FEATURE STORY
Multi-course facilities
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"You had Bay Tree, but before that you had your single courses like Robbers Roost, Beachwood, Azalea Sands, and Arcadian Shores and after it there were more 18-holers," says Patrick Crean, general manager at Crow Creek Golf Club.
When the Hwy. 501 corridor opened for golf business in the late 1980s it was open season on multi-course facilities. Myrtle Beach National had led the way in the early 1970s with three Arnold Palmer designed courses, but all was quiet on the west Strand front until Wild Wing, Legends Resort and Arrowhead opened a total of 153 holes over a five-year span in the early and mid 1990s.
Around the same time, the multi-course trend descended upon the North Strand. Multi-course facilities like the Pearl (36 holes), Angels Trace (36 holes), and Sea Trail (54 holes) all opened in Brunswick County, N.C. from 1989 to 1995.
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"Frankly, I think we are done with large scale expansion," says Rich Westin, director of golf at World Tour Golf Links. "The growth will be incremental if at all so where it goes is almost a moot point."
Then again, who needs expansion when there are more than enough multi-course facilities from which to choose? MyrtleBeachGolf.com ranks the Grand Strand's Top Five Multi-Course Facilities based on variety, quality, service and value. To qualify for consideration, a facility had to house a minimum of 36 holes.
MyrtleBeachGolf.com's Top Five Multi-Course Facilities
1.
Barefoot Resort, North Myrtle Beach
Courses (4): Fazio, Dye, Love and Norman.
The Skinny: For sheer name recognition and design quality, it is hard to top a lineup that includes courses from two of the greatest golf course architects of the modern era and two of the game's most respected player/architects. When the Barefoot arsenal sports the conditions to match, it is truly one of the premier places to play in the Southeast. The Norman, Fazio and Love courses snuggle up to a grandiose clubhouse with first tees just chipping distance from each other. The "semi-private" Dye Course is located off site in a residential-area-to-be, but it is still accessible via a two-minute drive.
2. Legends Resort, Myrtle Beach
Courses (3): Parkland, Heathland, and Mooreland.
The Skinny: One of the Grand Strand's seminal multi-course facilities, Legends Resort set the bar high in the quality, service and value departments when it opened in the early 1990s. The theme of the property is overtly Scottish, as are the look and feel of the three 18-hole layouts designed by P.B. Dye and Tom Doak. If variety is your bag, you might prefer the architectural diversity of Barefoot Resort. If you are looking for three memorable, playable and well-conditioned tracks, you've found a home. Traveling golfers who wish to hone their skills between rounds will also find one of the most impressive practice facilities on the East Coast.
3.
Ocean Ridge Plantation, Sunset Beach, N.C.
Courses (3): Tiger's Eye, Lion's Paw and Panther's Run.
The Skinny:Tiger's Eye is unabashedly the crown jewel of this stellar North Strand property. The Tim Cate designed layout is head and mane above its two siblings. Ocean Ridge aficionados will tell you that Panther's Run is a distant second and Lions' Paw brings up the rear. No argument here. Collectively, however, the three big cats present a redoubtable lineup that is typically in tip-top shape. Anyone who's played at Ocean Ridge knows that the golf is only half the story. The service levels (pro shop, beverage carts, bag drop) are among the highest in the Grand Strand. And if its gear you require, the two proshops are perennially ranked among the best in the country for apparel, service and equipment.
4.
Wild Wing Plantation, Conway
Courses (4): Avocet, Hummingbird, Falcon, Wood Stork.
The Skinny: No multi-course facility at the beach provokes more debate among the golfers who've played there than Wild Wing. Ask any four golfers in the clubhouse what their favorite WW course is and you are likely to get four different answers. When Wild Wing burst onto the scene in the mid 1990s, Avocet was heralded as the superior of the four. Architects Larry Nelson and Jeff Brauer rebuffed conventional design wisdom with their double greens and fairways, "creative" contouring and grass bunkers. Then there will always be those who gravitate towards the big name designers, like Rees Jones, who crafted the ultra modern Falcon Course. Willard Byrd - a Grand Strand architectural mainstay - wrought Wild Wing's most difficult course (Hummingbird) and it's most player-friendly (Wood Stork).
5. Litchfield, River Club, Willbrook (Myrtle Beach National)
Courses (3): Litchfield Plantation, Willbrook Plantation, and the River Club
The Skinny: A bit of a stretch, as the three courses aren't located on the same contiguous piece of land. But these Myrtle Beach National affiliated properties in the scenic South Strand are close enough, and diverse enough, to squeeze into the rankings. River Club, designed by Tom Jackson, has won over many a low-handicapper with its brawny doglegs, tight driving holes and gut-wrenching par-5 18th hole. The course's true rolling A-1 bentgrass greens have won over just about everyone else. Willbrook Plantation is a living, breathing Low Country postcard, replete with moss covered oaks, tranquil marshes and historical markers detailing the course's past life as a rice and indigo plantation. Litchfield Country Club is not merely the senior member of three, it is one of the oldest tracks at the beach. In recent years, it has begun to show its age. But a major bunker restoration project should bring it back into favor with golfers.
Honorable Mentions: Myrtle Beach National (King's North, South Creek, West Course), The Pearl (East and West Courses), and Angels Trace (North and South Courses.)
Myrtlewood Palmetto