GOLF COURSE REVIEWS

The Bears of Myrtle Beach

By Shane Sharp,
Contributing Writer

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, there’s 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.”

The Grand Strand is home to over 120 golf courses, so you would think that opinions on the beach’s most difficult layouts would vary like errant tee shots. But local golf experts seem to mention the same handful of Myrtle Beach area courses when asked to name the area’s toughest tests of golf.

“I think you’ll 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 doesn’t choose the right tees. But the better players will recognize about the same courses and for the same reasons.”

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?

Just check the scorecard.

A golf course’s 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 course’s difficulty for higher handicappers. It takes into consideration prevailing winds, elevation changes, hazards, and forced carries.

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“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 Strand’s toughest layouts have been built over the past 15 years, particularly during the 1980’s. Slopes from the back tees of many of these courses can range from 130 all the way up to 149.

“Long Bay, and just about any Nicklaus golf course is going to be hard, like Pawleys Plantation,” Hendrix says. “He penalizes you on your approach shots. The other course that I would say would be right there is Prestwick, but it is also the fairest test of golf from the Dye’s. Everybody is of the opinion that the (Pete) Dye Course at Barefoot Landing is a brutal five hours for the average golfer and I agree.”

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 Strand’s most challenging golf courses, but Ekster feels that Long Bay is not as challenging for low handicappers.

“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, you’ve 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 Players Club has a slope of 149 and is one of the hardest golf courses here.”

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 you’ll 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 Strand’s 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 beach’s 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.”

Moorland’s slope rating, however, is a not so intimidating 128, but Hendrix agrees that its one of the Strand’s 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 Beach’s most challenging layouts.

But what about those “sneaky” hard golf courses – the one’s 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 Lion’s 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 120’s, but Ekster agrees with Spangler that the course’s back nine makes it more challenging than the numbers let on.

“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.

Surprisingly, the controversial True Blue Golf Plantation in Pawleys Island (at right) was not frequently mentioned by local golf experts as one of the area’s most difficult courses. Upon opening, the Mike Strantz designed course declared itself “Golf’s Heaven and Hell,” and was widely considered among visiting golfers to be the most difficult layout in Myrtle Beach.

“True Blue isn’t 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.”

Evidently, the average golfer doesn’t agree with the experts. True Blue’s 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 don’t count, because it’s 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.”