Kiawah Island Golf ResortThe 2021 PGA Championship was the 103rd PGA Championship, held May 20–23 in South Carolina at Kiawah Island Golf Resort's Ocean Course on Kiawah Island.
Kiawah Island's famed Ocean Course is long, difficult and stunning. It's also fun, just as long as you don't mind getting your game (and pride) beaten up a little bit. But better yet, it's public! That's right.
The Ocean Course. All are among the world's greatest golf courses but places most golfers only dream about playing. They just don't fit into the average golfer's budget. The $383 Ocean Course greens fee, which doesn't include a gratuity for the caddie, keeps most locals from heading out to Kiawah Island Golf Resort.
Kiawah Partners, the master developer of the Island, was acquired by South Street Partners based out of Charlotte, NC in 2013. The purchase also included two private golf courses, the Cassique and River Course, 400 undeveloped lots, Freshfields Village, Kiawah Island Real Estate, and Kiawah Island Utility.
It is fairly easy—and frankly repetitive—to explain how difficult the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Resort plays, something that surely its architect, the late Pete Dye, cackles about while he looks down—or as some frustrated pros might suggest “up”—at his masterpiece.
Certain packages can drag the rates down to as low as $234 per round with the high being $330. That's still considerably lower than booking as a non-resort guest, where green fees will range from $373 to $463, depending upon the season.
Sure, you can play the Ocean Course, but be ready to pull out your checkbook — the greens fee isn't cheap. If you want to play the course during the summer, the rates can be as high as $463 for a round.
Although there are no fees for the services of a caddie, gratuities are graciously accepted. Recommended gratuities are $120 per player for walking caddies, and $60 per player for a forecaddie, based on service. Caddie services may be reserved at the other Kiawah courses based on staffing levels.
7,876 yardsThe Ocean Course is a par 72 course and from the championship tees, it stretches to 7,876 yards (7,202 m) with a slope rating of 155 and a course rating of 79.1, the highest in the country, according to the United States Golf Association.
Rumors be told, a number of celebrities own or have called Kiawah Island home: Dan Marino, Richard Gere, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney, Bruce Willis and more. Are you surprised? Not us. Kiawah Island is quite a place and has become the benchmark us of best master planned communities.
By 2045, the report said, more than 1,500 homes on Kiawah, worth a collective $1.3 billion, were at risk of becoming chronically inundated by flooding. The year before that report's release, Tropical Storm Irma flooded an estimated 73 percent of the island.
Kiawah has a global reputation for incredible golf. The site of two previous PGA Championships, Kiawah Island Resort is poised to host the tournament again in 2021 on the Ocean Course. The Ocean Course is regarded as one of the finest golf courses in the world and provides the Atlantic's views from every hole.