ST. SIMONS ISLAND ― Locals called the King and Prince the best deal in golf, and standing on the 15th green, it’s easy to understand why.
No. 15 is the closer of a mesmerizing four-hole stretch on a series of small hammocks off the northern tip of St. Simons Island. There are no houses, no passing traffic, no barking dogs; only emerald green grass and golden marshlands connected by small wooden bridges.
Throughout its 37-year existence, the King and Prince has been cited as an unpolished gem among St. Simons’ golf jewels. The standards are members-only clubs Ocean Forest and Frederica along with the Sea Island Club’s Seaside and Plantation courses, hosts to an annual PGA Tour event and home club of more than a dozen touring pros, including Hall of Famer Davis Love III.
The King and Prince stood apart because, as a semi-private course, any golfer could play it. Annual memberships that granted unlimited playing privileges were inexpensive relative to the others on the Georgia barrier island. Meanwhile, deal-seeking rec players could book tee times on websites such as golfnow.com. Rounds frequently went for $159 or less — and as little as $30 for late-afternoon rounds.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
But those bargains are gone and never to return. The King and Prince course is in the midst of an 8-month-long, $7 million renovation led by the acclaimed architect Beau Welling, who is to golf course improvements what Beverly Hills-based doctors are to plastic surgery. It will reopen in late November as a private club for members and guests of the King and Prince resort.
On an island where golf is a lifestyle, woven into the social and economic fabric of many of the 15,000 residents, the move is shaking the tight-knit golf community. It narrows options for locals without the means or inclination to join a club as well as for golf tourists who’d rather stay at a vacation rental or hotel than at resorts tied to the King and Prince and the Sea Island Club.
The change leaves St. Simons with only one course, The Club at Sea Palms, accessible to the public. Yet tee times can be scarce at Sea Palms — the club has members and shares a property with a Hilton-managed resort. Those golfers get priority.
Avid golfer Bobby Mengel, who lives in nearby Brunswick, bemoaned the limited options available to the area’s “not-so-wealthy residents” in an email exchange for this story.
The philosophy behind going private
Life on St. Simons is a microcosm of the “K-shaped” economy, where the gap between the wealthy and the middle class has widened.
Over the last five years, the median home sales price on St. Simons Island has risen from around $450,000 to $715,000. The coastal locale is attracting both well-off retirees and professionals who can work remotely. As for tourism, lodging revenues have grown by 50% since 2021 to $41 million annually.
Those trends played a role in a real estate investment firm, South Street Partners, purchasing the King and Prince in late 2024. The company specializes in golf-centered resort properties; it owns the Kiawah Island Club and Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina and Barnsley Resort in North Georgia.
South Street is conducting a comprehensive makeover of the King and Prince, including renovations at the hotel and beach club on the oceanfront near the iconic St. Simons Lighthouse. Managing Partner Chris Randolph said the golf course upgrades make the club more appealing to prospective members and the resort more attractive as a golf vacation destination.
“We looked at the historic utilization of the golf course and saw it wasn’t being optimized for the resort guest or the members despite they’re being the ones who were paying the most to use it,” Randolph said. “By creating a private club you are creating a sought-after experience for your target demographic.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
New membership for a renewed club
South Street’s strategy hasn’t just squeezed the golfers who played the King and Prince as guests.
As part of the model shift, the club voided all the existing memberships. Those who held memberships before the course renovation were given the opportunity to rejoin at a reduced rate — of $25,000.
That initiation fee is significantly lower than the quarter-million-dollar joiner’s rates at the island’s other private clubs but still higher than longtime members paid the first time they signed on at King and Prince.
Paying another, unexpected initiation fee rankled many members, but ownership justified the move by pointing toward the investment in the redesign and the hiring of Welling to lead the touch up. Welling’s work elsewhere in Georgia includes Atlanta Country Club and Coosa Country Club as well as Ocean Forest, St. Simons’ most prestigious course.
The King and Prince declined to divulge the number of rejoining members but interviews with a half-dozen of them suggest many among the 160 re-upped. Most admire Welling’s redesign work and are eager to play. Plus, where you play golf is part of one’s identity on St. Simons, several said.
It’s also a broadly held belief that the King and Prince rolls have already surpassed the 160 households who made up the membership before the redesign. New joiners paid $45,000 or $55,000 in initiation fees depending on when they signed on, including a surge of Frederica, Ocean Forest and Sea Island members interested in another course to play. The joiner’s fee will increase again once the course opens, South Street Partners said.
“Those three clubs are exceptional but come with a hefty price tag,” South Street’s Randolph said. “By launching this as family friendly and with pricing that is achievable for a larger demographic we see a huge need. And not just locally but in the Atlanta market who frequently visit the coast as well.”
Credit: Photo courtesy of Patrick Gregory/Beau Welling Design
Credit: Photo courtesy of Patrick Gregory/Beau Welling Design
Still, the company’s decision to take King and Prince private doesn’t sit well with some of St. Simons’ golfers. They say St. Simons doesn’t need another high-end, exclusive club.
Island resident Sam Brinkley declined to rejoin after the King and Prince reset its membership rolls. He is now playing at Sea Palms and the trio of state-run public courses on Jekyll Island, a 30-minute drive away. Two of those courses have undergone renovations in recent years.
It “will be great for Jekyll as a self-sustaining entity,” Brinkley said.
Golf on St. Simons Island:
The most-populous island along Georgia’s coast, St. Simons Island is home to six golf courses. Its neighbor Sea Island, which is connected to St. Simons via a short causeway, features one as well.
Frederica Golf Club: The 18-hole course was designed by Tom Fazio and involved moving 7 million cubic yards of sandy soil to create a dunes landscape and transplanting 1,100 live oaks. The club is members-only. fredericagolfclub.com
King and Prince Golf Club: The 18-hole course is undergoing a renovation by Beau Welling and is within the Hampton Plantation housing community. The club is owned and operated as part of the King and Prince Resort. It will reopen in late November to members, member guests and resort guests. kingandprincegolfclub.com
Ocean Forest Golf Club: The 18-hole course on Sea Island was designed by Rees Jones and is recognized among the top 200 courses in the world by Golf Digest. Ocean Forest hosted the 2001 Walker Cup, amateur golf’s version of the Ryder Cup. The club is members-only. oceanforestgolfclub.com
Sea Island Club: Three 18-hole courses on St. Simons Island make up this club affiliated with The Cloister resort and its sister property, The Lodge at Sea Island. The courses include Seaside and Plantation, which host the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic each November. The club is open to members, member guests and resort guests. seaisland.com/golf/
The Club at Sea Palms: The 18-hole course was designed by George Cobb and shares the property with a Hilton-operated resort. Sea Palms is the only course on St. Simons Island still open to public play. theclubatseapalms.com/golf
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