The tabby-clad Hampton Club clubhouse is reminiscent of the grand plantation-era structures that once stood near its site.

With their drivers in hand they stood where, just thirteen short months before, members of the project's development team had assembled, gold shovels in hand, to turn the first ceremonial spades of dirt that would become The Hampton Club. During that period of time, the plantation's 300-acres on the quiet north end of the Island have emerged as what has undoubtedly become one of the South's premier golf courses.

The anticipation among golfers prior to playing the course is surpassed only by their excitement and praise once they have completed their rounds. Evident on every hole is course architect Joe Lee's international reputation for designing courses that make the most of a site's natural beauty, while offering golfers equal measures of enjoyment, challenge and reward.

While the back-nine features the four island holes that made opening such an eagerly awaited event, the front-nine is eliciting high praise as well. A bit longer than the back nine, the front-nine is also more heavily sand-trapped as evidenced by the Par 5-Number 5 which is guarded by no less than nine bunkers. Number 3, flanked by marsh on one side and water on the other, and Number 9, which requires golfers to carry Butler Lake twice, are among the golfers' early favorites.

The back-nine is The Hampton Club's 'signature'. Beginning with Number 10, hazards, in the form of marsh or lakes, come into play on seven of the nine holes including the first five. The four that comprise the course's island holes have tuned out to be as unforgettable as was earlier imagined.