Feb 22 - 26

Sorry, I just forgot to write the report. Got all 8 of us together again. It's over 30 years with 5 of the 8 in almost that whole time and the other 2 are 10-15 years in so its a close group. I'll recount as well as I can but I do not take Art level notes.

Let me open with yet again a BIG thank you to Brian (he runs this joint and books golf trips if you did not know). He's just the best. You know you are being steered to be best golf in the season or whatever your desire, cost, condition, top tier courses, whatever you are looking for he will put you on it. Just go to Myrtle Beach Gold Authority for the Best in the Business!

Housing: 4 of us (Basecamp) stayed in a 4 bedroom 3 bath unit in Arbor House. Its on Lake Arrowhead next to Harry the Hats. 2 guys stayed in a high rise just across the street from Flip-Flops bar and had high praise. They had been staying at Sands and said this place was WAY better.

Courses:

Arrowhead: played Lakes and Cypress, These were the slowest greens of the week. No issues with condition. Overseed was not lush but none of the courses this week had what I would call lush overseed. You could always roll your ball to green grass. Service was excellent.

Prestwich: Their website says they overseed. It looked to me that the fairways were just painted. If they were overseeded it was an odd overseed. Proshop told one of our group that the greens were rolling 11. No way! They rolled fine for resort/Myrtle golf but they may have been 9 - 9.5. Some of you know from the past that my home course routinely has greens rolling 10+ in season so I am used to fast greens and struggle on slow greens. Prestwick was a bit slow play early but picked up as the afternoon went along. May have something to do with the difficulty of this course (not a jab just fact) and we were playing a 2 on 2 scramble. I will say this, I will never play the white tees there again. At my age and sea level I have no business on par 4 holes that are 400 yards long. Play the green tees and enjoy the round, put ur ego in check unless you can hit a drive 225. 

Caledonia: No issues. Again like all the courses the overseed was not lush but probably better than the rest of the courses for the week. We went off #1 so we enjoyed finishing on 18 instead of #9. The lady in the turnhouse was as sweet as she could be and my guys were eating here PBJ sandwiches.

Shaftsbury Glen: We haven't played here in a while but that's going to change. Short ride from where we stay, pace of play was outstanding, we had the first afternoon tee time, never saw anyone in front of us and finished in just under 4 hours. The fairways are wide open and outside the fairways there is waste areas rather than rough. Very easy to stay inside those and keep play moving. Everyone in the group said we are playing there again next year. Yes many of the greens are turtleback and they are basically all alike except 18. That did not bother us.

Eats: We are such creatures of old habits. The first group in sent out a group text with a picture of our breakfast staple Hot Stacks, the sign said Bossy Hen Mimosa House. I panicked! looked up the website and reviewed the menu, it looked VERY familiar. No worries, it was just renamed, upgraded on the inside including a new full bar and the food was the same.

Hit Bimini's two nights because you just can't go wrong with Bimini's. It didn't seem as crowded as past years.

Got pizza one night from Coast Pizza in the Gallaria (Kroger shopping center on Lake Arrowhead). One guy said he wasn't thrilled with the pizza but he likes Domino's thin crust (cardboard with cheese if you know what I mean).

We walked to Harry the Hat's for nightcaps two nights. Didn't eat there. We asked about the gal who threw the highball glass at the guy last year (Paige from Willmington). Aside from her night in jail she was banned from Harry's. The bartender said she heard Paige had dried out and was getting here life on track. Good for Paige. Paul, the dude she threw the glass at, still drops in when he is in town.  

No GC's again this year so I cannot provide any info there. I commented to my crew that it's amazing how much money you save when you are not in clubs buying $10+ drinks and more.

Until next year!