The hills stand out here in the lowcountry where flatness rules and the fairways roll with the land. It's a very good golf course, well-conditioned and maintained, with enough water to keep it interesting. Most of the water is lateral, seldom influencing your shots unless they're wayward.
It's a parkland course, with tree-lined fairways and nicely wooded with dogwoods, maples, live oak, cypress and pines, especially the back nine.
River Hills does wind through a neighborhood, with homes on most holes, and the routing takes you across and through the neighborhood streets. But, the layout of the course, designed by Tom Jackson to blend modern and traditional elements, makes it an enjoyable play.
"I love it, they keep it in great shape, the greens and fairways, it's got the whole package," said Wayne Sheehan, who's been golfing in Myrtle Beach for more than 20 years, playing on this day with son Aaron. "For the price, it's a pretty good value. The greens are magnificent. They've got them PGA quality right now."
That's because the club just hosted a pro tournament and the greens hadn't yet been scaled down to hacker speed. In fact, in mid-September, they were rolling a lightning-fast 12.5 on the stimpmeter, giving the everyday golfers a chance to see what the pros putt on. It took some adjustment.
The course was nominated as best new course for 1989 by Golf Digest and recently underwent a $2 million renovation, designed to make the course a little easier to negotiate.
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They enlarged the tee boxes and re-worked the bunkers to improve visibility, and indeed the routes to the green can be easily discerned: No blind shots to the green, despite the elevations as much as 40 feet. They also installed hand-placed stone bulkheads that add a little aesthetic flourish to the layout. Some sand hazards were redirected to improve the pace of play.
The course is 6,918 yards from the back tees with a slope rating of 136, though you can step up to the whites and play it at 6,396 yards. Women and seniors can play the red tees at a little more than 5,000 yards. That's a tad long for many women, though they won't have many forced carries.
River Hills Golf & CC: The verdict
Green fees at River Hills vary from $47 to $78, depending on the season, and for those rates, this is a good value.
You'll find some interesting holes, like No. 17, a mid-length par 5 that's a double dogleg, with water crossing the fairway in two spots. It has a long, narrow green that's well-bunkered.
No. 7, another par 5, is an excellent hole that bends left with the fairway sloping left toward marsh. Your approach shot will have to carry water if you want to reach in two, to a big green that slopes back to front. You want to be below the hole here.
One of the par 3s stands out ? the 12th. It's 190 yards with a pond in front and a finger of the pond strays around and crosses in front of the hole and to the left, where a series of bunkers lurk. The front part of the green is flat, while the back and left slopes off toward water.
Stay and play
The Avista Resort is right on the beach and the Atlantic Ocean in North Myrtle Beach: if the ocean is too rough for you, you can be as slothful as you want in the resort's lazy river, which winds from the cool of inside to outside in the bright South Carolina sun.
The resort has one, two and three bedroom condos, some of which have whirlpools. They all have great views and private patios. The resort has free, high-speed Internet access, onsite restaurants and lounges, a fitness center and meeting facilities. It's only a few blocks away from Highway 17, the preferred route to Grand Strand golf courses.
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 dining
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.
Myrtlewood Palmetto