Spring golf season has officially arrived on Hilton Head Island. Inspired by the year-long 50th anniversary celebration by Sea Pines Resort in 2006, I’ve already begun concocting a similar celebration for golf on the island. Officially, that would be in 2012 (Sea Pines’ Ocean Course opened in 1962), so I’ve got some time.

Given the state of the golf industry over the past several years, we could use an excuse to party. But there’s no question that golf on Hilton Head deserves its own birthday bash. The sport has inarguably had the biggest impact on the evolution of Hilton Head Island as a vacation destination, and it can be traced to the extraordinary media coverage of the inaugural Heritage Classic in 1969. Arnold Palmer’s win and the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the Harbour Town Golf Links put the island on the map. It also called attention to the foresight of Charles Fraser and his concepts for responsible development, many of which remain in place.

But as a bad ‘70s rock band once sang, that was yesterday. Today, we’re in the midst of a new era for Hilton Head golf….and it’s pretty exciting.

It began in 2002, when Greenwood Development Corporation commissioned a major renovation of its flagship course in Palmetto Dunes, the Robert Trent Jones. Pete Dye was already putting the finishing touches on an equally ambitious effort at Harbour Town. Those efforts seemed to kick-start a series of refurbishments, upgrades and additions to Hilton Head’s resort portfolio.

In the past four years, major renovations have taken place at the island’s four major oceanfront hotels — Westin Hilton Head Resort, Hilton Head Marriott, Hilton Oceanfront Resort and Crowne Plaza Resort. In the last 18 months, three (Westin, Marriott and Hilton) have opened full-service spas.

In September of last year, Sea Pines unveiled Heron Point (the golf course formerly known as Sea Marsh) following a $9 million makeover by Dye. This past January, Heritage Golf Group announced the opening of a PGA Tour Academy at Palmetto Hall, one of only five such facilities in the U.S. Last summer, Heritage opened an impressive new clubhouse as the anchor for its 54 holes at Port Royal.

These were just the highlights. And more is on the way. While there’s been no formal announcement, Sea Pines is moving forward on a major overhaul of the Ocean Course that—permits permitting—could start as early as this fall. Imagine that: the course that served as a springboard for Hilton Head golf nearly 50 years ago will sport a fresh new look…just in time to ring in the next 50.