True Blue, Tidewater, Legends Moorland and Meadowlands

So far this week I have played True Blue, Tidewater, Legends Moorland and Meadowlands.  Here are my observations:

Meadowlands:  I can't say enough good about the conditions, especially the greens.  Fast enough and very true.  The greens are just great.  The fairways very good, bunkers are a little inconsistent.  Overall, I haven't seen a better conditioned course on the Grand Strand.  The overall condition was very good.

Tidewater:  Overall in good to very good condition.  The greens were a bit slow and a little grainier than usual.  The fairways and tees are in very good shape also.  I expect some of the longer and slower grass conditions are due to the high heat conditions and recent rain storms.  I really like the layout.  It generally plays a little firmer and faster than I experienced this week.  

True Blue:  If you want to play an interesting course with an incredible variety of pin positions and shot options, head for True Blue.  I called to pro shop to see where they stood on aerating their greens.  I was informed that the greens were in "great condition, as was the course overall."  I found the greens slower than advertised.  The bunkers were inconsistent.  Some very firm, some with a lot of sand.  The fairways and tees enjoyed full coverage.  I have played True Blue when the greens were firm and fast.  They were certainly softer and slower that I had hoped.  NOT CONDITION RELATED:  I was paired with a gentleman who, on the first tee advised me he was just "getting back into the game."  He had a set of clubs where he had yet to remove the plastic protective wrappers from some of the irons.  He told me he was a member at True Blue, so the staff should know him.  He has some sort of health issue that severely hindered his ability to walk or hit the ball for any distance.  They put him on that course with a lot of forced carries and very wide fairways on a cart path only day.  No matter how he tried he could not keep up with the pace of play.  It was not a good experience for someone trying to play again after some years away from the game.  My view of the staff went down after that experience.   The overall condition was a little above average.  

Legends Mooreland:  When I made the tee time, I was set for the Heathland course.  When I got to the course, I was sent to the Moorland course.  I was looking forward to the Doak course, not the PB Dye course.  I found the course to be soft as a result of some heavy rains during the last week.  The greens were extremely grainy and slow as they were recovering from aeration a week or two earlier.  Our cart had a container of sand/seed mix that was only half full.  It appeared to be the case in general as there were an inordinate amount of unfilled divots.  The tees and greens were  good otherwise.  I liked the layout in general as there is a wide variety of holes.  Some of the uphill approaches were pretty severe for the shot required.  If you hit the ball high, you have a chance to hold the greens.  "Low ballers"  will face a different challenge. When I arrived for the 7:30 a.m. tee time the driving range was closed.  I never did see the putting green, so we went off cold.  I shudder to think how many rounds they run through those three courses!  It is a machine.  I play a PB Dye course more than a handful of times each year.  If you can overlook his penchant for long, severe runoffs from "table top" greens, the layout is not too bad.  The overall condition was a little above average.