The Golf Club at Wescott Plantation

Getting To Know: The Golf Club at Wescott Plantation

An Insightful Interview With Steven S. Rudd, PGA, Head Golf Professional

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Steven S. Rudd, PGA who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
Wescott Golf Club is located in the heart of the lowcountry just minutes from the Charleston International Airport, historic plantations and gardens, and beautiful beaches.

Course architect Dr. Michael Hurdzan designed this 27-hole course with his trademark environmental sensitivity. Set among centuries old live oaks and built on one of the lowcountries oldest plantations, the design captures the traditional flavor of low flowing earthworks and classic bunkering. Each hole is separated and framed by vegetation and natural wetlands. The three 9-hole courses are Oak Forest, Burn Kill, and Black Robin. Each presents players with a different feel and look. Oak Forest offers wide fairways and subtle greens, and only the occasional hazard or penal bunker. Burn Kill requires a slightly more accurate tee shot for the best angle into the immense and most undulating greens. Black Robin is a shot makers paradise with a premium on accuracy and the ability to shape your shots through tree lined fairways to well guarded greens.

Wescott is one of only a handful of South Carolina courses to maintain TifEagle putting surfaces and TifSport fairways. These new generations of Bermuda grass offer up exceptional playing conditions year round and the areas fastest and most consistent putting conditions. Play from any of 5 sets of tees ranging from 5000 yards at our forward tees to 7200 yards from our championship tees.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
As we are the only 27-hole facility in the Greater Charleston Area, players can enjoy a feeling of having their own golf course most days. Also, each nine hole course has it's own unique character and it is rare that a player will experience the same two nines on consecutive days. This provides the player with the sense that they are playing a totally different course.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
The course is player friendly from tee to green, there are no blind shots. While the greens do not have a major undulations, they do have subtle breaks that will challenge the best of putters.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Perry Green, PGA Director of Instruction, was named the Carolinas Section "Junior Golf Leader" award in 2010 for his work with junior golf. Perry runs The First Tee program at Wescott as well as many other junior camps, adult lessons and clinics.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Oak Forest #8 is generally considered to be the signature hole at Wescott. It is a par three measuring 200 yards with a pond in front and two large bunkers framing the hole behind the green.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My personal favorite is Black Robin #2. This dogleg right hole only measures 355 yards from the back tee but it requires two precise shots. The tee shot can be played with anywhere from a 3-iron to a driver depending on the wind. The drive must be played over a small lake to an area with bunkers left and right as well as one bunker located at the far end of the landing area. Once the player is safely in the fairway, the danger does not subside. The approach must be played with a wedge to a small green with another small pond to the right of the green and a hazard to the left and behind the green. If the player does manage to hit the green, they are usually rewarded with a reasonably good chance at a birdie.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Enjoy great food, cold drinks and friendly conversation after your round. Wescott Golf Club has all of the finest amenities including our 6000 square foot antebellum style clubhouse which houses our full service restaurant and bar. Offering a variety of freshly prepared items you can enjoy in our dinning room complete with vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, and twin fireplaces or dine al fresco while taking in the scenery from our elevated wraparound porch. Activities continue after the sun goes down with live music, DJs, Shag, Trivia, and more.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Rob Johnson holds the course record of 63. He shot 31 on Burn Kill followed by 32 on Black Robin during the Hooters Tour event on September 22, 2007.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: Burn Kill & Black Robin nines - 7210
Slope: Burn Kill & Black Robin nines - 138
Rating: Burn Kill & Black Robin nines - 74.3

More Information
The Golf Club at Wescott Plantation
5000 Wescott Club Drive
Summerville, South Carolina,
29485
866-211-GOLF
www.wescottgolf.com

Revised: 09/12/2012 - Article Viewed 31,461 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.