COURSE REVIEWS

Tidewater Golf Club and
Plantation Deserving of High Praise

By Bob Washburn, Regional Staff Writer

May 17, 1999

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Tidewater, professional. Professional, Tidewater

They’re interchangeable. RSG (rec.sport.golf) newsgroupies hold this North Myrtle Beach golf experience in high esteem. Once a snowbird plays here, Tidewater goes on their list of regular Myrtle Beach package selections. Golf Digest has ranked Tidewater as the number one course on the Grand Strand since 1990. A recent Golf Magazine poll ranked Tidewater as the eighth favorite public access course in the nation.

There is a good reason for all these plaudits. Tidewater embraces golfers. I felt welcome the moment I entered the plantation. From the bag drop to the snack shop friendly and helpful personnel served me. When I got on the course, the feeling was reinforced. The course beckoned.

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There is virtually no rough. Close cropped Bermuda grass fairways are hardly distinguishable from the rough. On second thought, golfers must contend with 80-foot rough and those stately Carolina pines are hard to escape. I had to use my three and four iron to punch out on more than one occasion. Obviously, I had avoided the preferred landing location on those drives.

Strategic bunkers hold errant shots on the course. Strategy also is evident in the placement of fairway bunkers and waste areas. Greenside bunkers can be punitive if the average player gets to close to the edge. I was in a greenside bunker on Number 13 and the edge of the bunker was above my head. The sand is soft and quickly captures misdirected shots. Good bunker play is required. I recorded two sandies during my round.

Large, bent grass greens slope and funnel putts every which way. Subtlety blends with sheer terror to challenge putters. The greens on Number 3 and Number 13 illustrate this better than any other.

Number 3 is a picturesque, 125-yard, two-level par three. The green slopes from left to right and from front to back . The slope is severe. Competent ball strikers can usually place their shot on the same level as the pin. The day I played, the pin was cut on the upper level on the right side of the green.

If your tee shot is below the hole, as mine was, you must climb a mighty hill to get to the pin. I didn’t and, thus, three-putted. Bunkers protect the front of the green and the Ocean Inlet runs along the left side of the fairway and green.

Number 13, Tidewater’s signature hole, also is laid out along the Ocean Inlet, but the par five heads north. The green is surrounded by bunkers and constructed to funnel shots that do not carry far enough onto the green into one of the front bunkers. The design forces the average golfer to play it as a three shot hole.

In addition to the precipitous funnel in the front, the green is tiered and slopes toward the Ocean Inlet. I hit what I thought was a perfect eight iron from about 125 yards to get back far enough to avoid the funnel. The ball hit on a down slope, rolled past the pin and into a deep trap.

Overall, fast and true greens held the line making well struck putts a pleasure. A putt started on-line, stayed on-line.

The course layout is scenic, taking full advantage of the natural contours of a spectacular plot of land. Fairways and rough are immaculate. The course wanders beside and over waterways and saltwater marshes and through dense forests. Hills, valleys, streams and lakes heighten a challenging design by Ken Tomlinson. Descriptive words paint a contrasting painting of Tidewater. On one hand, yawning, subtle, tricky, gaping are overcome by stately, majestic and picturesque. It is a complete golf experience.

Ken Tomlinson is a story by himself. Tidewater was his first design. He is a tax attorney who fulfilled a lifelong dream by designing and building an award-winning, championship course on a magnificent seaside peninsula. Modeled after classic golf courses like Merion and Pine Valley, Tidewater involved Senior PGA Tour player Hale Irwin as a player consultant.

Irwin has characterized Tidewater as one of the finest and most spectacular courses on the East Coast. Tomlinson and his companies offer specialized research and counseling services evaluating the viability of golf, resort and residential developments.