Call the pro shop at the Retreat on a Tuesday morning in August and ask for a Saturday tee time. A year ago you'd have had your pick of the morning slots. This year you're more likely to get offered something after 1 p.m., or steered toward a weekday instead. Nothing about Island Club changed. The neighborhood still has its roughly 400 homes strung along the same live oak-shaded streets off Kings Way, the same lagoon and woodland lots, the same 0.40 to 0.45-acre yards it's always had. What changed is happening a few miles away on the rest of the Sea Island property, and it's rerouting golf traffic straight through your home course.
The Course That Isn't Playing This Year
Seaside, Sea Island's other championship course and the one that hosts the RSM Classic every November, closed for renovation on May 1, 2026, and stays closed through October 18. The project marks the course's 25th anniversary as a Tom Fazio design, and Sea Island is treating the closure as a full restoration rather than a quick refresh. Love Golf Design is leading the work, with MacCurrach Golf Course Construction handling the build, aiming to preserve the course's original character while adding a handful of enhancements.
That's a five-and-a-half month stretch where one of the resort's three 18-hole courses simply isn't available. Sea Island didn't stop selling golf. It stopped selling Seaside golf, which means members, Cloister guests, and Lodge guests who would normally have booked a Seaside round this summer have had to go somewhere else.
Where All That Play Landed
Retreat is Island Club's course. It sits at 100 Kings Way, inside the neighborhood you drive through every day, and it's the reason a lot of people bought here in the first place. Davis Love III and his brother Mark redesigned it in 2001, adding roughly 300 yards of length and widening the fairways to give it a more open feel. At 6,490 yards and a par of 72, it's a serious course, but it was never built to be Sea Island's overflow valve. This year it's carrying a real share of the demand that Seaside would normally handle on its own, and that's the most plausible explanation for why your tee sheet has felt tighter since spring.
| Course | Status through fall 2026 | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Seaside | Closed May 1 to October 18 | 25th-anniversary Tom Fazio restoration led by Love Golf Design, built by MacCurrach Golf Course Construction |
| Retreat | Open, carrying overflow | Island Club's home course, 100 Kings Way, redesigned 2001 |
| Plantation | Open, also carrying overflow | Co-host site for the RSM Classic |
| RSM Classic | November 16 to 22 | Played on Seaside and Plantation, not Retreat |
The Window Between October 18 And November 16
Seaside reopens October 18. The RSM Classic tees off November 16. That gives Sea Island roughly four weeks to get Seaside tournament-ready after a five-and-a-half month closure, which is a tight turnaround for any golf course superintendent. It also means the overflow pressure on Retreat should start easing in mid-October, right as the neighborhood settles into the kind of golf mornings people move here for.
Here's the detail that matters for fall planning: Retreat isn't a tournament venue for the RSM Classic. Seaside and Plantation absorb the grandstands, the spectator traffic, and the week of practice rounds that come with hosting a PGA Tour stop. Retreat stays open and comparatively quiet through tournament week itself, which makes the days surrounding November 16 through 22 one of the better stretches of the year to actually play your own course without the crowd that's defined the summer.
The Grill Is Doing More Work Than Usual
Busier tee sheets mean a busier Davis Love Grill, the clubhouse restaurant that sits on Retreat's 19th hole with views back across the course. It's built for exactly this kind of traffic: casual, family-friendly, known for the DLG burger and a Sunday brunch regulars plan around. The dress code splits by the clock rather than the calendar. Before 5 p.m., swim cover-ups and fitness attire pass, as long as you're wearing a shirt and shoes. After 5 p.m., men need a collared shirt, though well-kept denim and Bermuda shorts are fine. With more groups finishing rounds later in the day this summer, the after-5 crowd at the bar has had more company than usual.
The Name On The Course Isn't Just A Design Credit
Davis Love III isn't a distant architect who redesigned Retreat once and moved on. He lives on St. Simons Island, hosts the RSM Classic every year through the Davis Love Foundation, which has raised more than $48 million for charities focused on children and families since the tournament started in 2010. He's also a partner in Southern Soul, the barbecue restaurant a few minutes off the island that he helped rebuild after an early fire, working alongside founders Harrison Sapp and Griffin Bufkin. Tour players who train or live at Sea Island, including Harris English, J.T. Poston, Keith Mitchell, and Patton Kizzire, reportedly call him Uncle Davis, and a backyard barbecue at his house is said to be the hardest invitation to get on the island. None of that changes your tee time this week, but it's part of why Retreat feels like a course with a person attached to it rather than a name on a sign.
What This Means For Your Fall
If you've been golfing Retreat all summer and noticing the crowd, the reason wasn't a mystery. It was Seaside, down for a real restoration, sending its regular players your way for five and a half months. That pressure eases in mid-October. It eases again, almost counterintuitively, during RSM Classic week itself, when the tournament crowds concentrate on the two courses that actually host the event and leave Retreat to the people who live here.
If you're weighing when to book a fall round, the mid-October through Thanksgiving stretch is shaping up as the quiet window: Seaside back open and drawing its usual crowd, Retreat's overflow thinning out, and the RSM Classic pulling spectators and grandstands to the other two courses entirely.
For more on what makes Island Club distinct beyond the fairway, including the neighborhood's homes, HOA structure, and the Sea Island Club membership question that comes up in almost every conversation about this community, our earlier guide to Island Club's homes, golf, and amenities covers that ground. If you're simply curious what daily life inside the gates looks like, the Island Club neighborhood page is a good place to start.
If a golf season question ever turns into a conversation about buying or selling in Island Club, or you'd just like a local read on how this neighborhood actually lives day to day, reach out to Christal Clear Properties and schedule a free consultation.
