Callawassie Island Club
Okatie, Beaufort County, South Carolina · Beaufort & the Sea Islands golf market
- Access
- membership optional
- Holes
- 27
- Architect(s)
- Tom Fazio
- Gated
- Yes
Thinking About Living in Callawassie Island Club?
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Callawassie Island is a private, gated 880-acre island community in the marsh and tidal-creek country between Beaufort and Bluffton (roughly 15 minutes from Beaufort, 30 from Savannah), built around 27 holes of Tom Fazio golf across three nine-hole courses. Real estate purchasers here have been contractually required to hold an equity Island Club membership since December 2001, making this one of the clearer 'true bundled residential' clubs in the Beaufort/Sea Islands market, though golf-specific membership is reported as a separate, optional add-on rather than automatically included.
Golf & Course
The 27 holes -- Dogwood, Magnolia, and Palmetto -- are all Tom Fazio designs, and the club has been ranked around #27 among South Carolina golf courses by Golf Digest per third-party sources. The layout winds through undisturbed Lowcountry maritime forest and marsh typical of the barrier/sea-island golf in this market.
Membership & Access
Does buying a home here include club membership?
All persons purchasing property on Callawassie Island since December 2001 have been contractually required to purchase and retain an equity Island Club membership for as long as they own their property, per the mechanics described in the 2022 South Carolina Supreme Court decision Callawassie Island Members Club v. Martin. Golf-specific membership, however, is reported by multiple sources as a separate, optional tier layered on top of the mandatory base membership -- property owners are not required to golf, but are required to belong to the Island Club.
Living in Callawassie Island Club
Callawassie Island is a 24-hour-secured gated community with four community docks providing leased boat slips, kayak launches, and deep-water access to the Colleton River and Atlantic Ocean, six Har-Tru tennis courts, four pickleball courts, a full-service dining clubhouse, an adult-only heated/cooled pool overlooking the marsh, and bocce and croquet courts.
Lifestyle & Amenities
The island combines golf with a strong boating/marina identity (deep-water access to the Colleton River) and a full racquet-sports program (tennis and pickleball), positioning it as a broader Lowcountry lifestyle community rather than a golf-only club.
Location & Surrounding Area
Located off SC-170 in the Okatie/Chechessee River area of Beaufort County, roughly 15 minutes from downtown Beaufort and 30 minutes from Savannah, GA -- geographically positioned between the Beaufort/Sea Islands and Bluffton markets, assigned here per the market manifest.
Costs & Fees
Figures below are labeled Current only when the source itself frames them as presently accurate. Everything else is labeled Historical — a source checked today does not make an old fee a current one.
Initiation (range low)
Historical$50,001
Third-party aggregator range, likely reflecting golf membership rather than the mandatory base Island Club tier; discovery pass independently cited the same $50K-$75K range.
Initiation (range high)
Historical$75,000
See initiation_fee_min notes.
Annual dues
Historical$15,001
Aggregator reports '$15,001 or more' as an open-ended range floor. The club's own 'Dues and Fees' page (callawassieisland.com/dues-and-fees) was found but not fully extracted this session -- confirm directly for a current, tier-specific schedule.
Interested in Homes in Callawassie Island Club?
We can connect you with a local real-estate specialist who knows the community, nearby golf communities, and the Beaufort & the Sea Islands market.
What Buyers Should Verify
- Confirm the club's own current (2026) Dues and Fees schedule directly -- this session relied partly on a third-party aggregator and a historical (1999) court-case figure.
- Confirm whether golf membership is genuinely optional for all current property owners or whether some purchase-era cohorts have different obligations.
- Independently verify latitude/longitude -- this session used a geographic estimate, not a confirmed geocode.
Notable
- 27 holes across three Tom Fazio-designed nines (Dogwood, Magnolia, Palmetto).
- A 2022 South Carolina Supreme Court case, Callawassie Island Members Club, Inc. v. Martin, addresses the mechanics of the island's mandatory equity membership structure.
- Property purchasers have been required to hold an equity Island Club membership since December 2001; earlier purchasers were grandfathered under different terms.
Nearby Golf Communities Worth Comparing
Considering a Move to Callawassie Island Club?
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US Golf Living provides independent real-estate research and can connect consumers with real-estate professionals. Golf membership, availability, fees and approval are determined independently by the applicable club.