My Myrtle Beach Trip so far.......

[Bullitt5339]

Man, this has been a great experience for me as a fairly new golfer. I've been playing a lot of rounds of golf on the nicest courses I've played on so far in my golf career. I haven't been playing exceptionally well, but I have been having fun.

My impressions of the courses so far. Remember that I'm a 22 handicap, so a lot of what I'm writing is based on that as far as course difficulty.

Saturday: Waterway Hills - Nice course, especially the fairways. Complimentary range balls were given to us as well. The greens were a lot faster than I was used to, so I had some problems adjusting, but all in all a good day. A challenging course for me, but I wouldn't consider it really difficult. Complementary drinks at the turn was a big plus. They treated us very well. Pace of play was excellent.

Sunday: TPC Myrtle Beach - The customer service at TPC was the best I've seen so far. Complimentary range balls were on the cart waiting for us. They really took care of us. The fairways were like walking on nicely padded carpet, and the greens were very nice. Not the best I've seen so far, but nice. Challenging course for me, as most of the holes are 30-40 yard longer than I'm used to. Pace of play was decent, but could have been better. The Marshalls were definately out doing their job, and the cart girl was really nice. They have huge fox squirrels that I think are trained very well. They were smart enough to get into the cart while I was on the green, move my golf towel and grab my candybar out of the cart and take off with it. They liked to beg, and watch our shots off the tee, offering criticism along the way.

Wachesaw East - A fairly easy course, but disappointing at the same time. Wasn't as well kept as either of the 2 before it. I didn't see a Marshall on the course at all during the entire round, so pace of play suffered as well. There was also no drink cart out there, it seemed more like a neighborhood golf course to me. It doesn't go on my "must play again" list.

Monday: Long Bay - A very tough course for me as a 22 handicap. Nicely laid out, and pace of play was good as well. The place is covered in waste bunkers, and my home course and the ones I frequent at home have very few waste or fairway bunkers. This place was one huge bunker. Nice though. Pace of play was horrible, it took us a tad over 5 hours to play it, and while I saw the Marshall on the front 9, the back 9, I didn't see anyone at all. I sliced a ball into a little ravine, and went down to pitch out, and there was a Copperhead with his head sitting right on my ball. I went to try to scare him away with my club, and he chased me out of the ravine, so as far as I know, he still has my Srixon. I told him that he could keep it if he wanted it that bad, I had more. I would love to come back and play this course again, but after I improve my game. It's just too much course for me at this time, and it's frustrating to a new golfer to play entire holes all the way through in a 400 yard long waste bunker.

Tuesday: Traditions - Another very difficult course for me. More bunkers than grass, I think. Pace of play was horrible, we were stuck behind a couple groups that were playing horribly slow, and had a 6 hour round, which really killed it for me. Never saw a Marshall on the course at all. I had decided that it wouldn't be on my return to list until I talked to the people that had just taken over the course, and they said some changes in rules and personnel were upcoming. They were very aware of the complaints of slow play, and would like to fix it now that they've taken over the course, so we'll see. I was disappointed in this course.

River Club - My favorite course so far. Tons of hazards, but not as punishing as Long Bay or Traditions if you don't hit the ball perfectly. Pace was play was excellent, we finished right at the 4 hour mark with groups in front of us the entire way. Marshalls were everywhere on the front, but since we were the last group of the day, we were kind of neglected, but there was really no need for them. Great Great golf course, and will definately be on my list of courses to come back to play. It was no easy course, but the layout was spectacular. A bit longer than I'm used to, but the scenery and course layout was super. Again, this one had a lot of bunkers, but they weren't impossible to make good shots out of. They punished you for stray shots without beating you down like Long Bay did.

Tomorrow is an easy day. We're playing Wild Wing Avocet, and that's it. I'll pop back in and review that one tomorrow night, and then the last round on Thursday morning is at King's North.

This has been a very ambitious trip for someone at my skill level, but I think once I get back to my home course, it will seem very easy to me after playing these.

[plugged]

and the cart girl was really nice.

