Even through years of change, Dye is a
constant at Sea Pines

Sea Marsh course redubbed Heron Point after architect's touch
By BRAD KING
Published Tuesday, September 25, 2007

A friend of mine recently told me that the old Sea Marsh golf course at the Sea Pines Planation Resort was the fourth course he ever played.

He was 13 years old at the time, and he and his sister played Sea Marsh with their father. The green fee that day was $12 per player.

After they finished their round, my friend and his sister begged their dad, "Can we please play Harbour Town tomorrow?"

"No way," was his reply. "I'm not paying a dollar a hole to play golf."

Times do change. That was more than 30 years ago. Since then, my friend has become a golf writer renowned for having played over 1,200 courses in 46 states and 21 countries during his career.

Meanwhile, Pete Dye -- who in another lifetime was an accomplished amateur golfer and star insurance salesman before his groundbreaking design at Harbour Town Golf Links jump-started a different career in the late 1960s -- is now 81 years old and securely enshrined among the pantheon of greatest-ever golf course architects.

For all his fame around the globe, though, Dye has always held Hilton Head near and dear to his heart. Soon after Harbour Town, he gave the island Long Cove Club. He redesigned Robber's Row for Port Royal Golf Club in 1994. Four years later he put his name on the second golf course at Colleton River Plantation, and the centerpiece effort at Hampton Hall that bears his name opened in 2004.more>