CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - The young attendant greeted us to Kiawah Island’s magnificent Ocean Course with a “howdy” and “did you bring enough balls?”

Gulp!

The Ocean Course, it says here, is the best golf experience in North America – period! It’s the reason most serious golfers come to this historic area to play and it could very well be the highlight of a golfer’s life. But while the Ocean Course and its four sister courses that make up the renowned Kiawah Island Golf Resort are what attracts golfers, it’s other courses in the area that make them keep coming back.

Charleston is one place where there’s just too many good golf courses for one to play during a single visit.

So they return to play Rivertowne, Legend Oaks, Dunes West, Pine Forest, Wild Dunes, The Links at Stono Ferry – all great courses that are part of Charleston Golf Inc’s., (www.charlestongolfguide.com, 1-800-774-4444), great collection and speak to a golfer’s needs for value packages.

The courses in and around the Charleston area are all premium links and cost about $20 over the package prices – they range from $55 and $60 - to play. That’s money well spent on spectacular courses located in one of the hottest tourist destinations in the U.S. Charleston is what draws people to this area of South Carolina and the golf courses and luxury accommodation like Kiawah’s Sanctuary Hotel and the charming Mills House in old Charleston keep them coming back.

These golf beauties were designed by a Who’s Who list of designers - Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Rees Jones, Arthur Hills and Robert Trent Jones Sr. just to name a few.

Dye’s Ocean Course tops the list of great golf experiences in South Carolina or anywhere else in the world. It’s hard to believe that anyone could create a course with 18 signature holes but that’s what Dye did on Kiawah.

One member of my playing group suggested the Ocean Course is “where God plays golf.” Well, God has miracles on his side but the rest of us only have prayers and you’ll need all of them because when the wind blows off the Atlantic the Ocean Course brings most players to their knees. Many players have a devil of a time dealing with the massive bunkers Dye lined this course with, and that doesn’t include the natural sand dunes that at time come into play.

The Ocean Course is one of only seven 5-star golf resorts in North America and for our money should be given an extra star to separate it from all others. That’s how good this course is and why Travel&Leisure Golf magazine has named it its top golf resort in North America for 2006/2007, replacing another Carolina beauty, Pinehurst.

This has some of the toughest holes in golf – the Ocean Course’s No. 2, lined with wind shaped pine trees, has become known as the toughest par-5 in North America and PGA star Tom Kite called No. 3 “the best short par 4 in golf.” The tree sitting in the middle of the fairway right in front of the green may have led him to say that.

The Ocean Course is like a Hollywood setting and that’s probably why film companies seek it out for movies like “The Legend of Bagger Vance.” The course stole the spotlight in that forgettable Hollywood flick.

In the Charleston area you’ll be treated to rounds at Rivertowne, Palmer’s first signature course in Charleston; the Wild Dunes Resort and its two fabulous courses; Charleston National, one of the top rated non-resort courses in the state that just seems to be getting better with age. Play this course from the right tees and you’ll have a very enjoyable day.

The Links at Stono Ferry has some real bunkers – and a canon – all left over from the Revolutionary War and is a real battle for golfers who try to bite off too much of this golf treat. The course flows along the Intercoastal Waterway and that supplies golfers with lots of eye candy.

Conde Nast Traveler Magazine rates Charleston as one of its top 5 cities in America. Most people think it’s because of its historic charms, but golfers believe its’ because of its great golf courses that are making their own history in this charming city.