There are over 30 golf courses in Brunswick County with more being built each year. The Southport-Oak Island area is fortunate enough to have seven of the best courses in the county.
Oak Island Golf and Country Club – Oak Island
928 Caswell Beach Rd., Caswell Beach, NC / 910-278-5275
Built in 1962 by architect George Cobb, the holes meanders through lovely oaks and Caswell Beach. The course features Bermuda grasss greens, tees, fairways and roughs. Water in play on nine different holes presents a true golfing test to the most avid golfer. Visit their website at Oak Island Golf Club .
The Founders – St. James Plantation:
3021 Beaver Creek Dr., St. James, NC / 910-253-3008
The 18-hole, par 72 championship golf course features panoramic views of coastal salt marshes and the Intracoastal Waterway. This course offers both challenge and enjoyment to players of every level. The course is accented by a beautiful 15,000 square-foot clubhouse offering refreshing beverages and casual dining.
The Players Club – St. James Plantation
3684 Players Club Dr., St. James, NC / 910-457-0049
Designer, Tim Cate’s best work can be found on this course. Cates’s design of narrow fairways force accuracy off the trees. The layout of the golf course is speckled with signature waste bunkers, coastal Carolina hardwoods, while blending seamlessly with tidal creeks and salt water marshes. The clubhouse, designed with Georgian style architecture, offers a spectacular view of the 18th hole.
Bald Head Island Club – Bald Head Island
303 S. Bald Head Wynd., Bald Head Island, NC / 910-457-7300
One of the most scenic seaside golf courses in the area. Designed by George Cobb. Many of the holes are so undisturbed and bordered by the still lovely natural habitats of herons, egrets, foxes and alligators. It also provides one of the most unique golf experiences on the East Coast as one takes a private passenger ferry that departs from Southport, NC.
South Harbour Village Golf Course – Oak Island Mainland
4188 Vanessa Dr., Oak Island, NC / 910-454-0905
This 18 hole, par 3 course, designed and built by Shapemasters, Inc. is set among tall Carolina pines and majestic live oaks. South Harbour Golf Links is The South Brunswick Island’s first Par Three Executive Course. The course is designed with a layout that all levels of golfers can play and enjoy. South Harbour Village is coastal Carolina’s newest Marina and Golf community.
Members Club – St. James
3779 Members Club Blvd., St. James, NC / 910-253-9505
A Hale Irwin designed opened in 1996 and offers bold design with multiple tee boxes and lines of play for strong visual appeal. It is reminiscent of Pinehurst with rolling slopes, pine trees and oaks. It is complemented with a beautiful clubhouse, full pro shop, grille, banquet and meeting space as well as an athletic club.
The Lakes Country Club – Boiling Spring Lakes
591 South Shore Dr., BSL-Southport, NC / 910-845-2625
The facility is a classic design with a very relaxed atmosphere. There is no designers name on the stationary and no one to put your clubs on the golf cart. There is only a beautiful view over a lake and 18 holes of lush fairways and greens, which never run parallel.
The Thistle – Sunset Beach
8840 Olde Thistle Downs Dr. SW, Sunset Beach, NC / 910-575-8700
Thistle Golf Club offers one of the most beautiful and challenging 27-hole layouts on the Grand Strand. Created by course designer, Tim Cate, who learned his trade from noted architect Willard Byrd. Thistle takes its name from an ancient Scottish golf society dating back to the early 1800′s, and the course layout possesses a distinct Scottish links feel.
Panther’s Run – Ocean Isle Beach
351 Ocean Ridge Pkwy, Ocean Isle Beach, NC / 800-233-1801
Panther’s Run- carefully routed through a variety of coastal terrains, Panther’s Run blends naturally with the environment. Trees, ponds, and bunkers, creating a beautiful and challenging layout for golfers of all skill levels, gently define the fairways.
