Written by Palmetto Bluff
Jul 06, 2026
Anson Point doesn’t look as if it were man-made. The rolling dunes and sandy areas look as though they settled into the Lowcountry on their own, and the fairways follow the ground rather than fighting it. This impression is the point, and it’s the first thing Anson Point Golf Professional Nick Lykens noticed.
Lykens came to Palmetto Bluff from nearby Colleton River Club, where he previously served as Senior Head Golf Professional. He joined the team just a week before the course opened and now oversees all aspects of daily operations, from member experience and tournament management to food and beverage service. Leading a golf staff of 15 to 20, he describes the team as close-knit—a sentiment that comes through clearly in the way he talks about both the people and the work.
Anson Point is the result of legendary course architects Coore & Crenshaw, a design team known for letting sites speak for themselves rather than approaching the process with a preconceived notion of what it will become. Lykens felt the philosophy the first time he walked the fairways. With great admiration, he noticed “the natural aspects of it. You see the rolling dunes, the sandy nature. It looks like it was just placed here.”
The course’s colors stuck with him, along with the absence of houses framing the holes. He describes the course as a peaceful getaway, a stretch of land that feels separate from everything around it—and that separation is real. While the rest of Palmetto Bluff weaves homes and village life into the landscape, Anson Point maintains a quieter profile, allowing the sky and marsh to create a sense of peaceful seclusion.
Ask Lykens which holes catch newcomers off guard, and he goes straight to the par 3s. Hole 12 sits at the southern end of the course, where players can look out toward the Talmadge Bridge and the Port of Savannah. “You don’t realize how close you are to Savannah,” he says. “The view reframes the whole round. Hole 17, another par 3, opens over the marsh as play winds down.”
Both holes draw attention away from the scorecard and into the surroundings, exactly what Lykens hopes players experience when on the course.
Palmetto Bluff now has three golf courses, and Lykens is clear that each one has its own character:
Each course offers a different level of difficulty. “May River offers more challenges; Anson Point is more forgiving. With little water at Anson Point, players tend to keep more balls in their bags by the end of the day. The zoysia plays firm and fast, which rewards versatility around the greens and keeps scores moving in both directions.”
The land sets the stage at Anson Point. Only a handful of holes run out along the marsh, while others sit inland, so the wind affects the game differently. On the exposed holes, it rips through the tall native pines and shifts how the hole plays from one day to the next. Inland, it matters less. “Reading the wind,” Lykens says, “is part of learning the course.” The mornings and evenings reward early risers and late players. As the light filters through the pines on 17 and 18, the sunrises and sunsets are among the best parts of working on the course.
For Lykens, the Membership is what makes the place. He calls it “very supportive” and describes a community unlike anywhere else in the area, with amenities that are “hard to match.” When asked about the best amenity beyond golf, he doesn’t hesitate. “You can’t go wrong with the food,” he says. In particular, the menu at The Roost, Anson Point’s turnaround station, earns his highest praise. The Roost’s food and beverage team, led by Shelby Duckett and Chef Harrison, has clearly won him over.
What strikes Lykens most is that Anson Point keeps improving. The Roost is open, and The Cottage is expected to follow by August. As he puts it, “every few months something new comes up.” His read on the course is simply optimistic: “Anson Point will continue to evolve and get better over time.”
At Palmetto Bluff, members have all three courses and their specific experiences to choose from, along with the close-knit community Lykens describes. If you’re interested in making Palmetto Bluff your home, we invite you to explore our available homes and homesites.
