Jones at Sea Trail Golf Resort and Convention Center

Sea Trail, Jones Course
I was looking for a course in the Grand Strand I had not played. I asked around. Folks from the central to south areas of the Strand don’t know much about the north. So, I read the reviews and tossed the dart. It was not a bad toss.
Design: Great design loved the layout. A very playable course with the necessary challenges for both me and my wife.
Navigating: ignore the reviews about navigating the construction. It was easy and there are signs everywhere. If you could not figure it out you did not listen to the bag guys. 1 is to the left of the old bag drop. 10 is to the right. You can see them both from the bag drop they are not using right now.
Construction: Someone is building houses between 1 & 10 and along 18 and like all work in this area, it was strip cut, leveled and now they are putting in the infrastructure. What course doesn’t have some house building going on. Here is a shocker, next they will be using nail guns.
Pace of Play: We got lucky 3.5 hours. Never saw the folks in front or the ones behind us. Could not have played faster.
Tee Color: If you can’t hit a drive 220 or less the whites are going to hand you a very long painful day. I played a mix of white and gold. I hit a 240 drive on average. I was hitting 190 - 180 to the green on some par fours. If I played the gold, I was 150 – 120 into the green.
Greens: They are ok. A bit thin and not the smoothest you will find in the Strand. By spring 2025 they will be very nice and getting better each season. We had no problem reading them. Because they were a bit slow down hill was actually an easier putt.
Tee boxes: Thick and full of grass. For my taste a bit long compared to others, but definitely all grass.
Fairways: OK. The difference between fairway and rough was weak in places but nothing that would make me leave. Some had mowing clumps as a result of not mowing every day. They are re-building. Not everyone has Pine Lake’s budget.
Areas around the greens: OK. 3 out of 5. Some holes are better than others but definitely getting better and playable for sure.
Bunkers: Not all the holes had been power raked. The sand was good. Not unusual for a course to have some raked and some not. I was in three and got out of all of them even though each was a different experience. I could play 100 courses this year and maybe 20% would get top scores for their bunker maintenance. It is just part of golf.
Water: I know the card shows water, but it did not come into play as an obstacle. It is there if you spray them. The red tees are positioned safely, as well as the golds. Blue and white have a few holes where you must hit over the water but Jones gave you a safe area on all of them. And if you can hit your tee shot 200 in the air, you should consider getting off the whites and going to the golds. If not for you for the folks behind you.
Carts: They are ok. Our seat was thin. The breaks worked and it did not rattle.
Cart Paths: Outside of Wild Wing with new paths, these are some of the best in the Strand.
Drink Cart: We saw it many times. The staff was great and cheerful.
Club House: They are re-building it. Are you going there for the club house or the golf. The part you have to go in for the Pro Shop and Bar/grill is very nice.
Comfort Stations: The one I used was bright, recently re-done and clean. And it smelled clean.
Overall: They are doing the right things. It is a work in progress and as golfers we should help them out and play there. We are blessed to have so many courses and with many of them closing for housing we need to help these guys stay open or our prices will go up as courses close.
I am definitely going back. The Reese Jones design is one of the best in the strand. In a few years this will be a premium course once again and you will kick yourself for not playing it now. I just wish it was not an hour away from my home.
Byrde Course: Closed May 12. The day we were there they were cutting trees to beat the band. Looks like they are going to open it up a bit. There were tree trunks on the ground everywhere.

Course is fair and playable. Greens seemed to be not recently cut and rolled.

The course is under construction which is not indicated on their web site. Difficult to reach certain holes, with very little signage. We drove thru the area under construction in and around heavy equipment. Not safe at all.

Once you get past the bag drop/ check in process you can finally relax and play golf. Don’t know how or why it has to be soo confusing and disorganized. I get there is no place to stage a golf cart by the first hole but communicate that. Every group we talked to said the same time. We ended up hopping in a cart finding the first tee. Realized there were 5 groups on the same hole went to 10, played the back first and never waited again. Great track.

Played the Jones course on Friday April 5th. Course was nice. I was crunched for time, had the first tee time as a single. Starter asked if the twosome set to tee off on 10 could join and start on the first. I was fine with this, played with a couple nice fellas from Michigan. I asked the starter if we would run into anyone on the back when we made the turn. “I’ll put this flag on your cart to make sure no one gets in front of you.” We get to 10, group on the green, group in the fairway and group waiting on the tee! 3 foursomes! Needless to say I was not impressed! Round took longer than 4 1/2 hours. Thought about talking to the starter afterwards but ultimately decided to take my business elsewhere in the future!

First let me say that I disagree strongly with some of the past comments. Number one... Construction give me a break yes there is construction going on but it only impacts 3 holes, 1.3.9 on the Jones course and only modestly. Yes the cart path is torn up in a couple of spots so no biggy just go on the sand and go slow outside of this their cart paths where some of best for no bumps. Next conditon.. Give me another break.. We played 4 other courses this week and this one was the best. I really think some people think the course should be in prime condition in February and March.. It just doesn.t happen. The Jones course has a nice mix of holes offering a challenge and birdie opportunities. It is also scenic and we played in just under 4 hours with a one oclock tee off. The staff are super friendly both in the club house, loading and bar. My only complaint and it is a weaker one I guess would be that we did not see the cart person on the front or back despite the office confirming there was one. Would definetly go back next year.

Course is not in good shape. Construction everywhere. There are no signs to get from hole to hole especially to 1 and 10 on Jones course. Don’t bother slot of better courses around than this one. Thank god I have a golf trail card cuz fulll price at 81 dollars a joke

Sea Trail is doing construction. Had to start on the back nine and felt as if I needed an orange vest and a hard hat. Extremely difficult getting to and from certain holes. Very difficult getting from hole 10 to hole 1. Nothing was marked save for some faded spray paint on the blacktop. Get some signs! Holes 1-9 were very pretty, but getting back to the club house proved a challenge.
Not on my do-over list.

Staff extremely friendly and professional when greeted. Pace of play was great, did not wait on any hole. Only negative was construction going on on a couple of holes, besides that had a great time.

Very Nice course, not too difficult. Too bad there wasn't a marshall on the course to speed up the foursome in front of us. They were at least 3 holes behind so it took 4hrs 45 minutes to play

first time playing this course,a bit challenging for us because we're only part time golfers.but would definitely go back for another round.Aside from construction around perimeter of course,conditions were good compared to others we have played this winter.

Took bag drop 20 minutes to load us up, had to play front side twice as pace of play was soo slow. Construction everywhere and no signage to direct you to the tee through all of the mess.

Course cart paths were hard to follow as there was a lot of construction for new homes around the course.
Constuction equipment was very noisy at times around the course.