GOLF DESTINATIONS

Hilton Head Island:
Hilton Head's Main Street Inn -
As Good as it Gets

HILTON HEAD, SC (April 27, 2000) - Driving into Hilton Head on a gray Thursday morning, nothing was going to keep me from getting in a round of golf. Not the fifty-degree weather, not the drizzling rain, not the five-hour rounds due to thousands of golfers in town for the MCI Classic - nothing.

Unlike the majority of the masses, I would be staying in the Main Street Inn, widely recognized as the island's finest, and only European style inn. How I ended up with a reservation at the last minute at this little taste of Paris is a mystery unto itself, seeing how every hotel room from Savannah to Charleston had been booked for the extended weekend for months.

On a day this dismal, this disappointing, few things could have raised my spirit, that is to say, a few things like walking into a lobby so exquisite, my mom used to forbid me from these types of rooms when I was a kid for fear that I would break something.

When striking out on my monthly golf trips, I have become more accustomed to staying in anything from a rustic bed and breakfast to a buddy's floor, so to say that I felt like a Connecticut Yankee in King Author's court when I walked through the front door of the Main Street Inn is a gross understatement.

After getting checked in, and scoping out the garden behind the Inn, which is surpassed in it's beauty only by the greens at Augusta, I jammed myself, my sticks, and my laptop into the elevator in transit to my room.

Upon opening the door, it hit me that I was missing one major component on this trip - my wife. I knew I should be appreciating the French door, the ruffle thing on the bed, the quaint furniture, the bathroom with all its soaps and lotions. But I was overcome with Victorian emotions, so I went directly to the refrigerator to see if there was a complimentary bar.

No bar, but there was a nice television, and a nice remote, and boy did the fifty pillows on that bed support my back nicely as I tuned into the first round of the MCI Classic. Focus - there was golf to be played today, rain or shine.

Not one to sit in a room for long, the luxury of the lobby area was the only temptation I needed for a return trip to the first floor. Once there, I was pleasantly surprised to find a smattering of overpriced yet much appreciated, beer offerings. I would need a cold ale to sooth my nerves as I strolled amongst the lobby's historic library, baby grand piano and, Louis XIV fireplace mantel, and tearoom with heart pine floors that looks out to the arbors in the garden.

This $6.1 million, 34-room European style hotel is nothing if not luxurious. The lobby is set amidst expensive furniture and China, and a breezeway takes to behind the Inn to what has to be one of the most stunning gardens in the state, much less Hilton Head.

"We want to appeal to the seasoned traveler and create the experience of a European vacation with panache and service here on Hilton Head Island," Main Street Inn General Manager Stuart Macperhson told the Island Packet upon the Inn's opening back in 1996.

Glance at the watch and it is nearing three o'clock. I had a four o'clock tee time at the Arthur Hills Course at the Palmetto Dunes Resort - only one of the best courses on the island open to the public. That was, after all, why I was here. Not for the European massage or afternoon tea being offered just a few yards away. Where is a female when I need one - surely I was forgoing some of the great pleasantries in life.

The Hills Course was all it was cracked up to be, but the weather only worsened. But imagine the feeling of walking off the course, rain soaked and weary, and knowing that you are heading back to the palatial estate on Main Street.

Interesting how all those little soaps and potions that didn't look so interesting before looked so enticing from the sea level view of a hot bath. Oh, and that plush terry cloth robe I swore I would never give up my plaid J-Crew pajamas for could not have felt better.

The only drawback to a digs as cozy as the Main Street Inn is that it doesn't encourage much of a nightlife. Sink into those fifty pillows and the purr of the ceiling fan will knock you out faster than an Al Gore speech.

True to European form, the Main Street Inn offers up a continental breakfast each morning, complete with Danish, pastries, lunch meets and cereal. As an added touch, both the local paper and the USA Today are provided for those guests who want to check and make sure they are actually in the real world.

By the time I left the Main Street Inn, I felt comfortable with a lot of things I hadn't felt comfortable with before - soaps and lotions, tea, baby grand pianos, and my ability to feel secure in my manhood when actually considering passing up golf for a walk in a garden. For the first time in a long time, my Motel Six mentality had been purged from my mind like a bad shank on the driving range.

If I should ever find an occupation that pays well, you can bet I will be booking my room at the Main Street Inn along with my tee times the next time I am in Hilton Head.

Main Street Inn Essentials

1 (800) 471-3001
P.O. Box 23886 Hilton Head, SC 29925
Directions: upon entering the Island, take a left
Into Hilton Head Plantation and keep left on the
traffic circle. The Inn will be about 0.25 miles on
the right

Check out the Inn's website for package rates on golf and accommodations, a virtual tour of the grounds, and more information on weddings and other special occasions.