George Fazio Course at Palmetto Dunes

The George Fazio course at Palmetto Dunes is far and away the best track in this resort community. Being the only par 70 on the Hilton Head Island, the George Fazio course is a very tough to score on. Playing 6,873 from the tips with a slope of 145 and a course rating of 74.2, the Fazio is a low handicappers dream. Don’t let this scare off the mid to high handicappers, as the Fazio offers a tough yet fair test from the white tees with only two par 5’s. What is daunting about the Fazio is the length of the par 4’s. While the Fazio course has a good mix of holes with water and holes without, you better make your ball striking count on the holes where water comes into play. Either if it’s off the tee shot carrying a lagoon or an approach shot over water, the Fazio provides a lot of potential punishment for a course that is fairly open. The Fazio course also features greens that are also well protected by bunkers. The Fazio boasts the best conditions out of the three Palmetto Dunes resort courses, and it is not even close. The fairways, tee boxes, bunkers and greens are all in magnificent shape. The greens run very true and are some of my favorites on the island. I did not see any issues with poa annua grass which for the month of July in Hilton Head is an impeccable feat, hats off to their Head Superintendent. My only knock of the course is that they need to take out or cut down the natural shrubbery along the water on hole 17. For one it restricts the views of a beautiful golf hole. Secondly, as a par 3 playing 230 from the tips there is not enough room between tee to shrubs to clear it with a low iron or wood for a lot of players. Another note, players have to go to the Robert Trent Jones course to use the driving range. Of the three Palmetto Dunes courses, the George Fazio is the only one that justifies the price. At $144 in peak season and hours, a player is paying for what they should expect from a resort course, a hard test with great conditions.

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