Pine Lakes- Closing

The Granddaddy is getting a makeover.

Pine Lakes Country Club, which opened in 1927, closed last week for renovations that include new greens and a rebuilding of the course’s bunkers.

The layout is expected to be closed until early July.

“No one likes to see the Granddaddy closed,” said Steve Mays, president of Founders Group International, which owns and operates the venerable course. “Pine Lakes is figuratively and literally the center of Myrtle Beach and everyone in the Myrtle Beach area and FGI takes great pride in that facility and what Pine Lakes is, so we’re looking forward to getting that back open sooner rather than later.”

Course architect Craig Schreiner, whose home is off one of Pine Lakes’ holes, has been hired by FGI to oversee the bunker renovations.

It is considered the birthplace of Sports Illustrated, and the course and clubhouse are on the National Register of Historic Places.

“If we had our druthers we wouldn’t have picked the middle of April to close down, but we thought it was the right thing to do based on the condition of the golf course and historical nature of Pine Lakes,” Mays said. “We’re excited to make the investment in Pine Lakes because we know it’s going to make that golf course a much better golf course.”

Pine Lakes is the only course in the market with SeaDwarf Paspalum wall-to-wall, but the grass that is known to withstand heat, brackish water and minimal watering is being replaced on the greens by Sunday ultradwarf Bermudagrass, which FGI has installed over the past few years on both courses at Myrtlewood Golf Club and Tradition Club.

Mays said the Sunday greens have been a “great success” at those courses.

The mid-sized and gently rolling greens are also being enlarged back to their size in 2008-09 when the Paspalum was first installed, as the fairways have encroached upon them over the past decade. That will open up more pin placement options.

Mays said the company, which owns and operates 21 Grand Strand courses, was considering replacing the Paspalum on greens in the near future, and the change was expedited when the grass had an adverse reaction to an herbicide that was administered early this year.

“It’s a beautiful grass, but we never got it to the point where we felt we had the ideal putting conditions on the paspalum greens,” Mays said. “It got better every year and our team and superintendent Alan Jarvis got better at managing those greens, but we could still never get the consistency and green speeds we wanted, so we always in our minds wanted to make the change at an appropriate time.”

Closing in late April is not ideal because it is in the midst of the spring golf season, which is the most lucrative time of year for area golf courses. But Mays said the company didn’t want golfers to experience poor conditions on the legendary course.

“For whatever reason there was an adverse reaction to it, so we didn’t have the playing conditions at all that we wanted out at Pine Lakes. So we made the decision rather than have package golfers play on that golf course when the greens were in really bad condition we decided we needed to make a change and go ahead and close down,” he said.

“At the same time we knew we had some other work that needed to be done at the golf course, namely with the bunkers, and we wanted to work with Craig to get those bunkers in great condition.”

Pine Lakes has just 25 bunkers, and they will be rebuilt to modern specifications. Bunker drainage will be improved and a quality bunker sand from North Carolina that is featured at the Members Club at Grande Dunes is being installed.

“We think it’s the best sand we’ve come across in 30 years,” Schreiner said. “It’s very consistent, a lot easier to play out and more forgiving than the really fine white stuff that can get a little soft. This has a little more coarseness to it and the ball sits up very nice in it.”

Some deep bunkers will be made more shallow and more playable, and the top of bunker faces will hang over the sand and feature Zoysia grass, which Schreiner said will create stability as well as a “wispier grey eyebrow look on these, a little older look to them.”

He’ll be reintroducing some character into the bunker design. “They have really lost a lot of their contours and features and little ridges and noses, and that’s what I’m putting back in,” Schreiner said.

A new front tee box is being built on the ninth hole that will allow all tees to be moved up on a daily basis. The 370-yard hole features a drive into a hill that pushes balls toward a water hazard on the right side of the fairway.

Some subtle work to conditions will give the course a more natural feel and look, and a few trees that have grown a lot over the past decade may be removed.

Pine Lakes will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2027.

“We want to make sure we are who we want to be when we hit that 100th anniversary,” Mays said. “When we open up in early July, we think we’re going to have one of the best courses at the beach.”

@artmbgolf

Thanks Art to post the full article from the Sun News.

Like on many other golf courses in the Myrtle Beach Area,  the SeaDwarf Paspalum will be replaced on the greens by Sunday ultradwarf Bermudagrass. I think that it is the right thing to do. A lot less of maintenance. Better suited for the weather for this area.

This will make playing Pine lakes over the winter time a must to see how the renovations went.  Was not a fan of PL when I played it on my early trips to MB, but after the changes they made a few years back it was a much better layout, these new changes can only be positive for all who like the Grand Daddy.

@leftygar1

I'm anxious to see how it looks after the greens are redone and the changes are made.  It's one of my favorites and I hope it stays that way.

@polekat914

I don't think it will have much of an effect on the course. I don't like the idea of shallowing the bunkers (to me, a shallow bunker may as well not exist), but it doesn't sound like they're making any significant changes to any of the holes -- which would be hard to do in two months anyways.

The greens will likely be quicker and putt better with the new bermuda compared to the old Paspalum.

Also, I agree with you. I think it's one of the better courses in the whole area, partially because it's so old and has several holes that aren't really like anything else anywhere in Myrtle Beach. It has a different feel to just about everything else around there.

Like many, I prefer the old traditional style Grand Daddy compared to the new Grande Dunes style Grand Daddy. They sold three holes to build houses, then built 3 new holes that kind of don't fit in with the rest of the course, flipped the 9's, took the greens from 4,500 sq feet to 9,000 square feet and expanded the foot print bunkers. I enjoy old school layout's ... and hated to see that one go! 

@bnlongdriver

The expansion of the greens and bunkers didn't really bother me, but I completely agree about the new holes. Whoever designed them did not do a very good job blending them in with the original architectural style. It almost feels like you've accidentally wandered off onto a different golf course.

It's not that they're bad holes; they just do not fit the character of the rest of the course. It's a little jarring how obvious it is that they were built separately/later.

Hope is comes out nice, That the greens and bunkers look and perform great.

I am thinking that unless you play Pine Lakes often, the bunkers 
will look about the same.   Some of them are very deep for a lot 
of players without the clubhead speed to get out.   

I agree with you 100 percent about liking the old PL over the new one. In addition to the items you mentioned I also think they removed a lot of trees which I prefer.

A look at Pine Lakes work.  

https://www.myrtlebeachgolftrips.com/videos/inside-look-architect-craig-schreiner-on-the-bunker-restoration-project-at-pine-lakes-country-club/

@artmbgolf

Thanks for the link Art. It will be a job well done.

Update on Pine Lakes.   
 
The new bunkers will not be as deep and look more modern.  
  
Video:  https://www.playgolfmyrtlebeach.com/news/pine-lakes-prepares-july-13-reopening/

@artmbgolf Thanks for the movie Art. With these changes concerning the bunkers, it will be a little easier to realise our up and down around the greens. I like what they have done at the 5th hole and the 14th hole. They have eliminated the right bunker at the 14th hole, it is a big change. I will certainly try to play Pine Lakes during this fall.