Greetings!
Weather: It started out cloudy for the first 4-5 holes, then sunny for the rest of the round with a nice 81 degrees!
If you're one of those people, like us, who haven't set foot in the Sea Trail Resort in Sunset Beach for a couple of years, you're in for a (pleasant) surprise, given the new owners' ongoing, multi-million dollars renovations to this three-course resort: the Byrd, the Jones, and the Maples. The clubhouse is, by the way, absolutely beautiful.
We had the opportunity to play the Byrd course for the very first time, which underwent a complete renovation, which was completed in October 2024. This upgrade included the installation of new TifEagle Bermuda greens, improved sand traps (31 in total), and the addition of waste bunkers, which contribute to improving the aesthetics while increasing the level of challenge!
Sea Trail Byrd is a relatively permissive par 72 that plays 6,142 yards from the white tees and 4,510 yards for the ladies (see scorecard at https://seatrail.com/byrd-course/ ). And according to the staff, it's considered the most challenging of the three courses offered here.
That said, before we talk about the playing conditions, as we have seen some comments suggesting that they left a lot to be desired, let us take a look at a recent comment made by Jimmy Biggs, Director of Golf Operations at Sea Trail Golf Resort, who made the following analogy on a Facebook page: “A little bit of context: considering this golf course is less than seven months old. We just did open-heart surgery and replaced both hips, shoulders and knees. It’s gonna need some time to get back to full speed.
As for us, we ultimately really appreciated the overall appearance of the course and its very interesting design! The core (the greens) were in excellent condition. They were fairly fast and didn't hold back! The hips (waste bunkers and sand traps) were impeccable.
As for the shoulders (tees) and knees (fairways and edges of the greens), this was probably where the problem lies. The thinness of the turf was extremely noticeable, making our approach shots and short game a little more challenging. But in addition to the recent renovations, this is most likely due to the drought that continues to affect the Myrtle Beach area.
In any case, time should do its work, and in a few weeks, or a few months, Sea Trail Byrd could worth the trip as a premium course.
Next round on Tuesday May 6 at King’s North!
Denis Gilbert
Quebec City, Canada
Thanks for your report Denis, the pics of the greens certainly show them improved over what we saw in late March.
After all the ST Byrd surgery, the ST nurses are forgetting to give their patient something to drink.
I get MB needs rain. ST Byrd excuses are lame when I have played 10 other courses this trip, all with green fairways
and those with overseed wall to wall (TPC, RE, KN) have green roughs.
Yes the others have some dry spots, but Bryd shows no sign of watering fairways/tees at all.
We golfers are not supers, but when we compare to other courses, bad excuses by Byrd are revealed.
Thanks for your report!
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@leftygar1 they were extremely late in over seed of fairways and ran into the real cold snap therefore little if any germination and now thin fairways
@ziggygolfer Yes those 5 days of snow in January did not help, that plus the cooler winter after a great Nov. and Dec. I agree with Art that many other courses survived and are using water to keep their courses looking good for the golfers, Byrd has a sufficient water supply they seemed to not use while I was down.
Good to hear about the greens. Not so good about not watering the rest. We've had a lot of rain lately so that should help.
Great reports and thank you!
great report, you always do a nice detailed job with pictures.
Let the Big Dawg Bark!!!
