If the World Tour Golf Links is indeed a tourist attraction, it's a good one. It sure draws them in: the sprawling club doubles and triple tees in the high seasons, and it can get pretty crowded. Still, the "course ambassadors" do a good, polite job of moving the hordes through at a reasonable pace.
Despite the fact the course has a bigger maintenance crew than most ? one woman is responsible for nothing but the flowers, for example ? it can't help but show a little wear and tear, like those hundreds of ball marks on the greens. Still, in early November, the course was in good shape and the true bentgrass greens were rolling firm and true. The excellent greens are one of the major attractions.
World Tour has 27 holes, three nines consisting of the Open, the Championship and the International. The holes are drawn from 23 courses in six countries, including Augusta National, Pine Valley, St. Andrews and Winged Foot.
Now, obviously, you can't make exact replicas, because of the legal issues and because you can't move the North Sea to South Carolina. Nor can you duplicate the idiosyncratic terrain many of the original holes are built on. But, the holes are designed to give you an idea of where the game's legends have made their names at holes that closely resemble the hallowed halls of golf.
"That's the fun part," said mid-handicapper Joel Ziegel. "When are we going to get a chance to play these holes?"
For example, the par 3 third hole on the Open course was based on the Stadium course at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. Most of the ingredients are there, including obviously the island green, but the green is much smaller than the real thing. It may actually be tougher than the real deal.
The feature the average golfer may notice the most is the size and slope of the greens. The green at the Open course's No. 9, a replica of St. Andrews' No. 18 is massive. It looks like it could serve as a runway at Myrtle Beach International. Ditto No. 1.
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The kidney-shaped green at No. 7, based on Augusta National's No. 16 has a slope so severe it will give you four-putt nightmares. This is one of the great things about World Tour: you get an idea of the radical kind of slopes the pros have to negotiate. It's also one of the things your everyday golfer complains about: he wants to putt on those kinds of greens to see what it's like, but he doesn't like the way it adds up on his scorecard.
The verdict
World Tour is a fun, different kind of play. Golfers love Nos. four, five and six on the Open course.
"Everybody looks forward to playing those holes," said the club's Bill Myers. "That's Amen Corner at Augusta. It's just a fun course to play. They love the greens ? they're the actual bentgrass the pros play on, so you get a taste of what they have to put up with."
Other than the voyeuristic aspect, the course itself is a challenge, but not as demanding as some of the more difficult on the Strand. The slope on the Open/Championship 18 is 130 from the black tees, 133 for the Championship/International 18 and 135 for the International/Open 18.
However, be aware that the course can get crowded during peak seasons.
Stay and play
Litchfield Beach and Golf Resort is at the southern end of the Grand Strand, a great place to play the south courses. It's affiliated with three courses, the Litchfield Country Club, River Club and Willbrook Plantation.
The latter two in particular are excellent layouts. There's a racquet club and fitness center and several restaurants to choose from, including Websters Lowcountry Grill and Tavern, the eateries at the golf courses and the Calypso Beach Bar and Grill.
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.y
Try a drive through Murrell's Inlet to find one of dozens of specialized seafood restaurants, with freshly-caught seafood.
Glen Dornoch