Bald Head Island Golf Club lies in waiting

BALD HEAD ISLAND, N.C. (April 12, 2004) -- The 30-minute ferry ride from the mainland to North Carolina's southernmost cape island allows enough time to contemplate a few basic questions. Like, how has the George Cobb designed golf course tucked away on this scenery soaked atoll eluded the Myrtle Beach bound golfer all these years?

Ask any of Bald Head Island's 200 plus members and they'll simply tell you -- by choice.

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BHI's guild has always been a bit hesitant about offering its golf wares to the traveling (read: duffing) public. After all, open tee boxes and a three-hour rounds are coveted items. But for reasons not divulged by club officials or members, BHI now seeks a more public existence.

As proof, the club recently ponied up the $50K plus initiation fee and annual dues to join Grand Strand marketing monolith Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday. And just last month, BHI hired head professional Robert Spangler away from the Tradition Club in an attempt to bolster group play.

These goings on should not be mistaken for a public golf revolution, club officials are quick to point out. According to Spangler, BHI is simply looking to increase its annual rounds by 1,000 to 2,000. These are realistic goals considering the hurdles traveling golfers face in getting to the island.

First there's getting to the ferry terminal in salty Southport. The New England-esque village is 30 miles south of Wilmington and a solid hour from the Myrtle Beach International Airport. Then there's the ferry itself, which departs on the hour and offers roundtrips for $15 per person. Note to group leaders: this doesn't include the $7 per day parking fee at the terminal.

But good things await those with the patience to endure the Grand Strand's version of planes, trains and automobiles. Golfers who place a premium on fast play may end up swearing by BHI. The island's peak golf season is May through August when most second home owning members arrive from points north and south. That leaves the normal peak spring and fall seasons practically wide open.

"There are some weekdays out here when we do 10 or 15 rounds," says Spangler. "You could play 45 holes if you want."

And it says here you will want. The 18-hole Cobb layout is the type of course Tom Hanks would have built had his Castaway character had a proclivity for the links -- no cart paths, no earth moved, no parallel holes and get this -- no fairway bunkers.

Just a natural track seeded with grainy Bermuda grass, routed through the island's thick strands of live oaks and dense patches of coastal vegetation. The gallery on hand typically includes alligators, turtles and family of ospreys that have made their home in an oak tree skeleton off the seventh hole.

"You will notice that you won't notice any other golfers out on the course unless you catch them and chances are you won't catch them," says BHI's starter on this day, a northern transplant who seems to speak in Yogi Bera-isms.

The only thing that keeps golfers from setting land speed records around here is the wind. And there's plenty of it. On a calm day, she howls up to 15 knots on the inland holes, and 20 knots on holes like the 440-yard par-4 ninth and the 205-yard par-3 16th that kiss up to the Atlantic Ocean. January through March, winds of up to 30 knots aren't unheard of.

Not surprisingly, an informal survey of members on the practice tee yielded the "knock-down" as the requisite shot for getting by at BHI. PGA Tour vet Brad Faxon, master of the flat stick, must have been carving all kinds of nasty wind cheaters when he set the course record with tasty 65 from the 6,855-yard back tees. Fax pared 16 from the then 195-yard tips (into a 20 knot wind most days), and took birdie on the 460-yard 18th (uphill, water on both sides and into the wind); scores that certainly hammer home the Tour's mantra that "these guys are good."

But to play BHI you don't have to be good -- you just need to be on time. Ferries leave for the island every hour, on the hour, and to be a minute late is to be an hour late.

The Verdict

Design: BHI is a rustic, primarily house-free track that should leave fans of "core" golf sporting a blissful afterglow. Of course, this minimalism comes mainly out of necessity. Building anything on BHI -- especially golf course -- requires ferrying the necessary equipment from the mainland. The par-3 16th, the par-4 18th and the 505-yard par-5 fourth stand out as the best holes on the course.

Conditions: BHI was not in top condition as of this playing. Pesky poa annua grass has invaded much of the fairways and parts of the greens, and the winter overseed didn't take in places. The summer months are the time for making hay around here, so expect a big step up in conditioning come late May when the Bermuda grass comes alive.

Value: BHI's rates are actually lower during the Strand's peak spring and fall golf seasons (around $80 weekdays, $102 weekends), a steal for what you get. But the total package - green fee, parking, travel time, and ferry ride, has to be taken into consideration.

Service: BHI is a member driven, member owned facility. Expect country club like service levels and you shall receive.

Stay and play

Theodosia's Bed and Breakfast is located on-island at the BHI marina. The 14-room B and B is open year round and rates are available at theodosias.com. Hampton Inn and Best Western Suites have a couple chain offerings on the mainland in Southport. For golf packages including the BHI Golf Club, click here, or call 866-409-2177.

Fast fact

The cult humor flick Weekend at Bernie's was filmed on Bald Head Island.