In the past six months, I’ve had the opportunity to play one third of architect Mike Strantz’s golf courses. That may sound like an impressive total, but because he died much too early, at age 50, his portfolio is limited to nine courses. But if the three I’ve played are representative of his work, Mike Strantz was indeed an artist of golf course design.
Mike Strantz was raised in Toledo, OH, and attended Michigan State University. After graduating in 1978, he returned to Toledo to work for Tom Fazio, who was then preparing the Inverness Club to host the 1979 U.S. Open. Strantz continued to work for Fazio for the next eight years, honing his skills on courses like Moss Creek Plantation in Hilton Head, the Links and Harbor courses at Wild Dunes near Charleston, Lake Nona in Orlando, Osprey Point on Kiawah Island, and Black Diamond Ranch in Florida.
Strantz left Fazio’s company in 1987 to work as on-site supervisor for the reconstruction of Wild Dunes and for the construction of Dunes West in Mt. Pleasant. Once Dunes West was completed, Myrtle Beach’s Legends Group hired Strantz as Director of Golf Design for their Parkland course. After the success that project, Strantz was able to form his own course design company, which is where the real fun began.
Strantz’s first solo effort was the Caledonia Golf and Fish Club on Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. I first played Caledonia on a day several years ago that featured 40° temperatures and gale warnings for boaters in the area. It was still a pleasant experience.
Caledonia is just a beautiful golf course. From the drive to the clubhouse through a virtual tunnel of live oak and spanish moss to the views out over the salt marsh bordering the course to the rolling design of the holes themselves. A few azaleas were just starting to bloom on my recent visit there. I took a 10 on a par five, and really didn’t mind much.
Caledonia was the product of a more restrained Strantz than we see in some of his creations. There are just a few forced carries and the mounding, while present, is generally more subdued than even what can be found just down the road at True Blue. In fact, in 2000, Strantz said that they moved the least amount of soil at Caledonia of any of his (then five) courses, estimating that they moved less than 100,000 cubic yards. (The most was for Bull’s Bay, at 1 to 1.5 million cubic yards).
Still Caledonia has that “Strantz” feel – bold, challenging, but all the while artistic. There’s a gentle sculpting of the natural terrain, with an occasional flair added to accentuate the setting. The final hole is one to remember. With the marsh off to your right, it’s a fairway wood or hybrid to a landing area, and then a short to mid iron over water to a sloping green with water on two sides. It doesn’t look difficult on paper, but it plays over its head (especially when the pin is back).
Caledonia is built on the same plantations that its neighbor, True Blue, lies on. True Blue takes its name from the indigo that was originally grown on the plantations. True Blue is a slightly more exuberant design. Mounds grow to sometimes impressive heights. Bunkers abound, and all of them are waste bunkers by local rule. The par threes tend to be extreme, with sprawling, but narrow and undulating greens surrounded by water and sand. Number seven features a two-tier green where the upper tier is about five feet over the lower. I made what I thought was a nice sand shot out of a very deep bunker, the slope got it, and I was left with a 40 foot putt way uphill.
Like Caledonia, True Blue features a great eighteenth, but don’t get lulled by the beauty of it. The fairway slopes to the water left, which cuts back in at about 270 from the next-to-way-back tee box. You then play over the corner of the lake to a huge green. Try not to think of all the people in the clubhouse enjoying their lunch while watching you putt out.
The third Strantz course that I’ve played is the one that people either love or swear they’ll never play it again. Tobacco Road is a different kind of animal. You might end up with something like this course if you took a Magic Mountain putt-putt course and blew it up to 7,000 yards.
Tobacco Road is built in an old sand quarry, and much of it looks like it hasn’t been touched since the quarry closed. One gets the sense that Strantz didn’t have to create waste bunkers on golf holes; instead he created golf holes in one huge waste area. Depending on the tees you play, you might face 200 yard carries over waste areas and drives off elevated tees to blind landing areas. The opening drive must split two huge dunes to find the landing area beyond. The number one green features the first bell on the course (to let the group behind know when it’s safe to hit), but it’s far from the last bell on the course.
I’ve played Tobacco Road twice now. I thought it was a blast the first time I played, but it had lost some of its luster the last time. I think the front nine is pretty good, but blind shot after blind shot on the back kind of take their toll. Would I play it again? Absolutely… provided I was there with friends who had never played it before. But if it was just up to me, I’d rather head farther south to play the Caledonia/True Blue tandem.
Each of these courses feature Strantz’s hallmarks: undulating greens, well positioned and diabolical bunkers, forced carries that both reward and punish risk taking. I think of Strantz designs as being Dye-esque in terms of the challenges he throws down, but with much more aesthetically pleasing lines. Strantz was indeed an artist with dirt, sand, sod, and water. His designs are memorable but playable, challenging yet accessible.
