LEFT : Close out your round at True Blue Golf Club in Myrtle Beach with a nail-biting par 4 with danger at every turn . BELOW : Founders Club at Pawleys Island isn ’ t the longest track , but it requires a strategic approach to score well through all 18 holes . |
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THE COURSES |
HISTORY TO THE CORE Arguably no course in the area has put its history front and center like Willbrook Plantation . The property , traced back three centuries , has six historical markers pointing out the former rice plantation ’ s original house and the burial sites of the former slaves — some of whom died during servitude and others who chose to return after being freed to lie beside their ancestors . There is another pointing out a major excavation project that took place in 1985 , one year before Pawleys Island incorporated and three years prior to the course ’ s opening .
While all of that adds to Dan Maples ’ design , head golf professional Kevin McGuire said playability is the biggest factor for why the course is celebrating 30 years .
“ I believe the success Willbrook has achieved and maintains is through the hard work and dedication of our grounds crew and the golf staff ,” McGuire said . “ Our conditions are consistently among the best in the area and our constant commitment to the highest levels of customer satisfaction and service are what set us apart from the competition .”
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SURVIVE AND ADAPT To say that Founders Club at Pawleys Island and Wild Wing Plantation ’ s Avocet Course were long shots to celebrate milestones this year would be an understatement .
Avocet , opened in 1993 , was once part of a four-course mega-facility , only to see two of those 18s and essentially half of the third close . And Founders Club , once one of the original courses on the Grand Strand , had to start over from scratch in order to stave off elimination a decade ago .
“ Sea Gull was a very flat golf course . When they remodeled , the goal was to modernize the course ,” general manager Eric Glosick said , referring to the original name of the Founders property . “ They moved roughly 270,000 cubic feet of dirt to create elevation changes , mounding and sloping fairways . As in life , change and adaptation promotes survival .”
The course shut down , plowed all that dirt , reversed its nines and changed names . Thomas Walker also played up all the Lowcountry Sand at his disposal
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in the form of massive waste bunkers throughout and reinvigorated the course for its 2008 opening . It was , for all intents and purposes , a brand-new layout .
At one point , the Avocet track at Wild Wing was the new kid on the block . As it turned out , it wasn ’ t the one on the chopping block . The Larry Nelson / Jeff Brauer project was selected to carry the Wild Wing banner , and it has done that quite well .
“ As far as playability , the course itself has maintained consistent conditions throughout the years ,” general manager Rick Schultz said . “ When this course was built in 1993 , it seemed like architects were trying to make the courses a little more difficult in terms of the lengths and the terrain of the golf course . Still , we get positive reviews on a daily basis because of the wetlands and there are no homes on it . That ’ s kind of unique in the Myrtle Beach area .”
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