Exclusive Bluffton gated community unveils its latest golf course
A prestigious Bluffton community has unveiled an expansive new golf course reserved only for its members.
Palmetto Bluff, dubbed “one of the best-kept secrets in the South” by Esquire magazine in 2019, opened its new Anson Point golf course for play on Jan. 2, according to a news release.
Designed by Bill Coore and Bill Crenshaw, the new 500-acre course features small greens that weave through the varying ecosystems found in Palmetto Bluff. A round at Anson Point will take golfers through upland pine forests, maritime forests, live oak groves and salt marshes.
Open only to members of the Palmetto Bluff Club, Anson Point is now the third golf course built in the private community. It is joined by the May River Golf Course, designed by legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus, and Crossroads, a 9-hole reversible course that opened in 2024.
How the golf course was designed
In a marketing video for the new golf course, Ryan Farrow, Lead Associate at Coore & Crenshaw, explained how the design team crafted the course out of the landscape.
“So many golf courses in the past, first thing you do is bulldoze everything in sight,” Farrow said. “You manipulate every square inch of it. Here, we’ve just kind of picked and prodded around.”
The course is designed to minimize impacts to the surrounding environment and wildlife. The greens at Anson Point are much smaller than that of a typical golf course. In addition, instead of having a maintained rough, the turf transitions directly into the native edges. The Palmetto Bluff Conservancy will manage the surrounding areas and conduct prescribed burns to maintain the health of the forest.
No homes will be built around the golf course, which makes it very “aesthetically pleasing,” said Jay Walea, Director of Conservancy at Palmetto Bluff in the video.
“I think it’ll be a look that everybody, including our wildlife, will enjoy,” Walea said.
A comfort station is currently under construction and set to open in March. Called “The Roost,” the station will offer fresh food, cocktails, grab-and-go items and snacks at the ninth hole.
The course gets its namesake for George Anson, First Baron Anson, an English admiral who sailed around the world in the 1700s. According to Palmetto Bluff Archaeology, Anson once owned the land that now makes up the private community.
Palmetto Bluff expanding
The new course is part of Palmetto Bluff’s efforts to expand its amenities after being purchased by private equity firms.
First developed in the early 2000s, the 20,000 acre community was purchased by South Street Partners and Henderson Park Capital, two private equity real estate firms, in June 2021. South Street Partners assumed control of Palmetto Bluff Club in 2022, according to a news release. Also in development is a new waterfront community on the south end dubbed Anson Village.
In the marketing video, Jordan Phillips, Partner at South Street, called Palmetto Bluff an “under-golfed” community.
“We knew we wanted to create a world-class experience,” Phillips said.
