Tucked away on Isle of Palms is Wild Dunes, a lowcountry South Carolina golf retreat that seems to have it all: towering live oaks draped in Spanish moss, palmettos that frame the greens, marshland stretching along nearby fairways and the glittering Atlantic just beyond the dunes.
It’s the kind of coastal scene that makes you slow down so much that you almost forget you’re supposed to be keeping score. The Harbor Course, however, has a way of bringing you back to the task at hand.
Following an $8 million renovation, the course was thoughtfully updated with both playability and long-term sustainability in mind. The greens were rebuilt and expanded, bunkers redesigned, tees leveled and the irrigation system replaced — all changes that make the course feel more polished and enjoyable to play.
While improving the playing experience was certainly a priority, conservation was never far behind. Along the Intracoastal Waterway, portions of the course were raised to better withstand the demands of a coastal environment, helping the Harbor Course remain playable and resilient for years to come. It was a fitting approach for a course so deeply shaped by its surroundings.
The changes are certainly noticeable, but they don’t compromise the character of the course. If anything, they allow it to shine a little more.
The playing surfaces feel markedly improved and the layout has a more elevated feel, but the landscape remains the star. Just don’t let all that beautiful scenery fool you. The Harbor Course may be easy on the eyes, but it still has plenty of bite.
The mix of long and short holes keeps you on your toes, while marshes lurking just within reach make you think twice before taking a risky line. And then there’s one of the course’s most influential factors — one you can’t even see. At the Harbor Course, the wind has a say in nearly every decision.
It’s a layout that rewards patience, and in many cases, knowing when to play it safe rather than attempt the unlikely hero shot.
Somewhere around the ninth hole, though, I stopped thinking quite so much about all of that. As we made the turn, I learned more about what had occupied this land long before it became a golf course.
The 10th and 11th holes at the Harbor Course offer more than sweeping views of the Intracoastal Waterway. Beneath those two fairways is a piece of Isle of Palms history that connects to a larger chapter of the U.S.’s past.
The land was once part of the former Isle of Palms Airport, an airstrip built in the early 1950s that became an important part of the island’s aviation story. Among those connected to it was Haywood “Woody” Faison, a Citadel graduate and World War II Army Air Corps veteran who flew 35 B-29 combat missions in the Pacific Theater and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. What had initially seemed like another stretch of fairway suddenly had a story behind it.
Knowing that gave the following holes a different feel as we continued around the course.
After navigating the tighter, more strategic holes, we entered the final stretch and the course began to open up again. The marsh and Intracoastal came back into view, while the wind swirled around us, making sure we hadn’t forgotten about it.
As we plodded our way down the finishing holes, we took in the last dose of quintessential lowcountry scenery before we made our way back to the clubhouse.
By the time we finished, I realized I had gotten a little more out of the round than I expected. The Harbor Course is certainly better for the renovation, but what stayed with me was how naturally the golf, the landscape and the history all fit together.
