Melrose at Melrose Resort Daufuskie Island

Melrose at Daufuskie Island Resort is a Jack Nicklaus design that opened in 1991 on this barrier island off the South Carolina coast, accessible only by ferry or private boat. The course occupies a distinctive Lowcountry setting where maritime forest, tidal marshes, and coastal waterways shape the routing and playing experience. Nicklaus worked with the island's natural topography to create a layout that moves through dense stands of live oak and palmetto, with several holes playing along or near Calibogue Sound and tidal creeks that define the property's edges.

The routing takes advantage of elevation changes modest by coastal standards but significant for a barrier island, with fairways that rise and fall through the wooded interior before emerging at water's edge. The par-3 7th hole plays across a tidal inlet, while the closing stretch features views across the marshes toward Hilton Head Island. Bunker complexes and waste areas reflect the sandy soil common to the region, and prevailing winds off the water influence club selection and strategy throughout the round.

Daufuskie Island itself carries historical significance as a former indigo and cotton plantation site and later a small Gullah community, though the resort development represents a more recent chapter in the island's story. The course serves resort guests and club members in a setting defined by its isolation and natural character, with the ferry access contributing to a sense of remove from the mainland golf corridor that stretches from Hilton Head through the South Carolina coast.