Southeast
Southeast
Sea Island, Georgia
American resort golf at its most polished — three Sea Island Golf Club courses, a PGA Tour host in Seaside, and forecaddies included in every green fee.
Overview
Sea Island sits on Georgia's Golden Isles, a barrier-island enclave of live oaks, salt marsh, and Forbes Five-Star hospitality about an hour south of Savannah. It is the Southeast's benchmark for polished resort golf: not a rowdy buddy-trip town, but a place where the service is quiet and exact, the caddies know your name by the third hole, and dinner runs to jacket-optional rather than flip-flops. Groups come here for a genuinely special trip, and the price level is honest about that.
The golf is three courses under the Sea Island Golf Club umbrella, all resort access. The Seaside Course is the headliner, a Tom Fazio and Mark Love reworking of a windswept, links-flavored par 70 that hosts the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour each November. The Plantation Course, a Rees Jones layout later renovated by Mark McCumber, is the wide-fairway counterpoint with salt marsh views and a friendlier scorecard. The Retreat Course, the historic member-feeling track renovated by the Love family, rounds out the rotation. Together they give a foursome three genuinely different tests without ever getting in a car for more than a few minutes.
The practical texture matters here. Golf is resort-guest only, so your tee sheet and your hotel booking are the same decision. Green fees include cart, range balls, forecaddie, and club cleaning, which makes the sticker look steep and the day feel surprisingly complete. The Lodge is the golfer's base; The Cloister leans family and spa. St. Simons Island is five minutes away with casual restaurants, shops, and a legendary roadside barbecue joint, so groups with mixed appetites for formality have an easy release valve. Ideal for four to eight who want the trip to feel like an occasion.
Courses · 3
Seaside Course
Resort · Championship
$395-$425
Best for: The must-play and the reason most groups come. Low handicaps get a genuine Tour-caliber test at a par 70 that plays far longer than its 7,055 yards when the wind is up.
Insider tip: Take the forecaddie's line and mean it, because the wind here is not a suggestion. It comes off the Atlantic and swings during the round, so the same hole can be a 7-iron in the morning and a 5-iron after lunch. Play the tees that let you keep the ball under the wind rather than the ones that flatter your ego.
Plantation Course
Resort · Moderate
$260-$335
Best for: Mixed-skill foursomes and the round where everyone actually enjoys their scorecard. Wide fairways and generous landing areas make it the friendliest of the three.
Insider tip: Play this one on arrival day rather than saving it. It is the ideal shake-out round: forgiving off the tee, scenic enough to feel like a real Sea Island experience, and it lets you calibrate the wind and the greens before you tackle Seaside.
Retreat Course
Resort · Moderate
$200-$290
Best for: Value within an expensive destination, and a second round on a full golf day. Also the most member-feeling of the three if you like a course with some history to it.
Insider tip: This is where the Sea Island Golf Performance Center lives, so it is the natural place to fold in a lesson or a fitting between rounds. Book an afternoon tee time here after a morning at Plantation and you get 36 holes without ever leaving the property.
Lodging
Premium
The Lodge at Sea Island
$600-$1,500Forbes Five-Star and unambiguously the golfer's hotel, sitting right beside the Seaside and Plantation courses. Butler service, a caddie culture that extends to the front door, and the shortest walk to the first tee on the island. If golf is the point of the trip, this is the room to book.
The Cloister
$500-$1,200Sea Island's flagship property, with the beach club, the spa, and a distinctly old-world formality. It caters more to families and spa guests than to golfers, and it is a short shuttle from the courses rather than a walk. The right choice if your group includes non-golfers or partners.
Mid-Range
The Inn at Sea Island
$200-$400The most accessible price point that still unlocks golf privileges, which is the whole game here since tee times are resort-guest only. Rooms are comfortable rather than opulent, but a stay gets you the same access to Seaside, Plantation, and Retreat. This is how budget-conscious groups play Sea Island without a five-figure trip.
