COURSE REVIEW

Little Coosaw Creek Country Club in Charleston is a heavy hitter for golfers

By Tim McDonald,
National Golf Editor

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C., May 23, 2007 - Coosaw Creek Country Club is one of those sly little golf courses that proves you don't have to be a big muscle-bound hamburger to land the knockout punch.

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Coosaw is only 6,593 yards from the back tees but sports a slope of 140 - that's getting pretty close to he-man, Mike Tyson status, especially for a little fella.

There are those who live and die with wide-open 7,000-yard tracks where you can uncork your driver all day long. I like those kinds of courses as well, but I like to season them with courses like Coosaw, which makes you match your brain with your driver, sometimes a volatile combination.

"There are plenty of ways to test golfers without making them hit it 350 yards off the tee," Coosaw Head Professional Mike Benner said.

Like plenty of risk-reward doglegs, strategically placed hazards like bunkers and water, and greens that will test your touch and feel. Oh yeah, toss in a little atypical low-country elevation, about 40 feet of it.

"We had a Division-I college tournament here," Benner said. "The first thing they did was look at the scorecard and say, 'Oh man, I'm going to tear it up.'"

Really? The winning score was even-par.

Coosaw Creek is one of the newer Charleston -area golf courses, an imaginative design by Arthur Hills, one of golf's more imaginative architects.

Hills put in a lot of doglegs with built-in risk reward. To give the course more movement, he pushed up mounds around most of the greens. He also left some trees in fairways.

Hills gives you some awkward looks off the tees, giving you strange angles to landing areas, and forces you to hit accurate approach shots into greens that have just the right amount of slope and undulation.

Local knowledge always helps, particularly on this course, where hitting at the flag will often leave you facing tough putts or even chips from around the greens.

"He requires that accuracy off the tee," Benner said. "You can hit it only 250-260 yards, but you have to hit it to the right spot or you'll be blocked out."

Then there's the small target greens guarded by bunkers, water and, if you're in the wrong fairway spot, trees.

Some of the difficulty is obvious; other times it's subtle, like on the 413-yard fourth hole. If you're too far left off the tee, you're hitting over mounds to a green that's running away from you.

On the 358-yard ninth, the fairway starts to the right of the blue tees, so you're trying to hit a fairway that's slithering away from you at an angle, like a snake. The 224-yard par-3 11th has the harshest sloping green, and the landing area at the long, difficult par-4 14th is squeezed by marsh from the left.

Coosaw Creek Country Club: The verdict

Coosaw does about 20,000 rounds a year. That's a fairly low number, and, truthfully, the conditioning, though pretty good, should be even better.

The low rounds may have something to do with the fact that many people think it's a private club, being located in the ritzy neighborhood of the same name. The course is surrounded by homes.

Coosaw was recently bought by its 600 members, and they are still trying to determine the future of the course.

"We're trying to find the right mix," Benner said. "But, I think we'll always be in the 20,000-25,000 round range.

Charleston hotels

The King Charles Inn is one of those places that's a favorite with visiting golfers, even though it really isn't close to any of the area's courses.

Why? First of all, it's perfectly located downtown at the start of the historic district and within walking distance to about 40 restaurants, some of them Charleston's best. Golfers love good eats as much as they do wide fairways and soft greens.

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Secondly, it's a value when compared to other, more expensive downtown hotels, and, third, the inn caters to golfers.

The hotel itself is rich in history, with the original building dating back to around 1830. Better yet, it was the preferred, weekly retreat of Edgar Allen Poe when he was a soldier stationed at Fort Moultrie.

The inn has 93 rooms and serves a nice breakfast buffet on its Coral Terrace. It has a small outside pool with a sundeck. There is free parking and free wireless Internet access in the rooms.

The inn remodeled its upstairs lobby recently and plans to spend another $5.5 million renovating the parking garage, rooms and exterior.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.