Mike Strantz lost his four-year battle with cancer in June 2005, just a month after his 50th birthday. An agressive cancer attacked his tongue and lymph nodes, and despite being twice declared cancer free, the cancer came back a third time.
In just 10 years as a named architect, Strantz created quite a legacy. His courses routinely won awards as they opened, and in 2000, Golfweek named him one of the “Top Ten Greatest Golf Architects of All Time.”
Mike Strantz Designs
Caledonia Golf and Fish Club, Pawleys Island, South Carolina
Stonehouse, Williamsburg, Virginia
True Blue, Pawleys Island, South Carolina
Tobacco Road, Sanford, North Carolina
Royal New Kent Richmond/Williamsburg, Virginia
Tot Hill Farm, Asheboro, North Carolina
Bull’s Bay Golf Club, Awendaw, South Carolina
Silver Creek Valley Country Club, San Jose, California
Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Shore Course, Monterey, California
I’ve seen Caldonia and True Blue, but never had the chance to play them. However, I”ve been blessed/cursed to play Tobacco Road twice on trips to Pinehurst, as well as Tot Hil Farm in Asheboro. Both times I played Tobacco Road I swore I would never return, but once you leave the area, that’s the course we’d always end up talking about on the trip home! Tot Hill is a much less frustrating track, yet still interesting and challenging in that Mike Strantz way. Even if you shoot high scores at these tracks, you will enjoy the big numbers!
I’ve played Caledonia, True Blue, Tobacco Road and Tot Hill Farm. Caledonia is, by far, my favorite. True Blue is a nice course but Caledonia is memorable where True Blue does not have the character that is brought out in Caledonia.
Tot Hill Farm is plain crazy. Tobacco Road is as well, but a bit more playable and can actually be enjoyed.
If you’re in Myrtle though, do yourself a favor and play Caledonia. That and the Fazio course at Barefoot Landing are my two favorite courses in the Myrtle area.
Tobacco Road is the most unique and interesting courses I’ve ever played. Sure it’s not like any other course around but you will talk about it for years to come. You have to hit some crazy golf shots but what a thrill when you actually pull it off. Can’t wait to get back down to NC to play TR.
I have also played three of “The Maverick’s” courses, and I am not talking about John McCain. I play Tobacco Road two days before my wedding in 2007, I returned to play it a year later for my anniversary. The first time i played it with 5 of my friends, one a golf pro, we could not stop talking about the course. It is to this day my favorite course i have ever played, i know call me sick. The other two of his courses i have played are Royal New Kent and Stonehouse. Both of which, when playing, one can tell are designed in a fashion unlike any other.
I have set out on a goal to play all of Stranz’s nine courses. I have a feeling that Bull’s Bay will prove to be the hardest to get on. I am fortunate enough to have a an Uncle who recently was accepted for membership at Monterey Peninsula Country Club, and i have an open invite to play there.
The world did truly lose a great designer when we lost Stranz.
hello…i’ve had the chance to play all of the Strantz courses on the East coast. Initially Caledonia and True Blue. Both of those were favorites! I avoided Royal New Kent & Stonehouse for a long time based on negative feedback I had heard. Somehow, someone convinced me recently to meet at Royal New Kent to play and it has become one of my favorite course anywhere-I’ve had the opportunity to play all over the world. The first time I played “Royal” some of the shots seemed so challenging; however, the second (and subsequent) times, seem more and more reasonable-not even difficult if you trust you will hit the ball solidly. Yes, there are difficult recoveries when you stray far off line, but stay reasonably straight (and be careful what gambles you choose) and his courses are all so much fun, thought provoking, challenging and rewarding. After so much fun at “Royal” I’ve since been captivated by his work and played Stonehouse, Tobacco Road & Tot Hill. I so enjoy playing them all. I sometimes now feel a little bored when confronted with a “normal” more traditional design. Strantz, with his more extreme designs, made sure you focused as to “what you needed to do.” Yet he offered the chances to assess the risk/reward and gamble. If I were to rate them in my fav order: 1-Royal New Kent 2-Tobacco Road 3-True Blue 4-Caledonia 5-Tot Hill 6-Stonehouse As tough and intimidating as his course are, when I sit with friends and talk golf, Strantz golf holes always come up dominating “my list” of favorites holes to play!
I just learned thaat Mike Strantz also designed the stained glass window of Jesus on the Cross in the sanctuary of Sunrise Presbyterian church, on Sullivan’s island SC. Can you give me more information regarding such? I would be most appreciative. thankyou