You approach the tee, casually glance over your shoulder and spy no one but the rest of your foursome — three of your best friends –– leaning against the cart, waiting to see what you will do to redeem your game after the last hole. All eyes are on you as you line up the ball, practice your swing.

What will you do? Drive it up the middle? Make a splash in the water hazard? Dig a deeper hole for yourself in a sand trap?

No pressure. No need to rush. You’ve got plenty of time.

Because this is golf as it’s meant to be played, in a relaxed and peaceful setting––without the next foursome breathing down your neck.

Tee It Up In North Carolina's Golf Coast
The North Carolina coast has always been famous for its hidden treasures. These islands and beaches, after all, were the hideaways of pirates like Blackbeard and Stede Bonnett. Today, discerning travelers are discovering some other hidden gems in these parts: the golf courses of North Carolina’s Brunswick Islands.

Here in this area known as the “Golf Coast,” the sub-tropical temperatures lure golfers back year after year, yet somehow the crowds and traffic always manage to vacation elsewhere. Maybe that’s because those who’ve experienced the beauty and serenity of golf in this special place want to keep these treasures all to themselves.

Space simply doesn’t permit us to tell you about the more than 35 golf courses, which are so gracefully interwoven into the fabric of the Brunswick Islands. But here’s a representative sampling of the caliber of golf that awaits you:

For starters, just north of the South Carolina line you’ll discover a pair of courses featuring two of the most groundbreaking designs on either Carolina coast: Marsh Harbour and Oyster Bay. Both were created by master architect Dan Maples, and with their imaginative use of the richly diverse topography – creeks, lagoons, ponds and portions of the Intracoastal waterway – they set a fresh, innovative standard for other coastal courses that have followed in their wake.

True to its name, Oyster Bay incorporates oyster shells into much of its design. A classic example is the par-3 17th hole, where you hit from an oyster-shell-lined tee box to a lovely island green built on a mound of more oyster shells.

Marsh Harbour, Maples’s other masterpiece, is situated right on the North Carolina/South Carolina border. In fact, on the 10th hole, if you fade your drive a bit, your ball will travel from North Carolina across a historic boundary marker into South Carolina and then come in for a soft landing back on North Carolina soil again.

The 17th hole here is billed as "the most beautiful and exciting" in the Grand Strand area. A long par 5, it requires you to hit successive shots to three different landing areas, which get smaller and more demanding with each shot. After a well-placed drive threading your way between tall pines and oaks on the left and gaping bunkers and a large marsh on the right, you’re then required to shoot across another treacherous stretch of marsh onto a peninsula of fairway. And then you’re faced with hitting to yet another peninsula, where the green is perched on the side of a marsh. There just aren’t many safe harbors for errant golf balls at Marsh Harbour.

A little further north is architect Tom Jackson’s jewel, Carolina Shores Golf and Country Club. The trademark features here are crater lakes and almost 100 strategically placed bunkers. "It’s what I’d call a traditional layout," says the head golf pro, "in that it hasn’t been tricked up by moving a lot of dirt. That of course means there’s no visual trickery – everything’s right in front of you. The course also features a lot of mature pines lining the fairways, and when the hundreds of azaleas we have here blossom, visitors tell me it gives them a little flavor of Augusta National in the spring."

Perhaps no place on the East Coast blends golf and nature more gracefully than Bald Head Island. Here, once you’ve disembarked from of the ferry that brings you over from Southport, the only motorized mode of transportation allowed is a golf cart. (Each villa comes equipped with one.)

The undulating greens on the course average a remarkable 11,000 square feet. And along with plenty of water – freshwater lagoons languidly snake around or through fourteen of the fairways – this George Cobb design offers golfers a rare surprise for a coastal course: elevation changes. The vertical drop from tee box to green on the signature par-3 sixteenth, for example, is around 40 feet.

Bald Head Island is also renowned for its turtle-preservation program, which can make for unforgettable sights for you and your family during nighttime strolls. Over on scenic Sunset Beach are three sister courses with perhaps the most intimidating names in the Brunswick Islands: Panther’s Run, Lion’s Paw and Tiger’s Eye Golf Links. Fortunately, these fierce names are counterbalanced at Sunset by more gentle-sounding ones: Angels Trace Golf Links – North and South courses – as well as The Pearl – East and West – Sandpiper Bay and Thistle Golf Club.

But don’t let these feline beauties scare you off. Panther’s Run actually ambles genially around a nature preserve – home to barred owls, deer and hawks. Lion’s Paw has scored four stars in Golf Digest’s "Places to Play." The third green is actually built in the shape of a lion’s paw, with the bunkers surrounding it shaped like paw prints. And Tiger’s Eye boasts 60-foot elevation changes, an island par 3, a waterfall and bulkheads featuring coquina boulders (in which one can find shark teeth, among other things).

Thanks to the Islands’ secluded, un-crowded location, you’ll find excellently maintained courses, the perfect tee time and a game that tests your skills, no matter what level you play. Mix it up. Play a tough course in the morning, followed by an easier round where you can just enjoy being out. Out of the office. Out of the daily grind. Out in the fresh air.

Just relax. And when your round is done, the area's five distinct islands offer plenty more in the way of entertainment. Hop around Oak Island, Holden Beach, Ocean Isle, Sunset Beach and Bald Head Island –– as well at the inland towns of Southport, Shallotte and Calabash –– to enjoy warm hospitality, charming shops, great restaurants and breathtaking scenery. Welcome to the Brunswick Islands, North Carolina’s Golf Coast.

For more detailed information on all of these magnificent coastal courses, go to: www.ncbrunswickgolf.com

The Brunswick Golf And Beach Sweepstakes
Tucked into the southeastern corner of the state, North Carolina’s Brunswick Islands are known as NC’s Golf Coast, and it’s easy to see why: 35 courses dot the beautiful coastal landscape of Brunswick County, and among the many luxurious accommodations here is The Winds Resort Beach Club, a lush, tropical paradise on Ocean Isle Beach.

Now, you can enter to win an amazing beach and golf getaway to this charming oceanfront resort! The winner will receive a three-night stay for four people at The Winds, along with rounds of golf for four at Cape Fear National, Meadowlands Golf Club, and St. James Plantation golf courses. Plus, you’ll get a hot breakfast buffet each morning and a $500 travel voucher to help you get here.

Visit www.visitnc.com/sweeps/view/the-brunswick-golf-and-beach-sweepstakes and enter to win today!

The sweepstakes ends March 31st