Inspired by Scottish tradition, all three nine-hole layouts at Heather Glen benefit from the genius of nationally known architects Willard Byrd and Clyde Johnston. The par-3 eighth, which is 224 yards from the back tees, has a green that is protected by a pond bordered in granite, with nasty pot bunkers and mounding front and back. The two finishing holes on this nine are excellent. No. 8 is called "The Spectacle," where the fairway is split by a wood-bunkered waste area and water. You can go right and be safe or left and be a daredevil. No. 9 is a 587-yard par 5 that is reachable in two because the green sits at a right angle to the fairway. To reach it though, you'll need to be on the right side of the fairway where you'll have to skirt tall trees and carry the long lake — sorry, "loch" — to reach safely.

Outstanding is just one adjective applied to Heather Glen when it first opened. Golf Digest named it the No. 1 new public course when it opened in 1987. A few years later, it made that magazine's top 50 golf courses in America list. Byrd and Johnston used the former farmland and took what elevation it had, to spit out a design that rarely if ever gives you the same look twice. It has a lot of variety, though most of the doglegs are left, favoring the golfer who has a draw.

The 400-acre tract has the standard rural South Carolina repertoire of pines, dogwoods, hollies and large live oaks over terrain that could be described as rolling in this neck of the woods. Then there are the Scottish elements like the pot bunkers — some of the smaller varieties lie in the middle of fairways — and streams and brooks, err, make that "burns."