Caledonia Golf and Fish Club

Since opening in 1994, the course at Caledonia Golf and Fish Club has been consistently ranked as one of America’s best. Among honors this relatively short Part 70 course has received from Golf Magazine, Golfweek and other golfing publications are ranking in the Top 3 courses in South Carolina, one of America’s Top 100 courses and one of America’s 100 best modern courses.

Situated on an old rice plantation, Caledonia Golf Course and its environs are a step back in time, from its antebellum-style clubhouse to the Spanish draped live oaks that line its fairways and greens. Designed by the late Mike Strantz, the course is superior in every way. The oaks that add so much to the course’s beauty also add to the challenge, playing key roles before the 7th green, on the 13th fairway, and other holes. Remarkably, only one oak had to be cut during golf course construction.

While the course’s short length of 6,526 yards might mislead some into thinking it will be a leisurely stroll, Caledonia can be a bit menacing, especially on its back nine. No. 13, for instance, is not only one of the course’s loveliest holes, but one of its most challenging, with a sharp dogleg to the left around a giant oak tree and then a postage-stamp green guarded by a bunker and pond. But probably the relatively short par-4 18th is the hole that gets the most attention, a hole made even more challenging by being just feet from the clubhouse, meaning your approach shot and putts will be well reviewed by the crowds lounging there.