Art's Spring 2024 Tour

MYRTLE BEACH -- TRIP REPORT 4/24-5/10, 2024

TRAVEL: My drive from Delaware is around 9.5-10 hours, with lunch and rest stops.
I use I-95 to Lumberton 74 - 410 - 701 - 9 - 31 or I-95 - 40 - 140 - 17.
The VA Express Lanes are extended further south about 10-15 miles.
There is a lot of road construction in NC south of Rt 40, so Rt 40 - 140 - 17 might be more
relaxing than having concreate barriers on both sides of the road.

PERSONAL CONCERNS: I booked this trip last Summer, to get ahead of Dynamic Pricing
and saved group members about $300 each. As summer was ending, my mother was getting
weak, reason not known yet. I replaced booking a Fall MB trip with Ocean City, MD, so I
could get home in 2 hours, if necessary. Then mom got diagnosed with kidney/liver cancer,
so I cancelled OC also. She lived 7 weeks after the bad news, passing in Oct 2023 at 97.
She enjoyed my calls from MB, wanting to hear about course, weather, dinner, etc.
For me it was a sad but still memorable Spring trip. My concentration wasn't too good, as if
scores weren't too important this year.

GOLF:
  
Wednesday 4/24 -- HERITAGE
Good conditions. Back 9 is longer and more challenging. The greens have a lot of steep
undulations that golfers are not used to, creating a challenge to 2 putt. There are fairway
invasion spots in the greens, that can affect putts. The spots are slower and not as true.
Many golfers think it's poa or don't notice.

Thursday 4/25 -- THE DUNES:
Range balls are provided. The course was in awesome condition, with the Champions
greens in mid season form, without overseed or thin spots, putting smooth, fast and
watch your ball glide to the hole. Tee times are 10 minutes here.
I had a raincheck and this was the last day for public play before the MB Classic.
They were putting up the stands.
With the firm fast greens, there can be some pins you can't get near.
The bunkers are very well maintained. The white tees are 6175 yards, but a bunch of
holes have landing areas into a upslope, so it plays longer. The greens are elevated, so
there are no bounce ups. The wooded areas are cleaned out, so finding balls in the
woods is easy, helping the pace of play and reducing penalties.
On Waterloo par 5 #13, I feel it's better to hit your tee shot further down the fairway
(staying left of red stakes), for a better angle across the water to advance further up
the fairway, rather than taking an iron and trying to play near the water from the tee.
Hole #13 is usually a good gator viewing hole.
Your best odds of getting The Dunes tee times are on Mon-Wed.
GPS and luxury car seats are now on the carts.

Friday 4/26 -- BLACKMOOR
Mostly tree lined, small greens, more doglegs than usual. No issues from drainage
project in 2023. Greens were not fully recovered from dormancy, but putted good.
It's about mid-level for MB.

Saturday 4/27 -- MOORLAND
Watch for potholes on the Legends road in. Conditions are good.
Greens also have the fairways grass spots on them, some worse than others.
Unless long or low Hdc, play green tees.

SPRING GROUP PHASE: I have been going to MB since 1978. We started this group
with all East coast guys PA/NJ/DE in 1998. One guy invited his brother from CA, who later
invited some CA friends. We grew to as many as 16.
Lately we have had around 12 on the trip.
This trip we had 8, due to injuries: 7 from East Coast, 1 from CA.

Sunday 4/28 -- RIVERS EDGE:
New owner has enhanced everything but the greens. Clubhouse: Great renovations.
Carts: Plush. Staff: Very nice. Tees, fairways, bunkers: Very good condition.
Range balls included. Greens: Have many fairway bermuda spots, are slow and
not very true. Look and feel like they are not rolled. They held shots well.
Some fairway spots would add up to half of the green.
The greens have plenty of grass, but it's not a quality putting surface, thus worst
greens of the trip and likely bottom 10 in MB.