Lion’s Paw Golf Links – Ocean Isle Beach
351 Ocean Ridge Pkwy, Ocean Isle Beach, NC / 910-287-1717
Lion’s Paw – designed by architect Willard Byrd, fairly open, hilly course with views of a beautiful creek valley and adjoining wetlands. A wild, untamed layout, Lion’s Paw features deep, sugar-sand bunkers and bent grass greens.
Lockwood Folly Country Club – Supply
19 Clubhouse Dr., Supply, NC / 910-842-5666
At Lockwood Folly, a century of seclusion has created a setting of natural grandeur. Lockwood Folly is golf the way it should be…quiet beauty, unhurried pace, in a Willard Byrd design to challenge the best. Where the Intracoastal Waterway and the Lockwood Folly River meet to form…paradise.
Sea Trail Plantation – Sunset Beach
211 Clubhouse Rd, Sunset Beach, NC / 910-287-1100
To create a winner, we started with winners by assembling Dan Maples, Rees Jones, and Willard Byrd to design 54 signature holes of championship golf. Three outstanding courses with three distinctly different personalities in the heart of 2000 spectacular acres. Wide fairways and large mounds are surrounded by water, with water coming into play on 11 holes of the Par 72 championship course.
Magnolia Greens Golf Plantation – Leland
1800 Linkwood Dr., Leland, NC / 910-383-0999
Twenty-seven of some of the most challenging holes as well as some of the toughest approaches to any greens. Designed by Tom Jackson, it ranks at the top of all courses he’s designed.
Rivers Edge Golf Club – Shallotte
2000 Arnold Palmer Dr., Shallotte, NC / 910-754-3434
Situated upon one of the most breathtaking pieces of property that you will ever see and one of the most spectacular courses you’ll ever play. An Arnold Palmer design, the course gazes out across the Shallotte River, sitting high upon bluffs that overlook two miles of grassy marshlands. The interior holes are equally stunning with gentle elevation changes, freshwater lakes and bent grass greens.
Tiger’s Eye Golf Links – Ocean Isle Beach
351 Ocean Ridge Pkwy, Ocean Isle Beach, NC / 800-233-1801
Tiger’s Eye – is an upscale course carved from a virgin pine forest. The course has dramatic elevation changes. There are natural waste areas, native grasses, wildflowers, pine and oak trees. Tiger’s Eye requires precision shot-making and a reliable short game. It is ranked as one of the Top 100 Public Golf Courses in America for 2007-2008.
Crow Creek Golf Course – Calabash
245 Hickman Rd. NW, Calabash, NC / 910-287-3081
Created and designed by Rick Robbins is a scenic layout of undulating bent grass greens and manicured Bermuda fairways. It’s a popular destination for golfers visiting the Myrtle Beach area.
Carolina National Golf Club – Bolivia
1643 Goley Hewett Rd. SE, Bolivia, NC / 910-755-5200
Carolina National is a world class, 27-hole golf course located in the heart of Winding River Plantation. This Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary offers both challenges and raw natural beauty for golfers of all ages and skill level. The fairways are long and greens that break in every direction. Designed by Master’s Champion, Freddie Couples, the golf course is adjacent to the Lockwood Folly River. It has some of the best landscaping and natural terrain areas making the course very challenging and most enjoyable to play.
Ocean Ridge Plantation – Ocean Isle Beach
6877 Ocean Hwy W., Ocean Isle Beach, NC / 910-575-8803
Jaguar’s Lair – (formerly Angel’s Trace) was redesigned by Tim Cate.
Cape Fear National – Brunswick Forest
1281 Cape Fear National Drive, Leland, NC / 888-342-3622 or 910-383-3283
Destined to be one of the Coastal South’s most distinguished golf courses, Brunswick Forest’s Cape Fear National offers 27-holes of championship golf in a setting of unmatched beauty. Magnificent forests of mature oaks, maples, pines and magnolias create the kind of old-world feel experienced only on the most seasoned courses. The Tim Cate-designed layout features several bridges cut through the wetlands, three waterfalls, beach bunkers and native grasses and wildflowers, all adding to the aesthetic beauty of the golf course.
