I was a bit suprised that there weren't more reviews of the Sea Pines Resort, so I thought I would give our persepctive. We have been visiting Hilton Head annually for the past five years since discovering this gem. We are an active, traveling family (2 pre-teen kids) and have visited many of the usual hot spots (Maui, Big Island, Cancun, Caribbean, Atlantis, Cape Cod, etc.) and have enjoyed them all. However, we count Sea Pines among our favorite destinations. We typically rent a villa or small house in the plantation, rent bikes for the week and are ready to go. The bike trails are amazing, meandering throughtout the wooded plantation and most importantly, are as flat as a Kansas cornfield. The Beach club is fantastic - my kids usually taking advantage of the arts and crafts programs there, and the food at the beach is quite good (the Mahi sandwich in particular). The beach itself is wide, the water warm and the surf typically gentle making it ideal for families with smaller kids, but still fun for the skimboarder or boogie boarder in your family. Great shopping, restaurants and entertainment can be found at both Harbourtown (where the famous lighhouse resides) and South Beach (home of the Salty Dog and their ubiquitous t-shirts). Oh, and the previous posters opinions notwithstanding, the three golf courses are excellent and in my experience very well maintained.

Because Sea Pines is a such a self-sufficient community, we may venture off the plantation only a few times during our stay on Hilton Head. When we do, we highly recommend the following: Marley's and Sea Shack for sea food (get there early), Coldstone for ice cream, Signes for breakfest and pastries, and Kenny B's for exceptional New Orleans cajun food. Also consider Crabber J's, leaving from Shelter Cove, for a fun crabbing trip for the family, especially with smaller kids.

Sea Pines is an awesome choice for a family vacation and we highly recommend it.

Before I get into the bad, let me first mention the good. SOME staff at Sea Pines are very attentive and helpful, especially the bartenders. They all try to be very polite and I appreciated that. They're all kids doing seasonal work and they try hard. The management is a different story...

But being polite can't cover up for the disaster that this resort was.

Chances are if you're going to Sea Pines you're going to play the golf courses. Please, do not do this.

The superintendent at Harbourtown has lost the course. When they aerated last month they forgot to check the weather report. The aeration was followed by a very hot week and the result is essentially a dead golf course. There is very little grass left on the greens. The fairways are quite literally more dirt than grass. Several of the tee boxes did survive, but it's small consolation.

HARBOURTOWN AND THE OTHER SEA PINES COURSES AT THIS POINT ARE IN THE WORST CONDITION I HAVE EVER SEEN ANY GOLF COURSE BE IN. I WILL EMAIL YOU PHOTOS OR ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IT. (joe@dcdivots.com)

I am a scratch player who has been lucky enough to play many great resorts across this country (Doral, Sawgrass, Bandon, etc.) so I know what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, hardly anyone at Sea Pines understands golf.

When I complained to them about conditions they didn't understand that the conditioning of the course is a big part of why people flock to the high end resorts and that their course wasn't just substandard - it was essentially dead.

The obvious response to this review is that we should have known what we were getting into since bermuda grass courses are notorious for being rough in June. The answer is that we tried.

When we called a month or so ago to book the trip we specifically asked if the courses were in good shape. We were told by the person we called at the resort that "The aeration will have already been done so the courses will be in the best shape they'll be in all year."

Imagine our surprise when we got there to find that we had either been outright lied to or had just been talking to someone who is completely ignorant of the facts. Either way, the resort should have done better.

All of our requests for partial refunds were turned away. It's not like we wanted the whole trip comped or anything. But in my opinion, Sea Pines should have discounted our golf package by at least half. Instead, when told about our displeasure they just shrugged their shoulders and said, "It's like this all over the island." Except for the rain checks we'll never use seeing as how we'll never go back...

To be fair, the assistant pros at Harbourtown were very understanding and did give us rain checks to come back and play Harbourtown in the future. But that's small consolation after we spent around $700 to stay at the Inn and get the golf packages, bought $500 worth of plane tickets to get there, rented a car, bought a cap and golf shirts, etc... I hope they'll understand that an invitation to come back and do it all over again doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Plus, that was only at Harbourtown. When we complained at the Ocean and Sea Marsh courses they basically told us tough luck.

If you love golf, you will hate Harbourtown. They have destroyed a great golf course, yet they have no shame about charging full price.

Also, the design for the Ocean course is bland at best and only offers one ocean view. Take your golf dollars elsewhere.

joe@dcdivots.com