Myrtle Beach National's King's North is royalty in the Grand Strand

MYRTLE BEACH -- When you have trouble getting tee times in your neck of the woods, what do you do? Maybe call your local Parks and Rec's Director to complain? Drive an hour out of town to an out of the way course where tee times are plentiful? Maybe go to the store, get a six pack, and watch the final round of whatever obscure tournament the Golf Channel is featuring?

If you were part of a consortia of local businessmen in Myrtle Beach in the early 1970's, then you take up a collection amongst your boys and throw down for a golf course. That's right, not a new putting green, or a driving station. A full on, tee to green, clubhouse-included golf course.

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This knee jerk reaction to a shortage of tee times along the Grand Strand is today, none other than the original Myrtle Beach National Golf Facility, which features one of Myrtle Beach's premier tracks in the Arnold Palmer designed King's North Course.

The South and West courses at Myrtle Beach National are venerable flagships of the Myrtle Beach National fleet, but it is King's North that had the entire Strand golfing community talking before its re-opening in 1996. According to Head Professional Jerry Cox, this anticipation stemmed from the fact that the north course was widely recognized as a top shelf layout by tourists and locals alike from its inception.

"The north had always been one of the most popular courses in Myrtle Beach, but it was getting worn out," says Cox. "They (management) decided to get Mr. Palmer back to do some redesigns to the course.

But what started as a quick and dirty redesign quickly turned into a major renovation.

"They ended up ripping up the greens and the fairways and did over 4 million dollars worth of improvements," says Cox about the dramatic transformation that the north course has undertaken. "The only thing that did not change was the course's routing. They switched the nines around and completely redid the tee boxes."

Also included in the remodeling package was the installation of a myriad of new bunkers, an increase in the length of the course to over 7000 yards from the tips, and the addition of sixth teeing ground to serve as the championship ladies tees.

Exit beaten and battered traditional style North Course. Enter, semi-modern style, bunker-laden, island green sporting, King's North. But the truth is, despite its sheer aesthetic beauty and all out golfing challenge, it is hard to put a finger on just what style of course King's North actually is.

Says Cox about this stylistic conundrum, "The design of the course did not change, its pretty much the same style. I can't put a finger on the design type. Its kind of a mixture of different styles - some links and modern. It is so much different from the other two courses. The north just has a lot more trouble than the other two courses It's just more interesting to play."

Indeed trouble surrounds the unsuspecting player at King's North, so a premium is placed on course management and the short game. But it is the unique challenges presented by each hole that Cox feels is the true charm of this

"No two holes are the same on the course," says Cox. "There are some very difficult par-4s. There are a lot of undulations in the greens, and you have to place it in the fairway or you could be in a waster bunker."

"Could" is a kind understatement by the resident ambassador. Take, for example, the revamped 18th hole, which now contains 42 bunkers at last count. While many of these forbidden beaches don't necessarily come into play, the site of them running along either side of the 18th hole like rivers of sand can be quite intimidating.

Played from the white tees, the course plays very short, and scoring opportunities abound for the player that keeps the ball in the fairway and can mange to putt with some authority on the North's true but slow rolling bentgrass greens. There seem to be an abundance of dogleg par-4's throughout the course, which in all likelihood serve to toughen the journey through the front and back nines.

King's North is a must play if your stay at Myrtle Beach will take you anywhere near the over traveled Highway 501. Your best bet is to hunker down amongst the pine needles of the venerable Myrtle Beach National facility and enjoy a few rounds at either the north, west, or south courses.

Of course if you can't get a tee time at any of these fine tracks, you and your buddies could just throw some money in a hat and go open your own course.