Dunes Golf and Beach Club (Myrtle Beach, SC on 12/31/12)

The goal to close out the year was to play a premium course without spending $100. Some people will go out and spend their money at the bar tonight so I figured that I would spend it on some golf instead. I did some sleuthing online and really wanted to play True Blue or Caledonia as I am a huge Mike Strantz fan. These courses though were 45+ minutes south from where I am staying here in North Myrtle Beach and it was supposed to be chilly this morning so I figured that there would be a frost delay. I didn’t want to get up really early and go sit in the parking or book a later time and run the risk of not finishing the round. I looked at Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Courses You Can Play and nearby was The Dunes Golf and Beach Club which is currently rated as #47. The course has some history including holding a couple Senior PGA Tour events in the past. I found a morning time for $80 on a local golf website and was all set.

There was a heavy frost (oddly my time using the ice scraper this winter was in SC and not VA!) so I checked in and waited in the car for a bit. My tee time was for 8:50am, but I did not get off until just before 10:00am. The course is a par 72 and I played from the blue tees at 72.3/139/6565 which is one set of tees up from the tips. The course is in an upscale community and has many older and what I assume are expensive homes on a couple of the holes. Because the course is close to the ocean the property is pretty flat with no major elevation changes, just holes that play up or down natural rises. Trees are in play on every hole putting an emphasis on accuracy to find the narrow fairways. However, a miss could normally be found which was nice. The course is an older design (1948) and has many features of an older course including raised greens, tee boxes close to the greens, and a couple odd dog legs.

For such a highly ranked layout I thought the course had some strange holes. The course starts with a solid par 4 that plays deceivingly uphill to a severely sloped green. I actually pulled my chip and it broke 4 or 5 feet towards the flag. Hole #2 is a mid length par 4 that is a severe dog leg left. It required something other than driver and either a right to left or high shot to avoid the trees. Hole #4 is short par 5 that is another big dog leg left requiring a long tee shot over the fairway bunkers or a layup short and right of them. The 11th is a 385 par 4 that played slightly downhill along the marsh. I liked the idea of a couple holes near the marsh, but the tee shot on the 11th was semi blind and it pinched where it was blind. The 13th is a 545 yard par 5 and is the signature hole. It goes out maybe 250 to 300 yards and then goes 90* right around a lake. Standing on the tee my Skycaddie showed that I had 405 yards in a straight line to the hole. And, after hitting a 210 yard hybrid tee shot in the middle of the fairway I still had 305 yards into the green. That is how crazy it moved to the right. I actually birdied #13, but it is one of the weirdest golf holes that I have ever played. The rest of the course I thought was pretty good except for the fact that all the par 4s were between 380 and 415 yards except two. This did not vary the club selection much especially with par 3s of 165, 170, 175, and 180 yards. The challenges came from the devilish greens. Many greens were raised which led to a half club extra for me. This caused the course to play longer and was visually intimidating too. I was scared to dump a shot in the deep greenside bunkers in front of the greens, but not confident enough to attack the center of the green because I could not see but the top half of the flag stick. This caused me to miss quite a few greens and have to chip. That was more bad news because of the very speedy greens. Any sort of chip had to be caught perfect and landed in the right spot for it get close. The greens had false fronts and big slopes too which did not help my score. I found out about halfway through the round that Robert Trent Jones designed the course so be prepared for a course a little tougher than average. I thought the course had many similarities with Pasatiempo in California including the green complexes and the mix of homes on some holes.

So far I feel like I have been a bit harsh with the review, but that is not my intent. The course was in fantastic shape. The fairways and greens were flawless for the off season and allowed for a good shot. I have played top 100 courses with less than superb conditions and because of the conditioning there I was disappointed. That is not the case here. The course felt special too, almost like I was getting to enjoy a piece of history. The mature trees lining each fairway, a couple peeks at the ocean, and the holes along the marsh all added to that special feeling. I would definitely recommend giving this place a try.

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