Budget
King and Prince Resort (St. Simons)
$175-$350A well-regarded oceanfront resort on neighboring St. Simons Island, about ten minutes from the Sea Island gates. Understand the tradeoff clearly: staying here does not grant access to the Sea Island Golf Club courses, since those require a stay at The Lodge, The Cloister, or The Inn. It works as a lower-cost base for non-golfing partners or as an add-on night around the golf portion of the trip.
Dining
The Georgian Room
$$$$American / Fine Dining
Forbes Five-Star dining inside The Cloister and the anchor of any big group dinner here. Tasting-menu formality, an exceptional wine program, and a dress code that means it. Reserve well ahead and warn your group that jackets are expected.
Tavola
$$$Italian
Hand-made pasta at The Lodge, and the most relaxed of the resort's serious restaurants. A good middle night between the Georgian Room and a barbecue run. Book a table for parties of six or more.
The Oak Room
$$$Southern
The Lodge's main restaurant, warm and clubby with dark wood and a proper bar. The natural post-round spot to settle up bets over a drink. Walk-ins usually work, though it fills after the last groups come in.
Southern Soul BBQ
$BBQ
Legendary roadside barbecue on St. Simons Island, five minutes off the causeway, and the one meal nobody on the trip forgets. Order at the counter, eat at a picnic table, wear whatever you played golf in. Go early, because they sell out of the good stuff.
Pro Tips
- 1
Golf here is resort-guest only, full stop. You cannot buy a tee time at Seaside, Plantation, or Retreat without a confirmed stay at The Lodge, The Cloister, or The Inn at Sea Island, so book lodging and golf as a single decision through the resort golf concierge.
- 2
The Seaside Course is closed May through October 2026 for renovation. If Seaside is the reason you are coming, book outside that window, and if you are traveling during it, plan the trip around Plantation and Retreat and set expectations with the group before anyone books a flight.
- 3
Stay at The Lodge if the trip is about golf. It sits beside the courses, it is built around golfers, and the walk to the first tee is measured in steps. The Cloister is the better room for families and spa guests but puts you a shuttle ride from the clubhouse.
- 4
Green fees include cart, range, forecaddie, and club cleaning, which is genuinely all-in pricing. Budget for the caddie gratuity on top and skip the mental math about extras; there aren't any.
- 5
Use St. Simons Island as the pressure valve. It is five minutes away and has the casual restaurants, shops, and barbecue that Sea Island proper deliberately does not. Southern Soul BBQ is the trip's best cheap meal.
- 6
Target October through May and book early. Fall and spring are the whole point, RSM Classic week in November is the tightest availability of the year, and summer is hot, humid, and stormy enough that even the resort admits it.
Sample Itineraries
weekend getaway
3 daysDay 1: Fly into Jacksonville, drive up mid-morning, check into The Lodge, and shake off the travel with an afternoon round on the Plantation Course; casual dinner at The Oak Room. Day 2: The main event, an early tee time on the Seaside Course with a forecaddie, lunch at the clubhouse, an afternoon at the spa or beach club, then the big dinner at The Georgian Room. Day 3: Morning round on the Retreat Course, a Southern Soul BBQ lunch on St. Simons on the way out, and depart. Three days is enough to play all three courses once.
full trip
5 daysDay 1: Arrive from Jacksonville or Savannah, settle into The Lodge, warm up on the Plantation Course, and eat barbecue at Southern Soul on St. Simons that evening. Day 2: Seaside Course in the morning with caddies, drinks and bets settled at The Oak Room, dinner at Tavola. Day 3: Retreat Course in the morning, a session at the Sea Island Golf Performance Center in the afternoon, then a low-key evening in the St. Simons pier village. Day 4: Second lap at Seaside now that you know the wind, afternoon inshore fishing charter or beach club time for the non-golfers, and the group dinner at The Georgian Room. Day 5: Optional early nine at Plantation, a slow breakfast, and depart. Five days lets you play Seaside twice, which is the right number.
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