 MYRTLE BEACH FEATURES
Fazio and Dye go head to head at Barefoot Resort in Myrtle BeachBy Shane Sharp,
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - One golf course architect kills you with kindness. The other just kills you. These are the reputations that Tom Fazio and Pete Dye, respectively, have developed over the years. Barefoot Resort - a high-end golf property perched here on the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway - gives golfers a chance to decide for themselves if these labels are accurate.
"I don't know of any other facility that offers courses from both on the same site," says Barefoot Resort president Danny Young. "There may be some areas or regions where you have both, but probably not like this." Barefoot Resort is one of the most ambitious real estate and golf projects to hit the Grand Strand in decades. In addition to Barefoot Resort's Fazio course and Dye course, it also houses two 18-hole layouts designed by Greg Norman and Davis Love III. All four golf courses have made names for themselves both regionally and nationally, but students of golf course design flock to the Fazio and Dye courses to study the work of the masters. Opposites AttractDye - the professor emeritus - made a name for himself in the late 1960s and early 70s with the design of Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, and Crooked Stick outside of Indianapolis. He blazed a trail through the Caribbean, Midwest, Florida, California and Mid-Atlantic with the help of his wife, Alice, and cemented his reputation as one of the greatest modern course designers with his work at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in 1990.
By the end of the decade, Fazio had crafted award winning courses in Arizona (at Ventana Canyon Resort) and North Carolina (Wade Hampton). In the 1990s, projects like Shadow Creek in Las Vegas and Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto, Fla., catapulted him to the top of the profession and made him the most sough-after designer in the United States. The similarities between the two designers, however, begin and end with their status as two of the best in the business. And Barefoot Resort is the perfect venue to witness this dichotomy. "The Dye Course here is perceived to be the most difficult here, but some of that has to do with his reputation and not necessarily the course itself," says Young. "If you pick the correct set of tees then it should be almost as playable as the Fazio Course."
The Dye Course plays to an eye-popping 7,343 yards from the tips and a "play-it-if-you-dare" slope rating of 149. The par-71 Fazio Course is a full 400 yards shorter from the back tees and plays to a comprehendible slope of 139. From a design standpoint, the two courses are also night and day. "Pete is an outstanding flat land course designer, and Tom's courses tend to have more elevation changes," says Young. "Pete moves a lot of earth, but most of it is along side the fairways like it is here. Tom likes to build elevated green complexes that come off as majestic. And their approaches to bunkering are totally opposite. Pete likes to hide his bunkers in the shadows and Tom likes to flash them out in front of you. All of that is on display on these two courses." The philosophical differences between the two craftsmen indeed run from tee to green. Fazio likes to use his tee boxes to align golfers toward the landing area, while Dye has been known to point unsuspecting duffers toward his diabolical fairway bunkers. Fazio's greens are usually uniform in size and have all the undulation of a gently rolling potato chip. Dye's putting surfaces come in a variety of shapes, sizes and slopes and have been the source of more three-putts than the yips. "Most golfers like one designer or the other," Young says. "They both have their own camps. But there are some people who like them both for what they each bring to the table." The Fazio Course is wedged between the Dye and Love Course and is chock-full of Live Oaks, sandy waste areas and native grasses. A series of boardwalks connect many of the holes, and there's a surprising amount of elevation change for an inland Low Country layout. The Dye Course is routed through a private, residential development but is relatively "house-free" at this point. The modus operandi is vintage Dye - extensive mounding along the sides of fairways, variable greens sizes and shapes, and minimal forced carries.
The two designers did manage to reach some common ground in one area: Both courses end in dramatic fashion. The Dye Course is capped by the 471-yard, par-4 18th hole that plays along a lake and into its exclusive clubhouse and the Fazio Course ends with a 453-yard, par-4 that plays along a lake and into the resort clubhouse. Monday After the Masters Pro-Am coming to Barefoot ResortMyrtle Beach has finally bucked the trend of tournaments leaving town. The Hootie and the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am will be held on the Dye Course Monday, April 14 following the playing of the Masters at Augusta National. The tournament moves to the Grand Strand from the Kiawah Island Resort, where it was held from 2001-02. "We played a lot of golf here when we were coming up," said Hootie and the Blowfish Drummer Jim Sonefeld. "We had a chance to play a lot of the public and private courses."
"I have heard that its narrow, that's about it," Sonefeld said. "But it doesn't matter to me. I don't usually sweat the courses I play. It's not like I am going to set the course record wherever I play." The popular celebrity anchored event has raised more than $1.5 million for the South Carolina Junior Golf Foundation and the Hootie and the Blowfish Foundation, which targets educational improvements. The House of Blues will host the legendary post-tournament concert, which will include performances from Hootie and the Blowfish, Edwin McCain and Sister Hazel. "And you never know who else is going to wind up on stage," said Darius Rucker, lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish. The 2003 edition of the MAM has already procured an impressive roster of celebrities and PGA professionals. Commitments include former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit, former Dallas Cowboys fullback Daryl Johnston, former Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, former USC standout and Green Bay Packer Sterling Sharpe, and PGA pro's John Daly, Peter Jacobsen, Matt Kuchar, Robert Gamez, Joel Kribel, and Chris Riley. Tickets for Monday's tournament are $10 and can be purchased at the House of Blues outlets and www.hob.com, the Barefoot Resort and Golf clubhouse and at either of the Golf Dimensions locations at 2301 Hwy 17 S. in North Myrtle Beach and at 3423 Hwy 501 Myrtle Beach. Children ages 16 and younger will be admitted for free. Ticket for the Hootie and Friends concert are $35 and are available through ticketmaster. February 26, 2002 |
Fazio got his start in the business when he was 19, apprenticing with his uncle, George Fazio. The tandem established themselves on the golf course architecture scene in 1970 with the opening of Jupiter Hills in Jupiter, Fla. After controversial redesigns of Inverness in 1978 and Oak Hill in 1979, Fazio took on his first solo project -- the Links Course at Wild Dunes Resort outside of Charleston - in 1980 and his career was off and running.
Almost being the operative word.
"Dye once told me that he thought you should be able to putt your way around his course," laughs Young. "I wouldn't recommend it here, but you almost could. That is Alice's influence coming out. They are both fans of Scottish golf course architecture and they believe there should always be a ground route to the hole. Tom will give you some forced carries and occasionally you'll need to fly the ball into the green."
The band got a chance to test drive the Dye Course for the first time following a tournament press conference last Wednesday.
