Hilton Head National Golf Club

Getting To Know: Hilton Head National Golf Club

An Insightful Interview With John Ferrebee, General Manager/Director of Golf

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 John Ferrebee 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
Hilton Head National represents golf in the truest sense of the word. With homes and codons cropping up among every other golf course in the area, Hilton Head National has remained true to it's mission statement of no outside golf course development. Hilton Head National is unique in nature that two architects were responsible for each nine, Hall of Famer, Gary Player, with over 200 international course designs in his portfolio and former PGA Design and National Award winner Bobby Weed. Each nine offers a different flair and utilizes some of the " best South Carolina Bottomland in the Low Country" as quoted by Gary Player. In todays day and age of development courses and designs that truly make golfers cringe, Hilton Head National stands alone as golf the way it should be played

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
With two nines that that have different architectural features, Hilton Head National was designed to be a player friendly course and at the same time present a challenge to the better player. The concept of the designers was for players to enjoy a round of golf , use all the clubs in there bag and enjoy pristine mother nature. With rolling greens and generous fairways on one nine and elevation changes and strategic bunkering on the other, it truly offers golf a variety of looks and challenges. Fox squirrels, indigenous to the area, patrol the fairways and every once a while you will see deer and wild turkey walking the wooded boundaries of the course.

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
You don't have to overthink on this course. Just trust your golf instincts. Course management is instrumental in placing yourself in comfortable positions to hit approach shots to the green.

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
In 2012, Hilton Head National was honored with the "Readers Choice Awards" for favorite golf course by our local newspapers, The Island Packet and The Bluffton Today. Obviously our local residents consider it, the best of the best.

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
Number 6 on the Weed Nine is a 298 yard par four that has water flanking it all the way down the right side, A bunker complex sits 50 yards short of the green and a huge elevation change with mounding on the right hand side of the green, riddled with pot bunkers presents even more issues. It offers a multitude of options for players of all calibers and is just fun to play.

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
Number 8 on the Weed Nine is Par 5, measuring 575 from the back tees. Unless you are exceptional long, it truly is a three shot hole. The Green is extremely undulating and positioning yourself for your third shot is critical. The green is relatively narrow and slightly elevated with some shaved run off areas. In most cases if your third shot is not right on the money, you probably are going to struggle to make par.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
Miss Mary's famous southern cooking and the aroma's coming from the Player's Pub almost have to make you go in and get something to eat after your round. Our bartenders will fix your favorite drink and seasonal beers are always on tap.

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Lanny Watlkins shot 62 in a dogfight with Scratch Golf President Bill Palmer

Back Tee Stats
Par: 71
Yardage: 6730
Slope: 133
Rating: 72.8

More Information
Hilton Head National Golf Club
60 Hilton Head National Drive
Bluffton, SC, 29910
843-842-5900
www.golfhiltonheadnational.com

Revised: 02/20/2013 - Article Viewed 32,373 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.