The long drive up the entranceway, framed by 200-year-old oaks draped in Spanish moss, the imposing white structure of the clubhouse, built on the site of the historic Lexington Plantation … the first impressions at Dunes West are on the grand scale of the Old South. The golf course matches the expectations. The front nine winds slowly through the hardwood forest, with those wonderful oaks protruding out now and then. The back nine flirts with the great marshlands, as well as a series of ponds that are favored by alligators, herons and those who slice the ball. The par three 17th is one such hole, with a pond lurking right of the green, while the long par-four 18th calls for a long approach over the marshes to a slender green, a shot not unlike the last at Harbour Town on Hilton Head. But this hole has a second green, occasionally put into play, which is much shorter and easier to find. Still, the antebellum atmosphere at Dunes West perfectly matches the appeal of Charleston, a city that was seemingly frozen in time several hundred years ago, and has lost none of its old-world charm and appeal.