Rounds at Jekyll Island's Great Dunes, Sea Palms, Sanctuary and Pine Lakes and a rental home on St. Simons Island are the plan. A 14% lodging tax plus Georgia's $5 nightly fee, golf bag fees, a car from Jacksonville and a Sea Island stay if you want its resort courses push the total up.
Plan my golf trip for me: budget, dates and courses →Starts with a sample trip. Change any number to match yours. Set up your travel profile to fill these in for you.
Compare hotels near the courses → Compare Golden Isles golf packages (stay and play) on Golfbreaks →Pick each course you'll play (one round per golfer) and we'll price it for your group. Prices are per golfer for 18 holes, with the season and time of day you choose. Your picks set “Green fees per golfer (whole trip)” in your budget.
413 courses around Golden Isles that take public tee times, by city, with peak green fees. Private member clubs are left out.
A windswept links on the marsh and the sea and home of the PGA Tour's RSM Classic, freshly restored with new turf and original-size greens for 2026.
seaisland.com golfdigest.comDavis Love III's rebuild of a 1920s classic under live oaks, with wider fairways than Seaside and play year-round.
seaisland.com linksmagazine.comSea Island's most relaxed and cheapest course, next to the Golf Performance Center, a good warm-up or replay round.
seaisland.com golfpass.comFour holes sit on marsh islands reached by long cart bridges; reopening in late 2026 after a $7 million renovation, now only for members and hotel guests.
ajc.com goldenisles.comThe only St. Simons course open to non-hotel guests, a tight marsh-and-lagoon layout where accuracy beats length.
linksmagazine.com fairwayfinder.ioTravis's oceanfront holes through the dunes, rebuilt to a full 18 in late 2025, and the best public round on the coast.
golfpass.com golfdigest.comThe island's longest course, through maritime forest and lakes, with the most reliable conditions on Jekyll after a 2024 rebuild.
golflink.com linksmagazine.comThe quieter, cheaper Jekyll course through live oak and longleaf pine, with a downhill par-5 11th that ends at the marsh.
jekyllclub.com golfpass.comA long Love-Couples design through live oaks and tidal marsh just off I-95, ranked No. 2 among Georgia's public courses by GolfPass golfers.
golfpass.com golfpass.comA marshside Davis Love III layout near the Florida line with big views of the tidal creeks and fair prices.
golfnow.com exploregeorgia.orgA Mike Young course in Brunswick, ranked in GolfPass's top 10 public courses in Georgia and a short drive from the islands.
golfpass.com greenfeetracker.comA remote marsh-country course north of Darien that GolfPass golfers rank among Georgia's best public values.
golfpass.com golfnow.comA McCumber design along the St. Marys River marshes, ranked in GolfPass's top 20 public courses in Georgia.
golfpass.com golfpass.comThe sample is 4 travelers for 4 nights. Your plan ($7,420) covers the main costs most people budget for, the ones you enter on the left. Costs people forget ($2,856, about 38% more for this trip) are the fees, taxes, tips and extras listed in the calculator. Prices were last checked on October 17, 2026.
Share of the $10,276 real cost. Nights and travelers multiply most of these costs, so changing either one moves the total the most.
16 of this trip's numbers link to a published price or rate. The rest are our estimates, and each one says what it is based on. You can also read how we calculate every trip.
