By JAY ALLRED

If you looking for a great vacation playing golf or relaxing on the beach or have the desire to take an eco-tourism vacation look no further than the Lowcountry south of Charleston. Located just 23 miles from Charleston, Kiawah Island Resort and the Resort at Seabrook Island offers everything you can imagine for the perfect vacation with friends and family.

Kiawah Island Resort offers an oasis for golfers and guests to get away from the commercialism of most coastal destinations. If five championship courses are not enough occupy your time. The 10 miles of uninterrupted, uncrowded, wide sandy beach offer resort guests unlimited sundrenched activities, including biking, sandcastle building, seashell hunting, sunbathing, ocean kayaking and swimming. At sunset the beach becomes a quiet romantic escape for couples and loggerhead turtles.

At Kiawah you have a magnificent pristine beach with houses setback from the dunes and crashing waves. Bike trails not parking lots wind through the island as old and young use pedal power to navigate the heavily wooded island. Kiawah Island Resort is the only resort on the island, it owns and operates five golf courses, two tennis centers, Night Heron Park , East Beach Town Center, a recreation and nature program, three pool complexes, eight restaurants and one market. In addition, the lodging options consist of the 150-room oceanfront Kiawah Island Inn and 600 villas and private homes.

In November, the resort will complete construction on a new clubhouse at Turtle Point Golf Course, a Jack Nicklaus design. The clubhouse is the final piece of an $8 million project at Turtle Point that includes a new golf learning center, new greens and bunkering. The resort is building a 300+ room oceanfront hotel next to the Turtle Point course. The Turtle Point course features three holes along the ocean and looks to become the "golf" course for resort guests.

Many golfers familiar with Nicklaus' more recent designs may be surprised by Turtle Point. Opened in 1981, it’s a low-profile design in which fairways and green settings are blended into the existing landscape without the artificial mounding and radical features that became so popular later in the decade. Even the recently renovated greens can best be characterized as subtle where a keen eye and deft touch are required to master the gentle breaks.

The Ocean Course, where all 18 holes offer panoramic views of the Atlantic Ocean and 10 of which play directly along the beach, earned instant acclaim when just months after opening it hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup. In 1997 it played host to the World Cup and this year will play host to the inaugural UBS Warburg Cup (see sidebar).

Although Dye softened the course up for resort guests after the Ryder Cup, it still puts a lump in your throat. "When the resort players see it, they'll be awestruck," Dye stated. "They'll think it's the most difficult golf course in the world. But I think they'll find a very wide-open type of golf course once they play it. I meant it to be that way. I was fortunate to have enough land to make it that way."

Osprey Point is a classic Tom Fazio layout nestled along fingers of saltwater march, four large natural lakes and dense maritime forests of century-old live oaks, pines palmetto palms and magnolias. In 1997 the course was renovated to lengthen the layout to 6,871 yards.

The new Gary Player-designed Cougar Point Golf Course opening in September 1996. You could say they virtually blew up the former Marsh Point Golf Course and replaced it with a challenging 6,861-yard layout. The new course follows the routing of Marsh Point but retains little else from its predecessor. All 18 green and tee complexes were redesigned and in some cases, relocated. Greens have doubled in size. Every fairway was reshaped and lagoons were reconfigured, relocated or even eliminated. The course was lengthened by 600 yards from its predecessor.

Tucked away just outside of the Kiawah gate, lies Oak Point, the newest addition to Kiawah's collection of courses. Clyde Johnston designed along the Kiawah River what is called a Scottish-American style course with a par-72 layout. The course was recently purchased by the Kiawah Island Resort and added to the courses available for resort guests.

Golf packages start at $99 with deluxe accommodations in the Inn or the villas, daily golf, cart and range balls. For reservations call 1-800-654-2924 or on the web at www.kiawahresort.com.

The Resort at Seabrook Island is a 2,200 acre gated community with many amenities residents and resort guests to enjoy. Seabrook Island's championship golf courses are both challenging and naturally beautiful, yet distinctively different. The courses were the first to be named South Carolina's "Fully Certified by the Audubon Cooperative Society."

As Audubon Certified courses, a special effort is made to conserve the area's natural grasses and bodies of water. Special pest prevention and fertilization programs are in place to cut down on the pesticide use in an effort to protect the winding creeks, marshes and the Atlantic Ocean bordering the courses.

Crooked Oaks, designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., is a par 72 course and recently underwent a $2.4 million renovation. It now comprises the only bentgrass greens in the Charleston area. The course is a close cousin of Tanglewood's Championship Course imagine Tanglewood on flat land lined with large live oaks draped in Spanish moss winding around marshes and lakes. Golfers missing the fairway will find a difficult shot out of the bermudagrass rough. Down grain the golfer is likely to get a flyer out of the rough and into the grain you can stick it in the ground and leave it short. The course measures 6,754 yards.

