amenities Archives - Golf Course Home

The first phase of the new Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds has opened at Reynolds Lake Oconee. The Sporting Grounds offers a variety of outdoor experiences at the award-winning community which is set on 12,000 acres on Lake Oconee 75 miles east of Atlanta.

Named for the stream that flows into Lake Oconee and shapes the property’s topography, Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds is under the design direction of international shooting champion Justin Jones of Great Britain.

Jones is one of the world’s foremost experts in the development and management of elite resort shooting facilities.

Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds Features

The Sporting Grounds complex encompasses nearly 100 acres and features a 20-station sporting clays course, five-stand shooting range and air rifle facility, as well as archery and instructional/games areas and a hiking course. A guest center will be adjacent to the existing, 1800s-era Sandy Creek Barn and a 40-acre lake.

Instruction at the 20-station sporting clays course will set you straight.

If you are not a shooter, no problem. There is an endless list of exciting outdoor activities, including fishing, kayaking, canoeing, and hiking.

The Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds project is the latest in a multi-million-dollar improvement plan designed to touch nearly every facet of the Reynolds Lake Oconee community and resort.

Sporting Clays Like Golf?

The aesthetic of the 20-station Sporting Clays course is created much like a golf course. The clays course is laid out in a series of stations (holes) with each specifically designed to offer shot variation of length, angle and trajectory.

The track emulates the unpredictable and challenging nature of a classic British shoot, with clays launched at a variety of speeds, trajectories, angles, elevations and distances.

Certified instructors will be available for lessons, and a personal guide will accompany guests through all activities. Shooters on the sporting clays course will traverse the course in a specially-outfitted sporting clays buggy.

Golf, Vacations & More

Reynolds Lake Oconee has 117 holes of golf, all designed by legendary golf architects, including Jack Nicklaus, Rees Jones and Tom Fazio.

Beyond the “Top 100” ranked golf courses and additional sporting activities, the Reynolds community offers a wide array of recreational opportunities along the more than 350 miles of Lake Oconee shoreline.

Vacation guests at Reynolds can choose from individual cottages within the private gates, while enjoying a variety of amenities. Accommodations also are available at The Ritz-Carlton. A variety of vacation packages, some incorporating golf and shooting, will be available.

By Mark L. Baker, ASLA, President
Wood+Partners Inc.
Founding Member,
GCH Retirement Planning Advisory Board

Bloody Point is an oceanfront golf community on Daufuskie Island, SC, located between Savannah, GA, and Hilton Head Island, SC. Dafuskie is a beautiful Lowcountry coastal barrier island that is served by boat access only. Many believe its limited access has helped preserve the Island’s unique qualities and characteristics.

However, this community features an under-performing golf course in a regional market that is oversaturated with golf. The course is a core golf course with real estate located around the perimeter of the 180-acre complex. It would be no small decision to turn away from this high-quality, but struggling golf operation.

However, a new direction was needed and approved. The new plans now call for the closure of the course and the conversion to a series of open spaces and linear parks with meadows and bicycle and pedestrian trails that will buffer existing homes and real estate.

A sample master plan targeting areas of change.

Nature Based Casitas

Another aspect of the plan has the existing Inn at Bloody Point expanding to include 60 rooms overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Another 150 small casitas would be created for those who want a unique hospitality venue that would be an exciting alternative to coastal resorts on Hilton Head Island or in Savannah and the surrounding region.

In addition, this more nature-based setting will include a mixed-use village core with local art galleries, farm-to-table restaurants and convenience shops. Historic tours of the Island, boating, wind surfing and paddle boarding, kayaking and biking, in addition to a beach club with swimming pool and ocean-view wedding pavilion, are all on the list of new activities.

Water lovers are at home here.

Bloody Point Property Owners Get On Board

Bloody Point has a Planned Unit Development (PUD) zoning classification which required a zoning map amendment. Plans to amend the zoning were well received and supported by the Property Owners Association.

The Beaufort County Council agreed with their vision, and approved the zoning amendment which allowed the new land uses to be added to the community.

An Exciting Future

In the end, it was an understandably difficult conclusion for members to realize that the golf operations could not work at their location. But eventually they were excited to see that the community could diversify its amenities and broaden its appeal to multi-generational buyers.

A natural setting means access to the outdoors, water.

The community also learned that the secret to following this path is with careful planning along with open dialogue with property owners and local zoning officials.

Ultimately, the addition of new amenities will help Bloody Point make a successful transition from a golf community to an active lifestyle community that will endure for generations to come.

Editor’s Note: Is your community a candidate for conversion? If you want to ask the land use experts at Wood+Partners how your community could benefit from the evolving conversion trend, click here.

Save