Pawleys Plantation: Wildly Beautiful Course and a Trio of Dining Options
By Becky Billingsley
Many people assume that since Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club has a gate and a security guard that its golf course and restaurants are not open to the public, but that’s not true. Golfers and diners are welcome to join the plantation’s year-round residents to experience a genteel Southern ambiance.
Of course many visitors come to take advantage of golf packages that include lodging, golf and superb meals. However, individuals can visit just to play golf or solely to dine.
Once past the guard shack, driving a winding road past manicured grounds is a visual treat that ends at a gracious columned Southern mansion. This is the clubhouse where golfers can begin rounds on a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course that opened in 1988 and was named by Golf Digest as one of the top 10 courses in the Grand Strand area.
The course was designed to offer rounds in an almost undisturbed natural setting of marshlands, former rice fields, live oaks draped with Spanish moss, palmettos and an array of coastal birds such as egrets and other herons. This is the view from the windows of the Sawgrass Room, which is one of three dining venues inside the 27,000-square-foot, Antebellum-style clubhouse.
Award-winning Executive Chef Ernest Bledsoe oversees food preparation in the Sawgrass Room and the other two restaurants, the Oak Grille and Palmetto Pub. He and the Pawleys Plantation event staff also plan customized menus for weddings and conferences.
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The Sawgrass Room is a stately and classically beautiful space with muted colors and a relaxing ambiance. It’s open Thursdays and Fridays for dinner, and diners can expect choices such as Seared Halibut and Sea Scallops with Saffron Rice and Vegetable Ragout with Roasted Garlic and Tomato Cream. Pawleys Crab Cakes are always a popular choice, and diners look forward to seasonal treats such as Duck, Duck, Duck, which is seared duck breast and a duck confit basket served with herb roasted potatoes, sautéed haricot verts and a foie gras demi-glace.
Currently Chef Bledsoe is also offering Sawgrass Room visitors two dinners for $30. The limited time special includes a choice of six entrees such as Shrimp Scampi and Southern Fried Chicken, house salad, rolls, butter and dessert.
An extremely popular Sunday Brunch is also served in the Sawgrass Room. Dozens of lavish choices are presented each week, from classic breakfast items to salads, entrees and desserts. The $16.95 brunch price includes a complimentary Mimosa or glass of Champagne.
The Oak Grille, which is adjacent to the Sawgrass Room, has a clubby dark wood ambiance and is a locals’ favorite lunch spot. Here diners can start with a cup of She-Crab Soup and continue fresh and light with a Spinach and Berry Salad accompanied by a glass of white wine. They may also choose to top salads with seafood, chicken or fried portabello mushrooms; and enjoy sandwiches such as Oven-roasted Turkey Pita Pockets, Pawleys Cuban Sandwich, or the Pawleys Crab Cake Sandwich served on a toasted Kaiser roll with leek rings and roasted shallot aioli.
An example of a daily special offered in the Oak Grille is Baby Back Ribs and Seared Jumbo Shrimp served with garlic whipped potatoes, sautéed asparagus and bourbon barbecue sauce.
The cozy and casual Palmetto Pub is at the end of the Clubhouse’s southern wing. Here golfers and visitors enjoy cocktails and dishes such as Bourbon BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders, Low Country Fried Chicken Salad, Shrimp Po’ Boy, Cornmeal Fried Catfish and Pepper Jack Chicken served with sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onion cream.
Whichever dining experience is chosen, the food is stellar, the service is friendly, the surroundings are comfortable and the view is amazing.
The Pawleys Plantation Clubhouse is at 70 Tanglewood Drive, U.S. 17 South, Pawleys Island, 843-237-6100 or 843-237-6022. The Sawgrass Room is open from 6-9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. The Palmetto Pub is open from 3-8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, and will remain open later when the days are longer. The Oak Grille is not currently open, but when the weather warms its hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
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