You can see and smell the Golden Isles of coastal southeast Georgia even before discovering the vast array of excellent public and private golf courses.
Just 10 miles east of Interstate 95 in Georgia, at Exit 29, and onto U.S. 17 East, the vast Sidney Lanier Bridge transports visitors over the Brunswick River. The longest-spanning bridge in Georgia offers a beautiful view of what’s to come ahead and transitions visitors into what is deemed the Golden Isles, a destination approximately halfway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Savannah, Georgia. It consists of the town of Brunswick and connected barrier islands — St. Simons, Sea Island, Jekyll and Little St. Simons. The term Golden Isles was derived by explorers from the 1500s through 1700s looking for gold and instead found a beautiful coastline.
Travel 10 more miles east onto St. Simons and stop at the main roundabout. The smell of barbecue will fill your car and entice your hungry stomach. Southern Soul Barbecue, a laid-back local eating establishment, fits the vibe of the coastal environment. Built in an old gas station, it’s the shorts and T-shirts atmosphere that entices beachgoers and locals. PGA Tour veteran Davis Love III, a longtime resident and business partner, occasionally helps out in the adjacent smokehouse, formerly a liquor store, to make the establishment’s slogan, “A Southeast Coastal Georgia Smoke Joint,” ring true.
With the breeze in your hair and a full belly, the appetite for golf is just as appealing. A mixture of exclusive private, resort and public golf sit nearly side by side throughout these islands with 189 holes available. It’s enough of a quiet community combined with the golf to attract at least a dozen PGA Tour players to call this place home, all drawn by Love’s affection, the presence of a small plane airport next door and just an hour north of the Jacksonville International Airport. The presence of Tour-caliber players, which today includes players such as Harris English, Brian Harman, Keith Mitchell, J.T. Poston, Patton Kizzire, Zach Johnson, Davis Thompson, Will Gordon and Greyson Sigg, dates to native son Ed Dudley, who was the first professional at Augusta National.
In the Golf Digest state rankings for Georgia, Ocean Forest Golf Club (fifth), Sea Island Golf Club-Seaside (eighth), Frederica (ninth) and Sea Island-Plantation (25th) stand out. But there’s a lot more to take in.
The historic representation is rich when you consider that in 1894 the Jekyll Island Golf Club was registered with the United States Golf Association. The millionaire members of that club built the first course in 1898, supposedly designed by Willie Dunn Jr., a Scot who was friends with the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers. That first course, located near the current Jekyll Island courses, was flat with sand greens and caddies used mats to drag and smooth the greens after play was completed on each hole. In the early 1920s, the USGA tested steel shafts vs. hickory and tried out various golf ball size and density tests.
Perhaps the most unusual architectural occurrence came in 1927 when Walter Travis, nicknamed “The Old Man,” designed his only Georgia courses, Jekyll Island’s Grand Dunes course and Sea Island Club’s Plantation Course. They would be among the final courses Travis designed before his death in July 1927.
As Georgia’s largest public golf course, Jekyll Island Golf Club has 54 holes. The Pine Lakes course was designed by Clyde Johnston and renovated in 2024. Joe Lee designed the Indian Mound course. The Great Dunes course, which had been only nine holes for years, was restored in late 2025, taking the Travis nine in combination with the former Dick Wilson-designed Oleander Course to present a course that moves through dunes out to the Atlantic Ocean and back. The nearby Jekyll Island Club Resort, dating back to the island’s popularity in the 1880s, is a perfect match for the historic golf.
Another 54-hole complex is just down the road at the Sea Island Club with its Seaside, Plantation and Retreat courses and a 17,000 square-foot Golf Performance Center. The PGA Tour visits every November with play on the Tom Fazio-redesigned Seaside course and Travis-designed Plantation courses. The courses at Sea Island are open to members of the Sea Island Club and guests of The Cloister or The Lodge at Sea Island.
While still on St. Simons Island, two exclusive courses are located on the northern edge.
The Ocean Forest Club, which hosts the prestigious Jones Cup Invitational amateur every January, offers a rare Atlantic Ocean-side finish. The Beau Welling redesign comes home with a long par 3 that plays to the ocean’s edge and a testing par 4 that runs parallel to the ocean. Then there’s the somewhat secretive extra hole at The Point, a par 3 left of the 17th that plays to the edge of the ocean and the intersection with the Hampton River. The hole is only used for special occasions.
Frederica Golf Club is 12 miles away but offers a similar great impression. The Fazio and Michael Bonallack design has an 11-acre, high-tech practice facility and large, fast bermudagrass greens. Many PGA Tour players, whether residents or not, are known to visit Frederica in spring just before the Masters because the speed of the greens resembles Augusta’s quick pace. They may be attributable to course superintendent Asa High, who used to be assistant superintendent at Augusta National.
Right in the middle of the two very private courses is The Club at Sea Palms, an 18-hole George Cobb-designed course that includes a 4.5-acre short game area called “The Miracle.”
Further inland in Brunswick is the Brunswick Country Club, which was restored to its Donald Ross 1938 design in 2006.
Just when the golf has worn you out, turn to the ocean for swimming, sunning or fishing. Or you can hit the Jekyll Island Summer Waves Water Park when it opens in May.