COURSE REVIEW

Back nine holes at Prestwick Country Club literally elevate entire golf course

By Tim McDonald,
National Golf Editor

SURFSIDE, S.C. (June 5, 2006) — At first, I thought the guy was crazy or woefully under-informed. The Prestwick Country Club golf course among the top tracks on the Grand Strand? I don't think so.

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Bill Skarzynski made the statement on the front nine — No. 5 to be specific. To that point, the country club course in Surfside, a little south of Myrtle Beach, had been a pleasant country club course, neither overly challenging or dramatic, but a nice walk in the park. You could envision the members having a nice outing, nothing much to challenge their games or make them cranky. Then we walked off the green at No. 9.

"Pay attention to this back nine," Skarzynski said. "It's awesome."

As it turns out, he was heading in the right direction. The back nine of Prestwick elevates the entire course. It becomes much more dynamic. The fairways take on a life of their own, with big dips, swooshes and ripples, dropping off abruptly to different levels. Hills slope dramatically down to fairways and mounds rise from the terrain, around fairways and greens. The melody stays the same, but the crescendo swells. It's the front nine jacked up on steroids.

Not that the front nine is bad, it's just little brother to the back nine — an appetizer for the main course.

"We played this course two days ago and knew we had to come back," said Skarzynski, playing with a friend and his wife, Harriett. "We played it for the first time this year and said this is a keeper — put it on the list."

No. 11 is 412 yards from the championship tees, a risk-reward dogleg left over waste area, and you do not want to miss the green left because it falls off about 20 feet into a deep collection area, where getting up and down will take all that practice you've been laboring at for years.

No. 16 is a 199-yard par 3 with a creek meandering left, across and finally in front of and to the left of the bulkheaded green that drops off to water. No. 17 is a 531-yard par 5 with a creek down the entire left side and the closing hole also has a lake all the way down the right side with some seriously deep grass-topped bunkers right. Get in one of these babies and you'll be looking at nothing but blue skies.

Dye doesn't need water to install his beloved railroad ties. Some greens on the back nine have railroad ties to protect them from abrupt drop-offs.

It's an interesting course, the back nine. The fairways are semi-plateaus, with sharp edges dropping off to rough. By this point, it becomes obvious Pete Dye was involved.

Together with his nephew, P.B. Dye, they moved 1.3 million cubic yards of dirt to create Scottish berms, stairways, church pew bunkers and undulating greens. They also brought in more than 10,000 railroad ties, which Pete loves, to create elevation changes ranging up to 30 feet.

The course is about a quarter mile from the ocean, with the front nine winding through a pine forest while the back nine is more open — similar to Pete Dye's PGA West course — where the prevailing wind forces you to use your knock-down shot, if you have one. If you don't, you might want to find one.

Water is around for eight of the holes, which includes a 20-acre freshwater lake, and the course stretches to 7,058 yards. But, there are six sets of tees for the little fellas and women.

The verdict

I didn't end up rating Prestwick in my Grand Stand top-10 - but it is an underrated Grand Strand outing. If the front nine were as strong as the back, it should definitely have a top-10 ranking.

Stay and play

Sea Trail has one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom accommodations, as well as mini-suites and luxury suites from $72 to $386 a night.

It's on the southernmost coast of North Carolina, and most of the golf villas are on the fairways of the courses, within walking distance of the Byrd/Jones clubhouse and the Magnolia Restaurant. The villas have full kitchens and the plantation has tennis, swimming and fitness centers. It's a terrific place to play the plantation's three courses, as well as the other courses located here at the northernmost Grand Stand.

River Oaks Golf Plantation, just to the west of the Intracoastal Waterway, is also a good, centrally located place for golfers to stay and play Myrtle Beach. It's easy to go north or south via Highway 17, and it's close to Broadway at the Beach and the Atlantic Ocean.

They have one-, two- and three-bedroom villas, many of them overlooking the fairways of the 27-hole golf course on the property. It's also within walking distance of both Fantasy Harbour and the Waccamaw Pottery shopping complex. There are also indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis and walking trails.

Dining out

Myrtle Beach has more than 1,600 restaurants and they aren't all fried fast food. In fact, the area has some nice eateries: Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, Frank's Restaurant and Bar on Pawleys Island, Bella Napoli, Islamorada Fish Company, just to name a few. The buffet at Sea Trail Plantation is said to be excellent.

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.