Located a mere 15 miles from the historic district of Charleston, Wild Dunes is one of the rare resorts to afford the diversions of golf, tennis, beach, 
and marina within easy striking distance of a cultured city. The 1,600-acre property encompasses the northern tip of the Isle of Palms, a long, club-shaped barrier island on South Carolina's Atlantic Coast. It gets its name from the mounds of sea oats-tufted sand lining its 2½-mile-long beach.
The preservation of those dunes is a clue to the environmental sensitivity adopted when the resort was first planned in 1972. At that point all 1,600 acres were still in their natural state. One of the original partners was the Sea Pines Company, whose founder Charles Fraser preached the gospel of sensitive development, first at Sea Pines Resort and subsequently at Kiawah Island Golf Resort and Amelia Island Plantation before undertaking what was originally called the Isle of Palms Beach and Racquet Club.
I first visited the resort in the 1980s and immediately fell under its spell. That glorious beach aside, it had a very active tennis program and became the host site for the U.S. Clay Court Championships, both of which helped it garner a ranking among the finest resorts in the country. There was one superb restaurant not far from the tennis courts. Bike lanes and a free on-property shuttle made it easy to get around. And best of all Charleston was close enough that you could stay at the beach and drive into town for dinner, an historic houses tour, the annual Spoleto Festival, and in spring the WTA's annual Family Circle Cup held on nearby Daniel Island.
Under the current management company, Destination Hotels & Resorts, the pace of development has lately accelerated. The resort looks spiffier than it has in years. There's a new Village, a plaza really, with a restaurant, upscale market/deli, a fitness center, and a day spa on the main level and condominiums with hotel amenities like room service, bellman, and daily maid service on the floors above to either side. An amphitheater at one end provides a venue for occasional live concerts. Wild Dunes keeps getting better.
Pro Shop: 843-886-6000, ext. 2113
As the one-time site of the U.S. Claycourt Championships, Wild Dunes has a long history of devotion to tennis. Recent work upgraded the court surfaces, added shingle-roofed gazebos and wooden benches to the courtside amenities, improved the landscaping (and drainage), and replaced the fencing and fence posts.
Tennis Staff. Tennis director
Charly Rasheed played Division I tennis at Clemson and Ole
Miss. Certified by the U.S. Professional Tennis Registry
(USPTR) and active in the USTA Southern Section, he comes
to Wild Dunes after stints at several clubs in South Carolina
and Texas. Under him—he arrived September 2005—an
historically well-run program has only gotten better. He's
enthusiastic about the recent upgrades to the court complex,
saying "We've basically got a brand-new facility here." But
he and his staff are also masters at finding what guests
and members want—and at what times—and modifying
the roster of activities accordingly. When the demand for
their Peak Performance drills became huge, they added a second
session, so it's now available from 8-10 a.m. or 10 a.m.-noon.
When some couldn't attend their morning Cardio tennis workouts,
they added evening sessions. That kind of responsiveness
is what has made Wild Dunes a popular destination for avid
tennis players.
Tennis Programs. Wild Dunes kicks off each week in season with a well-attended Monday night exhibition, whose centerpiece is a doubles contest featuring staff. That event also provides a venue to introduce the weekly programs and services. Those include conscientious game matching, often drawing on local members, and a diverse calendar of weekly adult and junior clinics and round robins, among them sessions for beginning, intermediate, and advanced adults and for children as young as 4 years. The pro shop manager also coordinates activities, like the adult and junior round robins that take place each week, and matches guests looking for games. Rasheed and head tennis professional Shawn Harris continue to pursue group and team business. There are morning and afternoon programs for all skill levels and ages year round. The local membership includes 100 active players, further adding to the overall tennis atmosphere.
Courts & Fees. There are 18 courts at Wild Dunes, all but one of them clay, several of which were recently reworked. That includes a stadium court, with permanent seating on one side, and a pro shop on the second story overlooking the complex. Five of the clay courts have lights. Light meals are as close as the deli in the nearby golf clubhouse. Court fees: $15/hour before noon; free afternoon.
Beach. The beach at Wild Dunes extends for 2½ miles, much of it bordered by tall dunes tufted with sea oats. Its dunes are higher than others found along this coast because there were no cotton or rice plantations of Isle of Palms and therefore its landscape was left untouched. The Grand Pavilion partway along sits just behind the dunes and provides a seasonal place for light meals, snacks, ice cream, and beverages. It also has two swimming pools.
Golf Courses. Tom Fazio designed the resort's Links and Harbor Courses, the first in 1980, the second in 1986.
Links Course: Fazio used the natural landscape of dunes, marsh, and oceanfront to carve out a true links course. Its finishing holes border the Atlantic at the very tip of the Isle of Palms. Both Golf Digest and Golf Magazine have ranked it among the Top 100 courses in the U.S. Par: 70. Length: 6,396 yards.
Harbor Course: More challenging than appears, given the relatively short yardage, since water or marsh comes into play on 17 of the 18 holes. Par: 70. Length: 6,446 yards.
