Town pairs naturally with a beach-and-golf vacation. The surrounding oak and pine canopy, draped in Spanish moss, gives the course a uniquely Lowcountry character that photographs as beautifully as it plays.
Plan Your Visit to Harbour Town
- Address: 11 Lighthouse Lane, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
- Phone: (843) 363-8385
- Access: Open to the public; advance tee times recommended, especially in spring.
- Website: seapines.com
Tobacco Road: The Sandhills Wild Card
Just north of Pinehurst in Sanford, North Carolina, Tobacco Road Golf Club delivers something completely different. Built in 1999 on the site of an old sand quarry, this Mike Strantz design is among the most adventurous and polarizing courses in America: towering sand dunes, blind shots, dramatic elevation changes, and fairways that seem to disappear into the scrub. Strantz, who earned Golf World’s Architect of the Year honors in 1998, called it the best project he ever worked on.
Where Pinehurst rewards classical discipline, Tobacco Road demands imagination and a sense of humor. It is a public, daily-fee course, which makes this bold piece of architecture genuinely accessible to traveling golfers, and it pairs perfectly with a Sandhills trip built around Pinehurst.
- Address: 442 Tobacco Road, Sanford, NC 27332
- Phone: (877) 284-3762 (toll free) or (919) 775-1940 (local)
- Website: tobaccoroadgolf.com
Caledonia Golf and Fish Club
On the quieter southern end of the Myrtle Beach area, in Pawleys Island, Caledonia Golf and Fish Club is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful courses in the Carolinas. Opened on January 1, 1994, it was Mike Strantz’s first solo design, and the approach down a live-oak allée draped in Spanish moss sets the tone for a round routed through former rice-plantation lowland. The closing stretch, finishing alongside the clubhouse and a tidal creek, is pure Lowcountry drama.
Caledonia is more intimate and walkable than the big resort layouts, and both the golf and the clubhouse grillroom are open to the public, making it a favorite stop on any Grand Strand golf itinerary.
- Address: 369 Caledonia Drive, Pawleys Island, SC 29585
- Phone: (800) 483-6800 or (843) 237-3675
- Website: caledoniagolfandfishclub.com
The Links at Wild Dunes
Closer to Charleston on Isle of Palms, the Links Course at Wild Dunes Resort holds a special place in golf history as Tom Fazio’s first solo design. Opened in 1980, it winds through coastal marshes and lagoons before delivering a memorable finish along the Atlantic, where the final holes play right against the dunes and the sea breeze. The course hosted the 1985 U.S. Senior Amateur and remains one of the best public options in the Charleston area.
Wild Dunes makes an easy add-on for travelers basing themselves in Charleston, combining a true seaside finish with the resort amenities of a barrier-island getaway.
- Address: 10001 Back Bay Drive, Isle of Palms, SC 29451
- Phone: (843) 886-2002
- Website: wilddunesresort.com
Building Your Carolinas Golf Trip
The Carolinas reward golfers who think in regions. Each cluster of courses supports a multi-day trip without long drives between rounds:
- The Sandhills (NC): Base in the Village of Pinehurst and pair the resort courses with a wild-card round at Tobacco Road. This is classic, walkable, sand-based golf in the cradle of the American game.
- The Grand Strand (SC): Myrtle Beach is the self-styled golf capital of the world, with dozens of courses. Anchor a trip at Caledonia and its sister courses around Pawleys Island for the highest quality.
- The Lowcountry coast (SC): Split time between Charleston (Kiawah and Wild Dunes) and Hilton Head Island (Harbour Town) for oceanfront golf with Spanish-moss scenery.
- The mountains (NC): For summer escapes, the cooler high-country courses around Asheville and the western mountains offer dramatic elevation and relief from the coastal heat.
For trip planning and full course directories, the official state tourism boards are the best starting point: explore golf on VisitNC.com for North Carolina and the South Carolina golf guide for the Palmetto State. Visit North Carolina’s Dream 18 list of top public courses is especially useful for first-time visitors.
Planning tip: The Carolinas play best in the shoulder seasons. Target late March through May or September through November for firm fairways, comfortable temperatures, and the most reliable conditions, and book marquee tee times like the Ocean Course and Harbour Town several weeks ahead, since prime spring slots fill fast.