COURSE REVIEW

TPC Myrtle Beach brings a chilled-out Tom Fazio through the wet woods

By Chris Baldwin,
Senior Writer

MURRELLS INLET, S.C. (April 27, 2007) — Tom Fazio must have took some tranquilizers before designing Tournament Players Club Myrtle Beach.

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This golf course sure seems like it came from the mind of a much more relaxed than usual Fazio. It's almost leisurely in the way it plays out, invoking visions of sitting on an old Charleston veranda while sipping lemonade. It's easy to picture older golfers loving this trip through the pines, red oaks and marshes of the Lowcountry.

How often can you say that about a Tom Fazio golf course?

It's probably no coincidence that Senior, err Champions, Tour player Lanny Wadkins was the PGA consultant on TPC Myrtle Beach. Wadkins wasn't just some token name, either. He obviously championed the ever-flashing right blinker crowd.

TPC Myrtle Beach is a Fazio-modest 6,950 yards from the back black tees. It's also much more natural than most Fazio designs. The baron of the bulldozer in celebrity golf course architects moved a measly 300,000 cubic yards of dirt.

The result is a course that's much more flat than most Fazio designs — though it does have a host of elevated tees. TPC Myrtle Beach plays out on the ground, making the towering pines appear even taller. There's water on 10 of the 18 holes and a sense of nature on them all.

"The layout is what most golfers come off talking about," clubhouse attendant Will O'Brien said. "There aren't that many homes at all, which is really rare in golf today. Most of the time you're in nature. It's not your typical setting of houses being almost on top of the greens."

Some of Fazio's greens do seem bigger than your average house.

Putting goes even farther than usual in determining your score here. On the green is hardly a guarantee of being out of the woods. Even literally. Those imposing pines frame the giant greens to great effect.

TPC Myrtle Beach is still one of Grand Strand's more high-end plays, but it's not nearly as high priced as it used to be. Greens fees are as low as $100 for two months in the winter.

The greens are L93 bentgrass and they took a beating from the scorching summer of 2006. On this early winter play, the owner himself apologized for the shape of the greens. They weren't perfect, but in truth they weren't that bad. Certainly nothing to dissuade you from playing the course.

Plus, swans don't care about greens.

That's your first real introduction to TPC Myrtle Beach's nature. The swans in the lake right off the second tee box. Being the first golfer to hit, seeing the swans burst flapping into the air at the commotion is a neat, little thrill. It's all white feathers and grace.

If you didn't know better, you'd think TPC Myrtle Beach had the swans on its payroll.

Maybe the swans are there to distract you from the score you're recording on the hole. No. 2 is a 547-yard par 5 with a second lake as the fairway doglegs right closer to the green. This patch of the fairway can seem skinnier than an Olsen twin with the big white bunkers on its sides, squeezing it like a Victorian-era corset.

There's a difference between not being a monster and being easy. TPC Myrtle Beach definitely doesn't play like a swan. The wetlands forced carry off the tee on 447-yard, par-4 third looms before you like a marsh that never ends. You half expect the Swamp Thing to rise out of this muck and slap your golf ball down.

It's 183 yards of carry just to reach fairway edge even from the yellow tees a majority of golfers play from.

This is the exception rather than the rule. There are a number of forced carries on TPC Myrtle Beach, but not so many that they become mind numbing. You don't need to be Paul Bunyan to get around these woods.

There are even bailout options on some of the showy par 3s — the most Fazio part of the course. No. 5 is a dramatic hole with water filling the left side, right in front of the flagstick. But you can also shoot to the right side over land to a much less advantageous part of the green.

Yes, grandpa will be smiling.

"It's a more forgiving course than I thought it would be," vacationing golfer Ken Tsang said. "It doesn't kill you if you're an ordinary player."

Maybe, Fazio took up yoga.

TPC Myrtle Beach: The verdict

This isn't the best Tom Fazio golf course in Myrtle Beach. That distinction has to go to the Barefoot Resort Fazio Course. Yet, TPC Myrtle Beach is still clearly one of the top 20 golf courses on the Grand Strand.

There are plenty of strategy choices to stress you and tons of scenery to soothe you. It's hard to believe that this land was the site of timber harvesting in the 1980s with all the tall trees around. The fact it's in Murrells Inlet also saves golfers from some of the commotion of Myrtle Beach. Though you can still hear construction noise in the distance on a few holes.

Mostly, you'll get lost in your round, though. The marketing guys love to rave about TPC Myrtle Beach's "near-island green" No. 17 (it's actually a par 3 with a peninsula green). But this writer found the two par 3s in three-hole stretch (No. 5 and No. 7) more interesting.

And the 18th is a better hole than all of them. It's a 538-yard par 5 with a dramatic green that juts out over the water and has huge bunker clusters on the right side. Putting there with the big long clubhouse over your shoulder — and maybe another group or two watching from the veranda — is almost as satisfying a finish as Red Auerbach's victory cigars.

Myrtle Beach restaurants

Greg Norman Grill (843-361-0000) is right off Kings Highway in the Barefoot Landing shopping complex and it's worth a stop.

When a famous athlete gets into food, you expect the worst — especially in a high-priced chain restaurant — but Greg Norman's delivers surprisingly tasty selections. The salmon salad is particularly good. It's more reasonable at lunch and the views on the patio over the water are better then too.

Myrtle Beach hotels

Myrtle Beach has tons of hotels, but not a lot of the upscale ones most seasoned travelers expect. If you lean that way, the Marriott Grand Dunes is clearly the best, but the Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center is in the same general league (minus the ocean access) and often much cheaper.

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.