Joe5562637

Despite recent heavy rain, the course was in good shape. Greens and bunkers were better than expected, considering the recent storms. Staff was phenomenal.

The golf course was in very good shape despite the recent hurricane littering most of the courses in the area with tree limbs or uprooted trees. The greens were in very good shape, rolled very well. Rest of the course was good as well, apart from some areas that were undergoing renovation work before the summer began, but the 17th green is now playable,(no more temporary green). The area from 100 yards to the green on the 16th hole is still grassless, all sandy soil, making me wonder if it wouldn't work better having that area as a massive waste area (but the hole would have to be shortened, since it's a long Par 4, often requiring average players to lay up short of the green with their second shot. Speaking of sand, the greenside bunkers are the best bunkers I have seen all year, soft, sugary sand, a joy to play out of.

This is my *favorite* course on the entire grand Strand. The layout is brilliant, with no two holes alike. If on vacation, you'll remember each hole weeks after you get back home. The closing four holes play along a huge marshland, with stunning views. Short and long par fours mean you'll hit a variety of clubs for approach shots.

That said, the par 5 9th hole (playing along the same marsh, in the opposite direction), desperately needs to be fixed. The tee shot is into an enormously wide fairway, with the second shot over the marsh to a narrow strip of fairway, angling away from you the further left you go, ending a a peninsula green that is only 11 yards wide, but almost 50 yards deep. The narrow ground in front of the green, as well as the green itself, has been sinking along its left side (from approach direction) for years. It is *impossible* to play a "run-up" shot to the narrow green, and balls that land on the green roll off the left side into the marsh. During this round, I hit a chip shot 20 yards from the front of the green to the *right* side of the flag, and watched the ball roll practically the entire 11 yard width of the green down and off the left side of the green, into the marsh. If this can't be fixed, the club should consider eliminating the last 100 yards of the hole, and make it a long par 4.

This is my favorite course on the entire Myrtle Beach Grand Strand, and I've played it more than any other. What stands out about it is that no two holes are remotely alike, so you can a round there and remember every hole when spending time at the 19th hole. The layout is challenging, with cliff-hangers like the short par 3 5th hole, downhill, over a marsh, and the roller coaster par 5 9th, where you drive into a 40 yd wide fairway, but then must carry a long marsh to a sliver of fairway angled 90 degrees to the direction of the fairway your tee shot sits in. If that's not enough, your third shot is to a peninsula green 50 yards deep and only 13 yds wide. At low tide you can see the thousands of balls that failed to make it safely from the initial fairway, or the approach to the green. the final four holes is one of the best stretches in golf, all playing along the marsh sitting on the right side of each hole. The 17th par 5 has a band of marsh 60 yards short of the green, and a tree in front of the right portion of the green, which is angled downhill to the right, so any approach hit with cut spin left of that tree will filter down to the right side of the green. The final hole, a short par 4, has a green set in an amphitheater setting, with hi8gh ground and the clubhouse left and rear, and the marsh to the right.