COURSE REVIEW

True Blue Plantation a true love for Myrtle Beach golfers

By Tim McDonald,
National Golf Editor

PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. (Dec. 11, 2006) — When you pull up to the first tee at True Blue Plantation, before you tee off, you see stretched out before you a par 5 — all 624 yards of it.

It's a jolting wake-up call for Myrtle Beach golfers, even a slap in the face, a little taste of what you are about to get.

The perfect Central Myrtle Beach itinerary The perfect North Myrtle Beach golf itinerary MB: Home of great golf and wild bachelor parties Reader offers his 10 best MB courses Podcast: Myrtle Beach's golf goes upscale

"I suggest the white tees," said Jeff Cain of California, somewhat ominously. "The blues here are brutal."

Mike Strantz designed the golf course at True Blue after his success at the Caledonia Golf and Fish Club, right down the street in this lovely part of the lowcountry. True Blue opened to great acclaim and it took a while before the owners realized those average golfers, the mid-to-high handicappers, weren't coming back.

"It took us a few years to realize we had made it too tough," said John Springs, the general manager for both True Blue and Caledonia. "(Strantz) really built a tournament golf course. We're in the business of making money and our bottom-line players, those in the 15-handicap range, are our bread and butter. This wasn't a money-making venture for us."

Strantz was called back in to make the golf course more accessible to those players who don't play for paychecks. He, Springs and others went over the course hole-by-hole to see what could be done, which was a lot.

The core of the course was left intact, but quite a few changes — mostly subtle in nature — were made.

They went from bentgrass to TifEagle Bermuda underlaid with poa trivialis on the greens. The bentgrass suffered from the summer heat and, in high traffic areas, the greens were worn, making for tricky putts and frustrated putters.

When they changed the grass, they also flattened some of the undulation in unusable pin placement areas. They made other greens fairer, like the par-3 third hole, which had a tendency to lean away from the tee box and into water; players could hit good shots here and, if they didn't spin it like the pros, could find themselves in the water.

They took out some bunkers that were in the average golfer's landing area off the tee and made other fairways easier to hit, like on No. 8 with its narrow neck squeezed by two ditches on both sides. The ditches were filled.

The overall result was a course that essentially looked unchanged, but in fact was more playable.

"Quite frankly, it's been very successful," Springs said. "The original layout is virtually the same, you'd almost have to be a golf architect to figure out what we did to it. Over the last four or five years, we've managed to really bring True Blue's reputation to where we think it's one of the best in the area. I constantly hear, 'True Blue is my favorite course.'"

Count me among those who have been overheard saying that. In the golf industry, you're supposed to say "challenging" instead of "difficult." In True Blue's case, it's apt. The course manages to test your game constantly while rarely frustrating you with its demands.

Every hole requires thought and either power and precision, and sometimes a combination of both. The owners wanted a course where golfers could shoot their handicap. You can do it here, but it isn't like you can waltz around drinking vodka martinis and expect to do it. The course demands your full attention.

The verdict

True Blue is always named as one of the top-10 golf courses in Myrtle Beach and there's a reason for that. It combines one of the most enjoyable tests of golf with beautiful surroundings, and that's about as much as you can ask from a golf course.

The owners continue to put money into upgrading it. This is a must-play if you're in Myrtle Beach.

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 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.

For those of you who play True Blue in the summer, you'll be glad to know they've added water coolers.

Dining out

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.

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.