Palmetto course at The Landings not just for old folks

The Palmetto course is where members of The Landings go when they’re due for a whipping.

There are six courses at the massive golf community just to the south of Savannah, and most of them are geared to the typical resident – he or she is generally well past “last call” time and looking for a genteel round of golf with little intrusion in the way of difficulty.

Most of the other courses, all of them excellent, give a little, then take a little. Palmetto plays tough, man-to-man defense from whistle to whistle. It isn’t as though this is the most difficult golf course in Georgia, although if you want to take it on from the back tees at a tad under 7,000 yards, you’re looking at a considerable slope rating of 141.

But, few members at The Landings play any of the courses from that far back; the yardages move down to 6,457 from the tournament tees to 6,174 for the club tees.

This is the course where they hold tournaments, from club championships to USGA get-togethers.

Deep traps and high embankments guard greens that are contoured in the way of some pretty harsh slope and undulation; some of the multi-tiered greens have three-putt written all over them.

The layout is tree-lined with some mildly rolling fairways, and there are some water carries, both off the tee and into the green that can be fairly demanding. The par-3s over water are also fun.

Even if you do get beaten up here, at least it will be in a beautiful setting. Like all the courses on Skidaway Island, the Palmetto plays through oak, pine, azalea and other coastal island scenery, with the kind of misty, marsh views that make people from so far away want to come and live here.