Say no more, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

[mcotter]

I was there two weeks ago and really enjoyed TPC also. I thought the customer service was second to none there. Funny thing about those squirrels, they stole my sunflower seeds. Then seemingly taunted me by staying just out of my reach with them. Wachesaw was easy. I have the same take away that you did. I play River every year and it is a fun course. Willbrook is down there b y River also and it is a fun track also. Next time you need to tackle the Caledonmia and True Blue courses. Glad you are having fun. If you are down in South Myrtle/Pawleys area again, go to Captain Johns. He is a great guy (and golfer) and has a great pub/restaurant with killer blackened shrimp po-boys. For a cool steak or italian dinner hit http://www.angelosteakandpasta.com . We found it in Gold Digest last month and it was awesome. All 8 guys on the trip loved it. Family owned and been there a long time.

[Uncle Peter]

That is indeed very nice! Do enjoy the rest of your trip.

[Kurtomac]

sounds fun...i just got back...played willbrook plantation, long bay, blackmoor, and kings north...kings is overplayed...dissappointed in that one...all hyped up...not at all worth the price for basically the same deal as the other MBN couses that you can get of for like 42 bux (west course is nice). Blackmoor for the trip was my favorite and the cheapest...we played Longbay and it was soggy...rained the first 2 holes then poured on us 16-18...shot 91...lots of trouble to get into...willbrook was a nice course as well...kings was the easiest...i played out of different fairways a couple of times where i would be OB in other courses we played...the marshals at long bay were kind of dicks...rushing us a little mid round...well crap we played in the rain for a few holes of course were gonna be a hair behind...pace of play at kings and blackmoor were good....keep us updated with the rest of your play...what have you been shooting...my scores went way up playing those 4 courses in MB but what do you expect when you play courses harder, more trouble, longer, and first time playing courses...my scores were up approx 6-7 shots compared to my normal scores

[mcotter]

Played Blackmoor a couople weeks ago and I was disappointed with the blind tee shots. I thought it was a bit gimmicky in some areas. Conditions were marginal.

[Coluejack]

Myrtle is unreal for golf..

My two favourite courses are Rivers Edge (Arnold Palmer) http://www.river18.com/ and Carolina National (Fred Couples) http://www.carolinanationalgolf.com/

Totally different courses, but equally as entertaining to play. Rivers Edge runs along a marsh, and one green is basically on or hazard. Ridiculous!

[Comeback City]

next time you encounter a snake kick sand into its eyes as they don't have eyelids/can't blink

[jetsknicks1]

Glad you're having a good time. It's a shame about Tradition. I played there last year and we had a geat round. I was interested in hearing your take on River Club. I didn't get a chance to play there but we did play it's sister course, Litchfield Country Club. Very nice course with great drainage and lots of trees, demanding a straight tee shot. So, as you can see by handicap, it was a rough day for me but we had a blast anyway.

[kfowler]

Say no more, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Two nudges are better than one wink to a blind bat!

[Bullitt5339]

Today's round was at Wild Wing - Avocet. Excellent course for this deep into the trip. Hard enough to be challenging, but not so tough that it was irritating. The staff was excellent. For the 1st 4 holes, we had a group in front of us playing slowly. The Marshall came out and told them they were off the pace of play and needed to pick it up. They did, and the rest of the round was played at a great pace. We finished right at 4 hours. Beautiful layout too. After playing the last few courses that ran through neighborhoods, this was a welcome quiet round of golf. I shot my best round since I've been out here, which may be why I liked the course so much........lol Seriously though, I will play it again in September when I come back down.

As for how I've been playing down here........ Not that great. Most rounds were about 10 shots off my handicap, but I can't blame it completely on the harder courses because I haven't been striking the ball very well either. I would say 4 strokes to the courses, 6 to my crappy play. Today's round was dead on my handicap though, on a harder course than my home course, so I felt like I was playing excellently for me.

Tomorrow is King's North, and then I'm packing it up to come back to the real world of crappy golf courses and work.

[Uncle Peter]

Do you know what the par was for the Avocet course? Just wondering.

Do continue to enjoy your trip.

[Bullitt5339]

Par was 72 for the Avocet course.

Played my last round today at King's North. Nice course with a nice layout. Course was not busy since we tee'd off at 8:00 AM. One of my favorites, although I'd put Wild Wing - Avocet and River Club ahead of it. The layout could be confusing though at times. Cart paths that crossed over each other. "The Gambler" wasn't much of a gamble. It was wide, and really didn't cut much off of the hole by taking the risk to go there. I took the long way around, the 2 guys I was playing with took the gamble, and we ended up even by the time we hit the green. Nice course though, I would play there again.

[Uncle Peter]

Par was 72 for the Avocet course.

Can't go wrong with a par 72. Thanks