Travel File: Georgia coast

Golf Digest, March, 2001 by Mike Stachura

Brunswick ... Oak Grove Island Golf Club, $30-$38 (912-280-9525).

Built on an island between two intercoastal rivers, this course offers wonderful views of the area's wetlands. The course went through some renovation projects in '97, including new greens, additional bunkering and cartpaths.

Lodging

The Golden Isles and nearby Brunswick have every variety of lodging with 5,221 guest rooms. But if you're looking for more than a king-size bed and a remote control, there are three resorts that offer plenty more. The Jekyll Island Club Hotel was once the retreat of the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Pulitzers and has been restored as a Queen Anne-style guest hotel. The King and Prince Club offers the only oceanfront rooms and dining on St. Simons Island.

But the grande dame, the place you go when you're making only one trip, is The Cloister. The lodging is spacious and distinctive, the food incomparable. In addition to the upgraded golf courses, a new lodge opened in February. The Cloister is the kind of place that hasn't changed in 50 years, meaning not that it's been deteriorating but that it's as special and perfect today as it was back then.

Weather

Months to avoid: August (oppressive heat), February (mixed bag of frost, fog, wind). Best time of year: Late September to November (cool and dry).

Airports

Savannah International Airport is 70 miles north. Jacksonville (Fla.) International Airport is 60 miles south.

For more information

The Brunswick Golden Isles Welcome Center. Phone: 800-933-2627 or www.bgivb.com.

RELATED ARTICLE: Key:

. Basic golf.

.. Good, not great.

... Very good. Tell a friend it's worth getting off the Interstate to play.

.... Outstanding. Plan your next vacation around it.

..... Golf at its absolute best. Playing this course is an experience of a lifetime.

Stars are based upon Golf Digest's exclusive Places to Play guide and reflect ratings of 20,000 readers. Some courses are yet to be rated. For information on more than 6,000 courses in North America, obtain your copy of the fourth edition of Places to Play for $25 plus postage. Call 800-793-2665 or check with your local bookstore.