COURSE REVIEW

Heather Glen Golf Links: Scottish delight near Myrtle Beach

By Tim McDonald,
National Golf Editor

LITTLE RIVER, S.C. (March 19, 2007) — Heather Glen couldn't sound more Scottish, with its soft, lyrical syllables conjuring images of dewy mist rolling off the Irish Sea.

Add to that the complete name, Heather Glen Golf Links, and you think there's a Scottish theme here? Of course there is, though it's hardly the only one in Myrtle Beach to look to the home of golf for inspiration.

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Nor is it a true links course. It's a golf course that has Scottish themes laid out on a tree-lined, parkland layout deep in the South Carolina backwoods.

There is another Scottish theme, if you'll pardon the stereotype: It's cheap. At least it's cheap for what you get.

"We paid 50 bucks with a coupon," said Ryan Graves, playing with his father-in-law, Joe Hailey. "To be honest, if they charged $72, or $73, I'd still pay to play it. For 50 bucks, no joke, it's outstanding."

Outstanding is just one adjective applied to Heather Glen when it first opened. Golf Digest named it the No. 1 new public course when it opened in 1987. A few years later, it made that magazine's top 50 golf courses in America list.

But, years passed and the Grand Strand saw other, ritzier, more expensive golf courses open with great fanfare. It isn't as if Heather Glen was forgotten, but it was as if the course was sort of put on the back burner, while all the attention focused on newer, bigger courses with big-name architects and big-time budgets.

Willard Byrd and Clyde Johnson are the designers of Heather Glen's 27-hole layout, and their design has stood the relatively short test of time thus far.

They used the former farmland and took what elevation it had, to spit out a design that rarely if ever gives you the same look twice. It has a lot of variety, though most of the doglegs are left, favoring the golfer who has a draw.

"If you took some farmland and said let's see how nice a golf course I can build, this is about it," said Carson Courage, of Myrtle Beach Travel, a local golf vacations packager. "Every hole is distinct."

The 400-acre tract has the standard rural South Carolina repertoire of pines, dogwoods, hollies and large live oaks over terrain that could be described as rolling in this neck of the woods.

Then there are the Scottish elements like the pot bunkers — some of the smaller varieties lie in the middle of fairways — and streams and brooks, which of course are called "burns" in the course literature.

The course has more than its share of memorable holes, like the par-5 sixth on the first, or red, nine. The par-3 eighth is 224 yards from the back tees and the green is protected by a pond bordered in granite, with nasty pot bunkers and mounding front and back.

The two finishing holes on this nine are excellent. No. 8 is called "The Spectacle," where the fairway is split by a wood-bunkered waste area and water. You can go right and be safe or left and be a daredevil.

No. 9 is a 587-yard par 5 that is reachable in two because the green sits at a right angle to the fairway. To reach it though, you'll need to be on the right side of the fairway where you'll have to skirt tall trees and carry the long lake — sorry, "loch" — to reach safely.

Heather Glen Golf Links: The verdict

Heather Glen Golf Links is far enough north, just south of the North Carolina border, to be away from the Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach logjams. It really isn't that far to drive, and certainly worth the gas it takes to get there.

This course started as a low-budget project, though there are few indications the owners have spared any profits to keep it the nice course it is, and preserve its reputation among locals.

It doesn't get the headlines because of its difficulty. In fact, it is very player-friendly, though by no means it is a pushover.

"You've got a lot of sand and a lot of water in play," Graves said. "You've got your tight holes, but then you have some holes that are more open. There's more elevation than a lot of them I've played."

Also, the architects and owners have paid particular attention to the visual aspects of the par 3s, with sawgrass and other plantings sprucing up what could be ordinary little one-shotters.

Stay and play

The Comfort Suites on Frontage Road is a great place to stay at Myrtle Beach, particularly if you're on a fairly long trip here and need to get to a variety of courses.

It's located at the intersection of the Highway 17 bypass and 501, so you can go north, south, east or west with relative ease, while bypassing the busy part of 17.

Myrtle Beach restaurants

The options are more endless than the golf courses, everything from fast food to fine dining.

For a treat, try Martinis in North Myrtle beach. It's a piano bar that is said to get rowdy at night. Try the filet mignon with shrimp, with the best sauce I've had on the Grand Strand. It's a local hangout that's been through a number of changes over the years and keeps coming back. I hope it stays the way it is.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.