Monday 4/29 -- GRANDE DUNES:
Range balls provided, GPS on carts. The new greens in 2022 are very good.
The restaurant + pro shop are also renovated. More upscale than previous.
The greens have many pin position choices and the wide fairways allow playing
position or just letting it rip. When you play the proper tees here, there are 5-6 holes
where you can carry it to the fairway downslope, to get bonus yards. The waterway
holes are 8,9,10,14,15. This is a tour style course with waterway views.

Tuesday 4/30 -- TPC:
Range balls were included. Carts have GPS. Conditions were good everywhere.
The greens were smooth, firm and fast. Rough also overseeded, but not deep.
We played it the day before local qualifying to get into Monday Tour qualifying,
also at TPC.
There are 3 forced carries from the tee, that will help confirm if you are playing the
proper tees. IMO the carry on #15 is a bad design, since playing safe to the right puts
you behind trees. TPC is challenging, but still fair, unless maybe you are a beginner.
Much of the challenge is the green complexes, where most of the greens require
accurate approach shots. It is a difficult course to scramble around the greens.
Hole #9 is a brutal long uphill par 4, designed like a par 5.
Houses are now left of the lake on #18 and almost down to the tee.
TPC Myrtle Beach has a good logo that says Myrtle Beach, if you want MB apparel,
so others don't have to ask where is that course.
White tee players should consider making up combo tees, playing the gold on 3,4,9,11,15.

Wednesday 5/1 -- PAWLEYS PLANTATION:
Range Balls included. The fairways, tees, bunkers good.
New greens were good. Waste areas became a few regular bunkers.
Tee markers are not standard colors, so look at the yardage.
This Jack Nicklaus course has housing lining many fairways, with OB in play on
about half of the holes. Pawleys is an attractive country club style course with
4 marsh holes and a few lakes. While not long from the white tees, it is one of
the more challenging courses in MB. Like it or not,
the entire 13/17 bridge/dam complex in the marsh is scenic, usually windy, unique,
memorable and challenging. Despite the tricky holes #13 (short) and
#17 (all carry to shallow green), don't let those holes ruin a generally good course
for you. On #17, a 165 yard par 3 all carry over marsh, the green is wide but too
shallow for the shot, with woods about 15 yards behind it. There are some
memorable holes, but there are not enough memorable holes to keep bringing us
back often.

Thursday 5/2 -- TIDEWATER:
Range balls were provided. Premium touch screen GPS is on the cart.
The tees, fairways and bunkers were all in good condition. The greens were
not overseeded and not as green as most. Putting was fine.
The scorecard has a White/Green course at 6031 yards, with the 9 hardest rated
holes being green tees. White is 6323, Green is 5734. The par 3 Hole #9 is a
lot like Augusta #16, but with a marsh instead of a pond.
The par 4 dogleg left hole #18 is very difficult, where even a good drive will leave
about a 160-200 yard 2nd shot, possibly with a pine tree in the way. Try to drive it
as close to the far marsh as possible, rather than just past the deceiving corner.
About half of the greens are big with steep slopes. You have to concentrate on speed
a lot. The big greens seem to fool us on the amount of slope we see.
Practice some long up and down putts before playing here.

Friday 5/3 -- ARROWHEAD:
Range balls are provided for irons. We played Cypress/Lakes.
Conditions were excellent. The MiniVerde greens were excellent, smooth.
AH isn't long from the white tees, but it is fairly tight, not always a driver
from the tee. I like the Cypress/Waterway nines the best.
I feel the Lakes plays the easiest, if you can stay out of the lakes off the tee, with
4 left doglegs and 1 right.

COMMENT: Group trip ended. I am alone the rest of the trip.

