GOLF COURSE REVIEWS:
The Bears of Myrtle BeachBy Shane Sharp,
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Feb. 11, 2002) Tough, but fair. This is how most low to mid handicappers describe a great golf course. You may get beaten up all day by forced carries, tight doglegs, and deep bunkers, but if the course properly displays the path to par, theres no faulting its design or mistaking its intentions. If a golf course is tricked up, there is no limit, in theory, to how difficult you can make it, says Marty Ekster, President of Seaside Vacations in North Myrtle Beach. Now, to say a golf course is fair, and it still eats your lunch, that is one heck of a golf course.
I think youll get plenty of agreement from some of the guys that have been around Myrtle Beach for a while, says Jerry McGraw, President of Carolina Golf Travel. The average Myrtle Beach golfer is around a 25 handicap, so he is going to find a good number of the courses to be tough if he doesnt choose the right tees. But the better players will recognize about the same courses and for the same reasons.
Just check the scorecard. A golf courses slope and rating are designed to give players an idea of how difficult a course plays from a certain set of tees. The slope, expressed in a three-digit number typically ranging from 115 to 150, attempts to quantify the courses difficulty for higher handicappers. It takes into consideration prevailing winds, elevation changes, hazards, and forced carries.
In my experience, the slope is a pretty good indication as to how difficult a course is going to be, says Patrick Crean, General Manager of Crow Creek Golf Course in Calabash, N.C. Most people use the slopes because they can adjust their handicap to their home course. Mike Hendrix, Director of Golf for Jordan Properties, has been playing golf in Myrtle Beach for over 30 years. Hendrix says that most of the Strands toughest layouts have been built over the past 15 years, particularly during the 1980s. Slopes from the back tees of many of these courses can range from 130 all the way up to 149.
The slope rating from the back tees at Long Bay is 137, 135 at Prestwick, and the Dye Course at Barefoot is a knee-knocking 149. Ekster, a former teaching pro turned golf packager, plays at least once a week and has sampled courses from Brunswick County to Pawleys Island. He agrees with Hendrix that Prestwick is one of the Strands most challenging golf courses, but Ekster feels that Long Bay is not as challenging for low handicappers.
Ekster is not alone in his assessment of The River Club in Pawleys Island. Hendrix says the Tom Jackson-designed layout gives players fits because of its narrow landing areas and numerous water hazards, despite its rather benign back tee slope rating of 125. The River Club creates problems for a lot of people, regardless of slope Hendrix says. It requires that you place your tee shot in the right spot, and there is plenty of putting with those big greens. But it is also one of the best golf courses youll find in that area because it is fair. Robert Spangler, head professional at the Tradition Club in Pawleys Island, cites Long Bay and Pawleys Plantation as two of the Grand Strands toughest golf tracks. Spangler also feels that the P.B. Dye designed Moorland Course at the Legends Complex on Highway 501 is one of the beachs most bearish layouts. There is some disagreement as to whether Moorland is tricked up or not, but I like that course because its tough, and it gives you variety, Spangler says. That is a course that is so intimidating to the average golfer because of the severity of the greens, the blind shots, and the visual deception. Moorlands slope rating, however, is a not so intimidating 128, but Hendrix agrees that its one of the Strands toughest offerings. I think a lot of players will tell you that Moorland is the most difficult course here, says Hendrix. Spangler, Hendrix, Ekster, and a host of other local professionals and golf officials also listed Tidewater (Cherry Grove), the Dunes Club, and Rivers Edge (Shallotte, N.C.), as three of Myrtle Beachs most challenging layouts. But what about those sneaky hard golf courses the ones that most players never hear about as brutally bearish? Meadowlands is a sneaky hard golf course, Ekster says. I will defy anyone to play from the tips and score within their handicap. And Lions Paw (at Ocean Ridge Plantation) will eat your lunch and never met a high handicapper that it liked. Spangler only needed to glance down at the scorecard of this Ron Garl designed course to come up with his answer. I would put the back nine here up against any course, because of the long par fours, he says. From the tips, the Tradition Club only slopes in the 120s, but Ekster agrees with Spangler that the courses back nine makes it more challenging than the numbers let on.
Surprisingly, the controversial True Blue Golf Plantation in Pawleys Island (at right) was not frequently mentioned by local golf experts as one of the areas most difficult courses. Upon opening, the Mike Strantz designed course declared itself Golfs Heaven and Hell, and was widely considered among visiting golfers to be the most difficult layout in Myrtle Beach. Evidently, the average golfer doesnt agree with the experts. True Blues owners brought Strantz back to the course two years ago to soften it up and stimulate repeat play. True Blue now plays to a 139 slope from the back tees, but most players opt for the 123 and 128 slopes of the white and blue tees, respectively True Blue I dont count, because its tricked up, Ekster says. You can put windmills in front of holes and sure, it will be difficult. And now, with the changes, the only thing keeping you from scoring out there are a few tricks. |
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GOLF COURSE REVIEWS
The
But what makes one golf course more difficult than another, and how can someone who has never played a course get an initial assessment of how painstakingly arduous or player friendly that course is?
I would not say that Long Bay is a hard golf course, says Ekster. A good golf course, but not a hard one. And Prestwick, youve got to put it in there (as one of the most challenging) but you also have to say its one of the fairest courses, too. And you have to include the Dye Course at Barefoot. I can also see the River Club being in the top ten in difficulty because of all the tight holes and water, and the
Those are some deep par fours out there, but with its slope, its hard to put the course up there with the others in terms of difficulty, Ekster says.
True Blue isnt a difficult a golf course if you were to just play it straight forward, but it is visually intimidating, Hendrix says. There are some design features out there that make players tighten up, especially on the approach shots.