An areial view of the Golf Club at Indigo Run in Hilton Head, South Carolina
Invited
Shaped uncannily like a running shoe, Hilton Head is a 12-mile-long South Carolina barrier island where locals still give directions to a golf course or beach house by pointing out its relation to the “toe” or the “heel.” Near the arch lies Indigo Run, a 30-year-old private club that just laced itself up with a multi-million-dollar refresh.
Sneakerheads might quip the centrally located private club named after the state’s colonial era cash crop and owned and operated by Invited is now looking new-in-box.
The club re-filled its bunkers and reshaped its greens, expanding putting surfaces by over an acre to bring them back to their original contours and seeded with Champion G12 Ultra Dwarf Bermuda grass. The revamp also included adding no-mow and natural areas in the roughs. The impetus was not only to be a better environmental steward but with aesthetics at front of mind. Those hole framing touches, along with new plantings at tees and greens add new definition to the golf course.
“I think we took the level of expectation up,” Andrew Gerstner, director of golf course maintenance, explained. No. 6 gets his vote for most-improved hole post-renovation. “We moved that green forward and to the left and we shaped the green to sit down a little bit. It’s got a nice backdrop with the collar and approach and the mounds around the green. I love the look of it now.”
The renovation stretches beyond the turfgrass, touching nearly every corner of the club. A brand new grab-and-go halfway house at the turn was set up, gym equipment has been upgraded, and an airy and refurnished main dining room anchored by a striking 900-bottle wine cellar creates a much more modern space.
The restaurant embraces a contemporary Lowcountry aesthetic, complemented by a new menu crafted by chef Simone Concas that leans into locally sourced Carolina ingredients.
“The Linguine Frutti di Mare is probably my favorite dish on the menu. It’s got shrimp and mussels in a spicy tomato sauce,” managing director Matthew Thomas raved.
Sounds like it would pair nicely with Negroni. Speaking of adult beverages, at the bar, a new gadget lets bartenders can any cocktail on demand—including the Bermuda Triangle, a nod to a secluded three-hole stretch (4, 5, 6) that begins after golfers traverse a long bridge spanning protected wetlands. The club’s new signature drink, set to be a golf-cart cooler staple at Indigo run, mixes Hanson cucumber vodka and blue Gatorade with a splash of ginger ale on top.
Members socialize at Indigo Run’s grand re-opening party.
Invited
According to Thomas, “we were looking for a new, modern, inviting space with that coastal Carolina feel” and post renovation he feels the clubhouse now ranks among the most contemporary on an island where many clubs’ gathering spaces are starting to show their age.
“A lot of the clubs on Hilton Head and even Bluffton are all 30 or 40 years old,” he added. “Some of them have had renovations but we are the most recent to undergo one.”
The changes have had more than a cosmetic effect, sparking renewed interest in the club. There has been an uptick in membership demand since news of Indigo Run’s renovation broke, according to Stephanie Mensing, the club’s director of membership sales.
“As soon as we got word out on the street via social media ads and through our members telling their friends when they were travelling up north. I thought I would have a nice quiet summer—but I did not,” she laughed. The club is now nearing its capacity of roughly 350 members, and the initiation fee has risen from $20,000 before the renovation to $30,000 post–reopening.
Meanwhile at the toe of the island, Harbor Town, HHI’s most famous layout as it plays host to the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage, recently wrapped up its own renovation. That project was focused on the course, rebuilding greens, bunkers and bulkhead to buff up the course’s conditions with Davis Love III and his company, Love Golf Design tapped to preside over the project. Meanwhile, Moss Creek, just before the bridge to get on the island proper, just reopened its North Course after an extensive renovation that refreshed every tee and green and added over 200 yards of length to the track.
