Golf course architect Matt McGarey quickly fell in love with the vibe of the South Carolina Lowcountry during his four months of renovation on the Ocean Point Golf Course, often bringing his family along for some down time.
McGarey’s crew adopted a tradition every time they crossed the final bridge to Fripp Island’s private, gated entrance.
“We turned the music off, rolled the windows down and drove 15 miles per hour because everything just slows down when you hit that bridge,” McGarey says. “You kind of go back in time a little bit and all your anxiety and your everyday hustle-and-bustle of life just goes away.”
McGarey and his mother, Cynthia Dye McGarey, whose uncle was legendary Hall of Fame golf course architect Pete Dye, were tasked over the summer with renovating Fripp Island Golf & Beach Resort’s Ocean Point Golf Links.
The layout was originally designed six decades ago by George Cobb and features five holes along the Atlantic Ocean.
Seascape Hospitality Group purchased the Fripp Island Golf & Beach Resort in 2023 and quickly moved to hire Dye Designs to refresh its seaside gem.
“I think all of us in the group looked at each other and said ‘they’re not making any more oceans and we’ve got a golf course with a lot of holes on the ocean,”’ says general manager Tom Frost. “We asked ourselves how could we maximize that and capitalize on that. The bones were there with a great George Cobb design and we were able to take that and enhance it and make it feel more like an ocean golf course.”
The Dye Designs team reshaped more than 50 bunkers, added 11 new greenside bunkers, incorporated new fairway bunkers, added 5.5 acres of waste area and constructed native dunes to increase both play and visual appeal. The final phase of the renovation included the planting of more than 13,000 native plants before reopening in early October.
“What Matt and Cynthia came up with was amazing,” says Frost. “The reshaping of the bunkers gave a lot of shape back to a golf course that had been lost. A lot of things had flattened out over the years. And then with the waste areas it added a different touch. It made people say ‘I’m playing golf on the ocean now.’ And it’s only going to get better over the next few years when all the native plants mature.”
The Ocean Point Golf Links is now a stern test with a slope rating of 141 from the back tees with water coming into play on most all holes.
The island’s sister course, Ocean Creek Golf Course, is the first design of Davis Love III in the 1990s and borders Port Royal Sound for its own unique challenge.
With just 200 full-time island residents and approximately 700 vacation rentals, golf is often an unhurried experience that rivals the island’s slogan of “Simple, Seaside, Serenity.”
“Well, I do think that’s the charm of Fripp Island, the fact that it’s kind of tucked away a bit,” says Ocean Point head pro Todd Strattan, who has worked on the island for 19 years. “It’s not Hilton Head, and a lot of people come thinking it’s going to be something like that, and it’s not at all. And that’s kind of what we’re proud of, too. It’s not littered with restaurants and traffic and all that. It’s somewhere where you can kind of escape a bit. This golf experience has its own feel about it.”
Behind the 5th tee of the Ocean Creek course is the Forrest Gump Bench, where scenes of Gump saving Lt. Dan were filmed. Some of the palms still show singe marks from where pyrotechnics were used in the award-winning film.
The Ocean Creek course is known for its various marsh views during high and low tides, and five wonderful par threes.
“I think Davis knew what he was doing when he faced all the back nine par threes into the ocean wind,” says Ocean Creek head pro Marshall Voight.
Fripp Island is located about 35 minutes from Beaufort, S.C. and between other popular South Carolina golf destinations: Charleston and Hilton Head. It is a private island so only those renting vacation property or residents and their guests have access to golf, the island’s 3½ miles of beach and its other amenities.
Massive live oaks draped with Spanish moss along Highway 21 offer a unique canopy feel as you drive toward your secluded island destination.
“Marsh magic is a real thing,” Fripp Island marketing manager Colleen Jaeger says of the scenic drive to the island. “You feel like you’re going into the portal. The drive builds anticipation because you’re going over all these little bridges, you’re going past all these little farms and marshes, and you just know you’re getting close.”
In addition to 36 holes of golf, Fripp Island offers an equestrian center, nature programming for kids and adults, 12 food and beverage outlets, swimming pools, tennis, pickleball and shopping. And don’t leave the island without sampling the bread pudding.
Most on-island visitors park their cars for their stay and rent a golf cart to get around the quaint surroundings.
The island’s marina offers sunset cruises, along with various other nature excursions where you’ll see dolphins, bald eagles and ospreys.
“More people should spend more time on the water when they’re here,” Frost says. “You’ll see the island from a unique perspective, and when you come back from the water you have a different appreciation for your surroundings here on the island.”
Frost describes a majority of the island’s visitors as “generational” but the vacation base is starting to expand more into Georgia and North Carolina.
And the McGarey family, whose design business is based in Colorado, plans a return visit over the Thanksgiving holiday.
“When you go through those gates it’s a whole new world,” Matt McGarey says of Fripp Island.