Spa & Fitness Center. With the opening of the Village, Wild Dunes also upgraded both its day spa and fitness center. Its Sand & Sea Salon and Spa features locally made Deep Steep products. It offers a variety of skin-care and body treatments as well as massage therapy, among them a Thai-inspired hot herbal compress massage Just across the plaza, accessible by using your room key, is the fitness center containing cardio equipment, Paramount workout stations, and dumbbells in a partially mirrored room with views on the plaza and resort.
And ... There are two swimming pools at the Grand Pavilion, another at the Boardwalk Inn, and two junior Olympic pools (one restricted to adults from April to October) at the Swim Center. There is also a children's Playground called the "Tot Lot" in Sports Pavilion. Bikes and inline skates can be rented at the tennis center, and fishing and boating excursions leave from the marina.
Wild Dunes' children's programs stand out for two reasons: they have a solid reputation for quality and they are free to guests who book their lodging directly with Wild Dunes. Teens, meanwhile, can look forward to their own diversions, including basketball shoot outs, lockout parties, and beach bashes. Activities are most frequent from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
The 93-room Boardwalk Inn, though inland, is an easy stroll from the resort's sinuous 2½-mile beach. The five-story lodge was modeled, say the architects, on a turn-of-the-century Caribbean plantation house. It stands at one end of a grand boardwalk framed by colorful townhouses.
When it opened in the late 1990s, this small hotel brought a new dimension of lodging to a resort that previously could offer only villas and houses. The rooms on the front face west and have only little wrought iron French balconies, but many of those on the ocean side have full terraces and views of the courtyard pool below and of the rainbow-hued townhouses that line both sides of the boardwalk. The opening of the Village in 2008 further enhanced the lodging options by offering condominiums ranging in size from studios to three bedrooms but notable for also having such hotel-like amenities as room service, daily maid service, bellmen and valet parking while also having full kitchens, Ethernet connections, flatscreen TVs, and shallow balconies.
Otherwise, the lodging consists of a varied collection of villas and cottages, which range in size from one to four bedrooms, and of privately owned houses with as many as six bedrooms. Some of these villas and houses front the ocean, others the Intracoastal Waterway, while others are inland, including a complex adjacent to the tennis complex.
Open for lunch, and dinner, the Sea Island Grill at the Boardwalk Inn has roughly a dozen tables inside and spills out onto the piazza around the pool in warm weather. It features Lowcountry dishes as well as Black Angus beef and Porterhouse steaks. The Bar adjacent to it has a selection of scotches and bourbons.
The newest addition is the family-friendly Lettered Olive (named for the South Carolina state seashell) on the Village plaza. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it offers an eclectic menu of salads, sandwiches, local specialties like Charleston red rice as well as grilled and rotisseried fare.
Edgar's Pub, overlooking the Links Golf Course, is very informal and serves snacks, pub fare. During the day, the Dunes Deli and Pizzeria in the Harbor Golf Shop, 50 yards from the tennis shop, serves light breakfast, beverages, sandwiches, pizza, and snacks. You have the option of sitting on a patio overlooking the action that has views of the action on Court 13. They also deliver. Meanwhile, you can also pick basic items at the new Hudson's Market, an upscale market and deli on the plaza with free WiFi access. And finally, during the height of the season, the Cabana Bar & Grill in the beachfront Grand Pavilion serves sandwiches, light fare, and cocktails while nearby Dunny's dishes out ice-cream concoctions.
If you're looking for other beach, golf, tennis resorts that also have good children's programs, also check out:
Wild Dunes Resort has the AAA Four Diamond Rated Boardwalk Inn and Village at Wild Dunes in addition to homes and condos ranging from 1-to-4-bedroom condos and 3-to-6-bedroom houses. During the summer, accommodations—ranging from the Boardwalk Inn, Village at Wild Dunes and homes and condos?have a minimum night stay varying by property type, but typically ranges from 4 – 7 nights.
Jan 1-Mar. 18, 2011
Rooms, $119-$319; Suites, $179-$689. Condos: $115-$565. Homes: $235-$765
Mar. 19-June 10, 2011
Rooms, $179-$449; Suites, $249-$949. Condos: $155-$855. Homes: $265-$995
June 1-Aug. 19, 2011
Rooms, $189-$429; Suites, $229-$949. Condos: $175-$855. Homes: $285-$1,400
Seasons. Year-round but potentially chilly in winter. The greatest concentration of family activities occurs between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Travel Instructions. From the airport: Take I-526 East to the Georgetown exit, Hwy. 17 North. Turn left at the light and follow Hwy. 17 North to Hwy. 517, the Isle of Palms Connector. Turn right only Hwy. 517 and proceed over the Intracoastal Waterway to the Isle of Palms. Once on the island, turn left at the light at the foot of the bridge onto Palm Blvd., Hwy. 703. Follow Palm Blvd. north to 41st Avenue, where you'll see the Wild Dunes directional sign to turn right onto Palm Blvd. (Extension). Go past the main gate to the Reception Center on your left.
General Tourist Information. Visit the Charleston Visitor Reception and Transportation Center website or contact them at 375 Meeting St., Charleston, SC 29403. Phone: 800-774-0006.
