The Tim Cate design reopened on September 22 following a two-month project that featured the installation of new TifEagle Bermuda grass greens. One of four courses at Ocean Ridge Plantation, Tiger’s Eye has been ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses by Golf Digest, and the new greens ensure it will remain one of the bedrock layouts in Brunswick County.
“We’re thrilled that this revitalization is complete, and that our members and guests can resume playing top-level golf,” said Mark Saunders, owner of Ocean Ridge Plantation® Golf. “With this upgrade, our course will continue to be one of the best places in the country to play golf.”
After extensive research, the decision was made to install TifEagle, one of newer strains of Bermuda grass that thrives in the Grand Strand’s subtropical climate.
“We thought TifEagle would be a good fit for Tiger’s Eye as a premium course,” said Bill Long, Ocean Ridge Plantation’s director of marketing. “It’s going to give us a good putting surface year-round, and it will be comparable to bentgrass in terms of speed and playability.”
TifEagle has been the grass of choice for several other high-profile courses in the Southeast in recent years, including TPC Sawgrass and Harbor Town. The staff at Ocean Ridge also provided the course a facelift during the two-month project, sprucing up the bunkers that are a significant part of the layout’s visual appeal.
Cate used waste bunkers, water and locally harvested coquina boulders to help mold Tiger’s Eye into a layout that brought national attention to Ocean Ridge Plantation. The course is renowned for its collection of par 3s, particularly the 11th, which is home to a peninsula green ringed by coquina boulders.
Lion’s Paw, Panther’s Run and Leopard’s Chase round out the quartet of Big Cat courses, and make Ocean Ridge one of the premier multi-course properties in the region.