Saturday 5/4 -- TRUE BLUE:
I played with JohnW + Denis (Supergillby).
Range balls were provided. Carts have GPS. The conditions were good
enough, but you might expect better for the cost.
The greens were good, firm and fast, getting some fairway bermuda spots.
On long holes, you may find the tee markers moved up a box.
Carts are always in the sunken waste area on #18, making it difficult to club and
it slows down play on #18. The wide fairways are framed by waste
areas, so you rarely need to look hard for a ball. The difficulty is approach shots,
that have to fly onto the green on most holes, carrying over water or sand.
There are several challenging short par 3's and the tricky 320 yard par 4 2nd,
where you need to stay left. You might discover new Stranz design features
every time you play it.

Sunday 5/5 -- PARKLAND
First rain of the trip, on + off, twice waiting for it to slow down, later being
told to go CPO. Conditions were good. Some greens have the fairway grass
spots, especially #18. I point out the fairway grass spots, because it's not
Poa. It won't go away, it just spreads more.

Monday 5/6 -- TIDEWATER:
Same as previous round.

Tuesday 5/7 -- PRESTWICK
Greens were sanded, but still fairly smooth + fast.
New bulkheads look good and don't change how they play.
The new bulkhead on #16 adds a bunker on the left and makes the hole look nicer.
This Pete and PB Dye design has a Country club atmosphere, with a mix of wide and
narrow fairways. The primary challenge is around the small to medium sized greens,
surrounded by pot bunkers, waste areas, mounds, water, etc. It has a links look,
but with trees.   The Dyes included some forgiving holes, not all out Dye on every
hole. Holes 9 and 18 play around a big lake, heading into the clubhouse.
The white tees at 6347 yards and 132 slope is challenging.

Wednesday 5/8 -- TPC
Greens slowed down some now that it's after the Monday qualifying for PGA Tour
MB Classic.

Thursday 5/9 -- Myrtle Beach Classic
No golf. Went to the tournament. I reported on this separately in another post.

Friday 5/10 -- KINGS NORTH:
Good conditions, however the greens are too plush with overseed, for a course
most consider premium. The greens were well watered to keep the overseed there.
They putted smooth, but very slow. I am guessing they felt this was a better
option than transitioning then closing for the new greens.
There is good room off the tee, you can see most hazards. You need good club
selection on most iron shots, to carry front water or bunkers and to get makable
or 2puttable putts on the undulating greens. There is no housing, a lot of fun
unique signature holes and you can score if you play well.
Each 9 starts off with 2 basic holes, but the rest of each 9 is good. KN is one
of my favorites to play and I play it on most trips.
On The Gambler par 5, the long way around isn't a whole lot more forgiving.
If it's CPO, skip the island, unless you are going to walk the hole carrying your clubs.
When laying up out to the right of the green, try to get down close to the bunkers,
so you can avoid hitting over the water on your approach shot.
The Gambler #6 hole can back up the course until past it.
KN might play faster starting on #10, so you are more ready for the Gambler.

RESTAURANTS: (In no particular order)

Boundary House, Lil Pigs, Jersey Mikes, Firehouse Subs, River City, Clarkes. All were good.

J PETERS: This is a newer chain with 3 locations. I ate at the International Drive/Grissom
location this time. It has a menu like Carolina Roadhouse and they copied the salad.
Nothing fancy inside. Food good.

GIOS ITALIAN: The new location is in the old Applebees on 79th ave N.
Their original location in Pawleys has been open for a number of years.
The 79th ave location is nicer more upscale looking. You would never
know what it was before. The menus are the same.
They have a lot of wines also. The Servers are excellent. 
If you like meatballs, the meatball app is very good.

FLAMINGO GRILL: Is fairly big with an interesting look inside.
It suits all tastes with steak, prime rib, seafood, pasta. Try the lobster bites.

CHUCKS: I met 1PUTT1 for dinner. It had been about 25 years since I was last there.
It was good and they have a good salad bar. It's a busy place.

THOUGHTS - OBSERVATIONS - INFORMATION:

- Rt 31 has been open down to 707. It may save a little time, but it's only part of the
trip down to Pawleys. It's great for TPC or Blackmoor. It is more relaxing than driving down 17.

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Art