Ocean Winds, designed by Willard Byrd, takes golfers to the spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean where the breezes challenge even the most talented players. The course measures 6,761 yeards. Both courses are private and are only available to play by members and resort guests.

Seabrook Island offers activities for the whole family. Guests can play tennis, take a cruise, go horseback riding on the beach or do a little deep-sea fishing. Additional activities include bicycling, rollerblading and swimming in the Resort's two pools or in the Atlantic Ocean along four miles of beaches.

Seabrook Island offers the Ultimate Golf Package from September 9 through February 16, 2002 and includes spacious villa accommodations, daily greens fee with a cart for 18 holes, arrival day golf at half price, club storage and a full breakfast each morning at the Resort’s Island House Restaurant. The package also allows golfers to replay rounds on either course from $15-$20 per person depending on the rate season and availability or $30-$40 per person depending on rate season with a guaranteed availability. The Ultimate Golf Package rates start at $96 per person per night from September 9 through November 3 and $84 per person per night from November 4 through February 16, 2002 with four people in a two bedroom Racquet Club or scenic villa. For more information about The Ultimate Golf Package, call 1-800-845-2475 or log onto www.discoverseabrook.com.

The Links at Stono Ferry is a wonderful public course south of Charleston in Hollywood, South Carolina. The course was built in 1989 by designer Ron Garl. The course offers outsanding view of the Stono River. Challenging tee shots and bermudagrass greens will face golfers but it is playable for most every golfer. Built in an equestrian development. Several holes run alongside stables where thoroughbred horses graze and train.

The land features several historical landmarks including a grass "military" bunker on the 12^th hole which was used in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. It still comes into play on with a fade down the right. The bunker was used to fire on enemy ships trying to sneak up the river towards Charleston. The 14^th tee overlooks where the former Stono Ferry crossed the river to John's Island. Holes 12 through 14 are some of the finest holes crafted in the area. Water comes in

The head professional at the course is Greg Wood the former head pro at Reynolds Park. The rates are $44 on weekdays and $49 on weekends. To make a tee time call 843-763-1817

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[sidebar]

Ten years after the "War by the Shore" Ryder Cup captured the world’s imagination, a group of golfing legends are returning to Kiawah Island Resorts to once again challenge The Ocean Course, Pete Dye’s windswept masterpiece.

The inaugural UBS Warburg Cup, featuring two 12-man golf teams from the United States and The Rest of the World, will compete for a purse of $3 million in a Ryder Cup-style format from Nov. 12-18. Players who have either qualified or received special invitations to date and have confirmed their acceptance are Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Larry Nelson, Isao Aoki, Hale Irwin and Curtis Strange, Ray Floyd, Frank Nobilo and Mark O’Meara.

"We are honored to be chosen as the inaugural site of this new, exciting and prestigious event," says Prem Devadas, managing director of Kiawah Island Resorts. "It is fitting that we are staging this tournament during the 10th anniversary of the 1991 Ryder Cup. Many of the participants have not been back to The Ocean Course since that historic match. This event fits the profile of the type of tournament for which Kiawah is known and will continue to pursue. It will also be an exclusive opportunity to see a group of golfing legends, the likes of which the Lowcountry has never seen."

The UBS Warburg Cup is sanctioned by the European Seniors Tour and will be televised worldwide. The Golf Channel will carry 25 ½ hours of coverage in the United States. Arnold Palmer will be playing captain of the U.S. team, and South Africa’s Gary Player will be playing captain of The Rest of the World team. The teams will each comprise 12 players, six of whom will be aged 40-49 and six aged 50 and over. Players who have either qualified or received special invitations to date and have confirmed their acceptance are Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Larry Nelson, Isao Aoki, Hale Irwin and Curtis Strange.

The United States team will be composed of Palmer, plus the leading players from the U.S. Senior PGA Tour all-time money and 2001 money lists following the Senior PGA Championship, the three leading players 40–49 years of age from the World Rankings at the end of June 2001, three special invitations for players over the age of 50 and three special invitations for players from 40-49 years of age.

The Rest of the World team will include Player, the top two international players from the European Seniors Tour Order of Merit after the European Seniors Tour Championship, the top three international players 40-49 years of age from the career PGA European Tour money list as of 1 October 2001, three special invitations for players over the age of 50 and three special invitations for players from 40-49 years of age.

A limited number of tickets are available for sale to the public. In order to maximize spectator comfort and viewing opportunities, tournament officials have limited the gallery to 5,000. A Patron Pass, priced at $185, offers four days of golf spectating (Thursday through Sunday) along with access to the Patron Pavilion, a commemorative program book and complimentary parking. The Patron Pavilion is a premium hospitality venue with a relaxing atmosphere featuring upgraded food and beverage selection and closed circuit television monitors to follow all the action.

Patron Passes are available on a first-come first-serve basis and can be purchased by calling toll-free 866-238-6596. Tournament and volunteer information are also available by calling the toll-free number.