When it opened in 1993, the Robert Cupp Course at Palmetto Hall Plantation created an uproar, and, despite some modifications, it’s still the most unique course to play on a Hilton Head golf vacation.
Cupp’s computer-generated design was originally all about hard angles, pyramidal mounding and geometrically shaped bunkers. The design has since been softened and some of the right angles replaced by more curvilinear contours.
Staff members insist that the geometric elements are visible only from the air, but we saw plenty of triangular and rectangular bunkers from the ground. For example, on the par-3, eighth hole, a large greenside bunker on the left looks as if it belongs on a baseball diamond. And, angular bunkers, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, hug the bend in the dogleg at the par-4, 14th hole.
Despite its geometric proclivities, the Cupp Course boasts superb shot values and is an aesthetic winner thanks to the wetlands that weave through the routing.
This memorable layout is also one of the most challenging on the island from the tips, sporting a slope rating of 149. Although generous off the tee, the trouble level ratchets up around the undulating green complexes.
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