Myrtle Beach pics!

jmac35 · November 30, 2009

... and Tobacco Road

Just got back from a season ending trip to Myrtle Beach with my dad (who's back on the links after getting both hips replaced).

We played some incredible courses, three of them that easily make it into my top 20 and one that is right up with Wentworth West and a couple in Hawaii as my all-time fave.

We got to Myrtle on Saturday night and hit the range Sunday. We played Monday to Friday at the following courses:

Sea Trails Jones
River Hills
Tiger's Eye
Panther's Run
Rivers Edge

And then Saturday:
Tobacco Road

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Sea Trails Jones (Rees Jones) -- I was working the kinks out and the course was soaked from previous rain but by the back nine I was enjoying the layout and found it to be an enjoyable course. 7/10

River Hills (Tom Jackson) -- This course is not really what you'd expect from a Carolina course, it is a more traditional layout like you'd find closer to home (although most my pics are of the water holes). I was playing well and really enjoyed the course. My dad wasn't fond of the course, he didn't think it was anything special and he has something against courses that move you counter-clockwise, something I have never even noticed. 7/10

Dad's swinging good for a bionic man.:D

There I am.:)

Tiger's Eye (Tim Cate) -- The first real gem of the trip. According to the club pros and the marshals I spoke to, Tiger's Eye is the crown jewel of the Big Cat courses at Ocean Ridge Plantation. It has been ranked as high as 3rd on Golf Digest's Best Course's in Myrtle Beach and has made it's list of Top 100 Public Courses. The course is stunningly beautiful and the greens were fast and true (like mid-summer here). 9/10

Panther's Run (Tim Cate) -- Another of the Big Cat courses, Panther's Run is similar in style to Tiger's Eye but not nearly as picturesque. The conditions were good but not as good as Tiger's Eye the day before. But we got sun for the first time in the trip.:):) 7.5/10

Rivers Edge (Arnold Palmer) -- I had been waiting to play this Arnold Palmer signature course since the moment I saw it on our itinerary. All the locals were gushing about it wherever we went. Ranked No. 62 on Golf Digest's Top 100 Public Courses, Rivers Edge is built across the Shallotte River and is absolutely stunning. Palmer was on top of his game when he designed this course because it tests you at every turn and has some shockingly narrow fairways and greens surrounded by miles of swamps. Bring your game if you play here. 9.5/10

Me.

Dad.

About 75 yards back from here is where your drive would land on this Par 5. You hit your second shot over this creek to a sidways fairway, making it incredibly hard to choose a club. Then you hit some short iron into a sliver of a green that runs away.

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On the way home we made the best detour of my life and stopped in at Tobacco Road near Pinehurst. I had read about this course in Golf Digest and on the Net and couldn't resist a chance to play it.

Tobacco Road (Mike Strantz) -- Absolutely the most diabolical golf course I have ever played. Tobacco Road was ranked 32nd on Golf Digest's Top 100 Public Courses and, here's the killer, it came in 10th on their list of America's 50 Toughest Courses (it's slope is 150 from the tips and it ranks directly behind Pine Valley, Whistling Straits, Tot Hill Farm, Bethpage Black, and Oakmont). The best description I've read was in Golf Digest where they said it is "like Pine Valley seen through a funhouse mirror."

It's hard to find words to describe Tobacco Road. Just finding the course was difficult. The GPS stopped working about 5 miles away and we were nowhere near any place that you could imagine a world-class golf course being. After stopping at two roadside garage sales and asking for directions we came to a small driveway that led us to an understated log clubhouse. Everything was small except the golf course.

It was one of the best golf experiences of my life, I somehow managed to shoot 42-40-82, and used only one ball the entire round. I think I will retire the ball, it deserves it. 10/10

First Hole