GOLF COURSE REVIEW
The River Club: Great Greens and Creative GolfBy Shane Sharp, PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. - Superintendent Jim Neely’s eyes grow as big as saucers and the grin on his face runs from ear to ear when he talks about the River Club’s greens. Neely and head professional Nate Dewitt oversaw the installation of 18 new bentgrass greens just over a year ago, and the results are on display at this Tom Jackson designed plantation course for all the golfing world to see. At a time when most courses in the South Strand were switching to some form of Ultra Dwarf Bermuda turf, River Club’s owners dared to be different. With the original Bermuda grass putting surfaces approaching their 16th birthday, they charged Neely and Dewitt with rebuilding every green with plush, smoothing rolling A-1 bentgrass.
“Everybody was getting away from it, so our owners decided it would be a market niche for us to have bentgrass,” Neely says. “Us and the TPC (of Myrtle Beach) are the only public access courses in this area that have bentgrass.” While River Club’s greens may not roll a 12 or 13 on the stimpmeter, they aren’t a far cry from Augusta’s dancefloors from a conditioning standpoint. “They may be the best at the beach,” Dewitt says. “There are a lot of great courses down here, with a lot of great greens. But these are unique in this area, and Jim has put in some 80 hour weeks taking care of these things.” Both Dewitt and Neely agree that the River Club needed something to set it apart from its South Strand siblings. When the course opened in 1985, highly rated tracks like Caledonia, True Blue, Blackmoor, and the Tradition were just pipe dreams or drawings on paper.
With its new greens and its Myrtle Beach National sister courses Litchfield Country Club and Willbrook, the River Club has positioned itself at the forefront of South Strand golf. Neely says that without the ability to push rounds to Willbrook and Litchfield, bentgrass putting surfaces would not have been a realistic endeavor. “We are able to transfer rounds over to those courses when we need to do maintenance, or in the summer when the bentgrass takes too much heat,” Neely says. “That is what we have that no other course down here has.” And gaining a competitive advantage is essential to the River Club’s success. The course is not the most scenic course in the area - that distinction would have to go to Caledonia, Pawleys Plantation, the Heritage Club, or one of the plantation courses with coastal marshes and Live Oaks. It’s not the easiest of courses either - that would probably be Willbrook with its huge fairways and unprotected greens. But the River Club does trot out the best greens in the area, and a bevy of challenging, creative golf holes to back them up. Take the par 5 18th, for example.
River Club’s front nine features a nice combination of left and right doglegs, short par 4’s, long par 5’s and scenic par 3’s, all which play through a pleasant combination of Carolina pines and hardwoods. The best stretch of holes on the course begins with the 545-yard par 5 third hole, and ends with the masterfully designed 183-yard par 3 eighth. The fairways of the back nine are dotted with homes, but with holes like the 409-yard par 4 15th and the scenic island green of the 186-yard par 3 14th hole, River Club continues to deliver challenging, memorable holes. “This is not an easy golf course,” says Neely, who has been at the River Club for 15 years. “When we first opened, none of the members wanted to play here because it was so hard. We probably filled in 10 or 15 bunkers in the first few years. Now repeat play is our bread and butter.” While the River Club only plays to a slope rating of 125 from the back tees, average players may find it challenging for a number of reasons. Jackson hasn’t met a bunker he doesn’t like, and you can find them in droves on every hole on the course. Most of holes feature deep, sprawling sand traps that guard the greens from all angles. High handicappers accustomed to running the ball up to the green with a seven or eight iron better get used to using their wedges to carry the hazards. “If anything, this course favors good wedge players,” Dewitt says. “You have to hit nice high wedge shots to get over these bunkers and on to the greens. Jackson provides a sliver of runway, at best, to most of the greens, so the bump and run is out of play.” Jackson, whose firm is based in land locked Greenville, also seems to have an affinity for the water. The drink comes into play on 14 of 18 holes at the River Club, so consulting the course’s yardage book is a must prior to every tee and approach shot. “Most of this course is right out in front of you,” adds Dewitt. “But Jackson has buried some water around these holes.” The first hole being a prime example. At just 354 yards from the member tees and plenty of room off the tee, the hole appears to be rather benign at first. But a creek that runs in front of the green comes into play on the approach, and a small pond to the right of the green exists with the sole purpose of devouring slices.
“You need a couple of long par-4’s to make a course a true championship test of golf,” says Dewitt. “I don’t think there are really that many championship golf courses down here at the beach. Jim and I have talked about backing up the tees, and putting the pins in hard to hit places and really seeing how hard we can make this thing.”
River Club Course Capsule Designer: Tom Jackson Sharp Says: The River Club’s greens are simply some of the best at the beach. Once they take deeper root and become firmer, they may be some of the best in the state. River Club is not as pretty a golf course at Willbrook, but it is more challenging due to its tight doglegs and bunkered greens. The par 3’s and 5’s standout, while the par 4’s are solid but not spectacular. If you like a family style atmosphere, you’ll appreciate a staff that calls you by name and takes care of your every need. The overall experience is top notch, and you will come away wanting to play this course again. |
Adding even more pressure to the daunting task was the fact that the turf would be pulled from the same stock of bentgrass that was being shipped to 
Today, there are a dozen high end daily fee courses within a 20 minute drive of each other is this bucolic region of the beach, and the competition is heating up for a stagnating number of annual rounds. 
But water doesn’t always translate into difficulty. One of the four holes without water in play, the 413-yard par 4 ninth, is rated as the course’s No. 1 handicap hole. No. 9 is long, narrow, and requires an approach shot to a green that is only 29 yards deep and is protected by three deep bunkers. 
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