| Cost | Default | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Green fees per golfer (whole trip) | $495 per traveler | Four public peak-spring rounds with cart: Great Dunes $135 (GolfPass, Golf Digest), Sea Palms about $150 (GolfPass reviewers paid $130-$160+ in March 2025), Sanctuary about $105 (GolfPass lists from $86+) and Pine Lakes about $105 (GolfNow $104.31 with tax for Nov 8, 2026). Total $495. Judgment call. Source |
| Rental home per night (whole group) | $475 a night | St. Simons entire-home rentals average about $566 a night (Awning) and all listings about $248 (AirROI, Nov 2025-Oct 2026); $475 for a 4-bedroom home in spring is our estimate. Judgment call. Source |
| Airfare per person | $455 per traveler | US DOT (BTS) average domestic itinerary fare for Jacksonville (JAX), Q2 2026: $454.72. Brunswick (BQK) was $680.97, so we price the trip through Jacksonville. Source |
| Food per person, per day | $86 per traveler, per day | GSA FY2027 meals and incidentals (M&IE) rate for Jekyll Island / Brunswick (Glynn County): $86 a day. Source |
| Cost | Default | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Checked bag fees | $90 per traveler | Major US airlines charge about $35 to $50 for a first checked bag each way, so about $90 round trip. Source |
| Golf bag fees | $110 per traveler | American, Delta, United and Southwest treat a golf bag as a standard checked bag; a second bag is $55 each way. Source |
| Shipping your clubs Off by default | $108 per traveler | Ground shipping for a golf bag starts around $54 each way. Source |
| Lodging taxes | 14% of the rental home (whole group) | Glynn County hotel-motel tax rose from 5% to 7% on July 1, 2025 (not the City of Brunswick or Jekyll Island), plus 7% combined Glynn County sales tax (Sea Island tax page) = 14% on St. Simons. Sea Island's own policy page still shows a 5% room tax. Source |
| Georgia hotel fee | $5 a night | Georgia Department of Revenue: a $5.00 fee for each night an accommodation is rented, including short-term rentals. A hotel stay with two rooms pays $10 a night. Source |
| Rental car | $85 a day | KAYAK at JAX (Nov 2026): SUVs average about $70 a day, from $59 in September to $82 in March, the priciest month. $85 for a minivan or large SUV in spring. Judgment call. Source |
| Jekyll Island parking fee | $20 for the trip | Jekyll Island Authority: $10 per vehicle per day ($15 over 8 feet). We assume two days of Jekyll golf in one car. Source |
| Sea Island stay for tee times Off by default | $270 a night | Sea Island tee times are for guests of The Cloister, The Lodge, the Cottages and The Inn (Sea Island golf package page). KAYAK: The Inn averages $372 a night in April, so two rooms are about $745, about $270 above our $475 rental home. The Lodge starts from about $556 a room. Sea Island also adds a 2.25% infrastructure fee and $2 a night for the land trust. Judgment call. Source |
| Forecaddie tips (Sea Island) Off by default | $80 per traveler | Sea Island recommends a forecaddie gratuity of $40 or more per bag; the forecaddie fee itself is in the Seaside and Plantation green fee. We assume two rounds. Source |
| Rental clubs Off by default | $300 per traveler | Jekyll Island Golf Club rents clubs for $75 for 18 holes ($45 for 9); four rounds is $300. Source |
| Drinks on the course | $80 per traveler | Our estimate of about $20 a round for beverage-cart drinks and snacks. Judgment call. Our estimate |
| Golf balls | $55 per traveler | A dozen Titleist Pro V1 balls lists at $55. Source |
| Tips for bag drop and cart staff | $20 per traveler | A few dollars at bag drop and the turn; we use $5 a round. Judgment call. Source |
| Side bets and prizes | $50 per traveler | Our estimate for skins, team bets and a small trophy. Our estimate |
| Lessons and extras you picked Off by default | $0 for the trip | Set by the extras you pick in the tee-time planner. Our estimate |
| Travel insurance | 6% of your plan | Squaremouth says a comprehensive plan averages about 6% of the trip cost, usually 4% to 10%. Source |
| Pre-trip shopping | $60 for the trip | Our estimate for travel-size toiletries, sunscreen and small things bought before a trip. Our estimate |
| Pet boarding or sitter | $50 a day, if you check Pets | Dogster puts regular kennel boarding at about $35 to $85 a night. Overnight sitters at home cost more. Source |
For 4 golfers spending 4 nights in peak spring season, with four rounds each, a rental home, flights and food, plan on about $7,420. Once you add golf bag fees, lodging taxes, georgia hotel fee, rental car, jekyll Island parking fee, drinks on the course, balls, tips and side bets, it's closer to $10,280, or about $2,570 each. Use the tee-time planner above to price the courses you want.
Only if you stay at Sea Island: The Cloister, The Lodge, The Inn or the Cottages. Seaside costs $395 in spring and $425 from late October, Plantation $335 and Retreat $245, with cart included and a forecaddie on Seaside and Plantation. Golf packages need at least 3 nights. If you'd rather not stay there, Great Dunes on Jekyll Island and Sea Palms are open to everyone. Source
Summer, from June to August, when it's hot and stormy. Sea Island's Plantation drops from $335 to $260 and Retreat from $245 to $195, and both are cheaper again after 3 pm. Winter is mild and quiet. Spring is the peak. Note that Jekyll's Indian Mound closes from June to September. Source
Brunswick Golden Isles Airport (BQK) is about 15 minutes away, but it has few flights and high fares: the US DOT average was about $681 in spring 2026. Jacksonville (JAX), about 75 miles south, averaged about $455 and has far more flights. Source
No. A forecaddie comes with Seaside and Plantation rounds, and the tip of $40 or more a bag is extra. A walking caddie costs $49 a bag for a double bag or $87 for a single bag, plus a tip of $50 or more. Retreat is a cart course, with a forecaddie for $40 if you ask a day ahead. Source