MYRTLE BEACH FEATURE

A Family Thing: Dan Maples Builds on Legacy

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Jan. 22, 2002) - There was a time in the Grand Strand, not so long ago, when Tom Fazio, Pete Dye and Greg Norman designed golf courses were non-existent.

Myrtle Beach was not always the high-end golfing attraction that it is today, and flying in the world's biggest names to design $100 a round golf courses was not a high priority with local developers.

As it was for alternative rock band Duran-Duran, Ronald Reagan, and parachute pants, the 1980's were a pivotal decade for Myrtle Beach golf. Gene Hamm and Willard Byrd could only carry Grand Strand golf so far on a limited budget, and developers began to understand that they needed to pony up the big bucks to compete with southern markets like Hilton Head, Pinehurst, and Orlando.

But before they put in the expensive phone calls to Fazio, Dye and Nicklaus, Myrtle Beach looked once more to the Carolinas for a homegrown, innovative golf course designer.

Dan Maples (at right) is the son of legendary course designer Ellis Maples, and his design lineage goes straight back to Donald Ross' shop in Pinehurst. Dan was a hot commodity when Larry Young of the Legends first retained his services to design Marsh Harbor and Oyster Bay in Brunswick County, N.C., and he would go onto to make his mark in Myrtle Beach like few other course designers.

Heading into the 1980's, Myrtle Beach had its occasional Rees Jones layout, a huge sampling of Byrd courses, and the venerable Dunes Club designed by Robert Trent Jones. Hamm and Russell Breeden courses were also as popular as fried Grouper fingers, primarily because they could put out good golf courses on a tight budget.

While all of these designers churning out golf courses that ranged from good to great, Maples' arrival served as a breath of fresh air.

• Reader Forums • South Carolina Course Guide • Interview: Dan Maples • Review: The Pit Golf Links • Past articles by Shane Sharp

From there, Maples took his talents up the road and designed both the East and West courses at the Pearl, the Dan Maples course at Sea Trail, and the often overlooked Sandpiper Bay course in Sunset Beach, N.C.

After his groundbreaking work in the North Strand, Maples turned his attention towards the old Low Country plantations of the South Strand. The Heritage Club, a collaboration between Maples and Young, set a new standard for plantation golf that ultimately influenced the design of Mike Strantz's Caledonia Golf and Fish Club.

But Maples impact on the South Strand did not stop with the Heritage Club. The Pinehurst native designed another golf course that he has throughout the years unabashedly referred to as "one of my best" - Willbrook Plantation.

"I love Dan's golf courses because they are not gimmicky," says former Willbrook head professional Christa Bodensteiner. "This is one of the few golf courses in this area where the houses don't really come into play. We had some pretty strict design guidelines out here."

After putting his brand on the South Strand, Maples was hired to design two new courses along Highway 501 between Myrtle Beach and Conway. Land was getting tight along the coast, and the cheaper pine flatlands of the Waccamaw river basin became the hottest location for new

course development.

The Witch and the Wizard were born from Maples' time spent on the 501 corridor, both of which have met with mixed reviews from critics and players. A golf course architect, like any other service provider, is subject to the whims and demands of his client, and Maples was asked to do something "different" with these two tracts by the owners.

The Witch appeals to many golfers because of its numerous bridges, armada of ponds, and thick strands of pines. The Wizard in contrast, is a wide-open links style course that required moving over 1,000,000 cubic yards of earth.

But Maples was not done with the 501 corridor yet.

His Man-O-War Golf Course, just a pitching wedge from the Wizard, is set amid an 80-acre lake, is recognized as one of the most playable layouts in the corridor. Man-O-War sports some of the largest greens and straightest fairways at the beach, and there is surprisingly little water in play for a golf course that appears to have been dropped into a giant lake.

Life is too short to play bad golf courses, and chances are, when you book a tee time on a Dan Maples golf course, you are going to get a thoughtful, traditional, layout at an affordable price. If you are one of the rare golfers that picks his venues based on the designer, lean towards Maples' North Strand offerings and enjoy some of the best golf the Strand has to offer.

See our course guide for phone numbers and course information on any of these Dan Maples designed courses.