Barefoot Resort & Golf: Fazio Course (North Myrtle Beach, SC on 12/29/12)

I took the 31st off which allowed for a 4 day weekend and I had a $100 hotels.com credit from earlier this year when they messed up one of my reservations. These lead to the planning of a golf trip. Recently in Charlottesville it has got pretty cold. Most of this last week had highs in the low 40s and lows in the 20s with snow, sleet, and ice so I was anxious to try to get to a location where I could golf. I kicked around the idea of the RTJ Golf Trail in Alabama as I have been itching to get there, but thought that it might be best to be closer to the coast in hopes of better weather. I have never been to Myrtle Beach, but always have heard good things about the area and the golf. Myrtle Beach is about 6 hours from Charlottesville so I got here late Friday night. After quite a bit of rain overnight my group played the Fazio Course at the Barefoot Resort.

Course Review:

Barefoot Resort has four courses designed by top golf architects (Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Tom Fazio, and Pete Dye). Since today was my first round in the Myrtle Beach area I cannot compare the Fazio course to the other courses at Barefoot or other courses in the area. Before typing this I took a look at some of the other courses that Fazio has designed and I have not played many. I played one in Missouri earlier this year which I thought was a little punishing and then one in Florida years ago which I do not remember very well. The Fazio course (and the others for that matter) is a premium course with the current green fee being about $100 during the off season. The course is highly ranked by the golf magazines as one of the top courses in South Carolina so it does have the credentials. The tee time for my group was at 11:15am so I got there a little early to hit some golf balls. While warming up at the range I realized that it would be a pretty sloppy day out on the course because of the overnight rain which I think was close to 0.75 inches. We played the black tees at 70.6/133/6350 which most of the time would be a little short for me. But because of the wet conditions, the wind, and the par 71 layout it turned out to be a decent yardage. The tips at ~6800 yards probably would have been a little bit too much to enjoy today.

Starting on the 1st hole, the course is very well bunkered off the tee. Many holes have 3 or 4 fairway bunkers as well as many greenside bunkers. Besides the fairway bunkers, the course was not all that demanding off the tee which is always nice in my opinion. At least this way I am not going to lose too many golf balls. However, because much of the area is wooded and a bit swamp like a really wayward shot would end up out of play. The course played very tough on the approaches and on the greens. The greens were fast and firm to begin the round considering all the recent rain. As the day went along and the wind dried them out, they got faster and firmer which required an accurate approach to get it inside 20 feet. In addition, the greens had quite a few slopes so if an approach hit the wrong side of a slope it was kicked away from the flag. Some greens were small while others were large. This variety was nice because many times I have noticed that designers either go with all smaller greens or all larger greens which either tests ball striking or putting. These greens tested both. The greens rolled very well and were a pleasure to putt. The course had a good mix of design elements including some water hazards, waste areas, fescue, and a hole with two greens so it was not the same feel on every hole. The 1st hole is about strategy off the tee and allows for a decent score before the course becomes more challenging. The 2nd hole is a long par 4 that dog legs left to a green guarded by a native area and the 5th is a 467 yard par 4 that played into the wind and up a rise. I thought #4 thru #6 were the best holes on the course. I could see all of the hole on the 4th and 5th from the tee as they play up that rise, but the surfaces are not visible from all of the fairway. The 6th is a mid length par 3 that plays down the small hill and had a good view of some other holes on the course. From the tees that I played there were some reachable par 5s which is always fun, but they still required good shots. The course closes with some shorter par 4s on holes #13 through #15 before the 18th, which is a long par 4 with water all down the left. I really enjoyed my round here, much more than the most recent Fazio course that I played. A local in my group has some connections and was able to get us out for free which made the day all that much sweeter. Honestly, I probably would not have played here by myself as $100 is just a bit too steep of a green fee for my liking.

#1 approach: