When the snow flies in Kittrell, it's only a six hour drive to the deep south, with warm climate and lots of golf!

We chose the golf deal with Hilton, only $275 per night for a nice room and green fee for two on any of their three courses.  The Hilton Head Hilton Oceanfront resort was nice, but it was almost deserted, and the staff was composed mostly of foreigners, working under "student apprentice" visa's, very strange.

We ate at their fancy restaurant, and we were surprised to find out that our British waitress was actually a "chef apprentice", there on some special visa.  It was even weirder because she knew very little about gourmet Limey chow, delicacies like spotted dick and pork faggots.  We suspected some sort of visa scan is going on, calling the wait staff chef apprentices to screw Americans out of the jobs and pay less for their staff.  Plus, at over $200 for two, the HH Prime restaurant was not a good value for the money.

But the Hilton hotel was dog friendly, and Noel enjoyed playing with us, as we slogged through over 100 holes during our six-day visit.  My pedometer clocked about 2.5 miles of walking for each 18 hole excursion.

If you want bunkers, the Robert Trent Jones course is for you!

The area claims to be upscale, but it's not richy-rich like the Hamptons.  There are some stately homes, but there are also modest condos, I'm guessing that Hilton Head is more upper-middle class, with the housing that we saw in the realm of $250k up to maybe $3m:

The golf course weaves through residential areas

We played the Arthur Hill and George Fazio courses once, but they paled to the Robert Trent Jones course, and we recommend playing this one every day!

Other tips for Hilton Head include:

• Play early - They let out the nursing homes at 11:00 AM, and you can expect to be on the course for 4.5 hours if you start late.  Unless you like watching Grandma Mable use a driver for a 30 yard approach shots all afternoon, tip the starter $20, and get the first tee time at 8:30, and you can be done in time for lunch!
  

• Play the forward tees - Unless you can carry at least 110 with a 9-iron, step back and play the up front tees.  You will have a much happier day!
  

• Eat in - The room service at the Hilton Head Hilton oceanfront resort is fabulous!  Great burgers, fries, everything was great!
  

• Avoid the geriatrics - Grumpy blue-haired old folks are everywhere, but most of them are in bed by 8:00 PM, so plan on dining late.

Play tips for Robert Trent Jones at Palmetto Dunes

The Robert Trent Jones course at Palmetto Dunes is great fun, with wide fairways, nice scenery, and sand, sand, sand!  If you want to have fun' leave the score card alone until you have played at least one round, because this course will serve you your lunch!

Fairway bunkers are everywhere

The Robert Trent Jones course at Palmetto Dunes favors accuracy over distance and more than one great drive found it's way into the massive lateral bunkers.

Chest-high bunkers test your skill!

A sea of sand awaits you at the Robert Trent Jones course at Palmetto Dunes

This course was built for fun, and it's a total blast!

The only way home is over the sand!

Besides the bunkers and water hazards, wild slices can also blast-out windows!

Wild shots can knock-out windows!

If you need practice on fairway bunkers, you will love this course

You need a long distance drive to carry the water and bunkers

The fairways are long and wide, but they have hidden hazards

The water hazards are especially fun, but you need to be able to do at least 100 MPH club head speed to play from the blue tees.

The water hazards are a fun challenge

In sum, the Hilton Head golf package was a great deal for the money, and the golf was amazing.