Caledonia or True Blue?

[Brent Hutto]

What did you decide to do about your buddy trip this spring? Did you look into the www.islandpackage.com trip?

Yes we did. I offered the Pawley's Island package, Kiawah, and the usual Fripp Island weekend as option and also floated the idea of just going to Charleston and playing a couple fairly inexpensive courses there and staying in a motel. It looks like we're going to try the Charleston one along with a couple days here in Columbia.

So in the mean time I'm doing the Ocean course and True Blue on my own. The guys who come down in January don't have architecture or (to be frank) strategy as a priority. It's pretty much about course conditions, pace of play and cost with scenic value and interesting design being secondary charactersitics. With the further restriction that we only play courses we can walk and get in at least 27 if not 36 holes every day, I think the reputation of Myrtle Beach of for slow play and mandatory carts discourages my guys from considering it as a destination.

[Michael Whitaker]

Brett,

Here's something to think about... it is a long drive from Kingston Plantation to True Blue in Pawleys Island. You really should consider playing The Dunes Golf & Beach Club. It is truly a GREAT classic golf course and it is very close to Kingston. It is a wonderful course to walk and easily one of the 10 best in all of SC. You can then schedule a trip to True Blue & Caledonia when you can stay in the area and take the time to play both.

Think about it.

[Brent Hutto]

Michael,

I'll give it some thought. I hadn't realized that they'd let you walk at the Dunes until someone mentioned it earlier in this thread. I think I'll check our schedule and see if we're getting into town in time to play the Dunes on Friday afternoon. I think my wife's meeting starts around lunch time so I could probably angle for a 1:00-ish tee time since it's right down the road.

[Bill Gayne]

The Dunes and True Blue/Caledonia courses are about 45 minutes apart. So if you're staying by The Dunes you're adding an 1.5 hours to your day. I played both courses in the spring and they are both good golf courses and I thought on par with each other. My personal preference would be The Dunes. Though The Dunes will probably cost twice as much. I really thought that The Dunes could be made even better with a thinning out of the trees. That being said, I still thought it was the best that I played in Myrtle Beach.

[Brent Hutto]

OK, we're off to Kingston Plantation at Myrtle Beach this weekend for my wife's conference. I'm looking forward to my Saturday morning tee time at True Blue but I decided not to try and squeeze in 36 holes in a day (True Blue and Caledonia) this time around.

For my Friday afternoon round when we arrive I checked into the possibility of playing the Dunes club but the only tee times available were mid-morning before we get there. I'm going to take the easy way out and just play across the street at Arcadian Shores. I've played the front nine there a couple of times and maybe the whole course once like ten years ago (can't remember for sure).

I figure it'll be an interesting contrast between a Rees Jones course that most architecture fans would find boring, bland and totally unstrategic versus a Mike Strantz course that is reputed to be just the opposite. I think I'll make a few notes each evening after I play and record my own impressions of playing each course. If anything worth repeating comes from this exercise I'll share the high points in this thread when I get back. Let me say in advance that in the past I've found Arcadian Shores to be a perfectly enjoyable course to play although with my golf game there may be no such thing as a boring golf course.

[Michael Whitaker]

Brent - Since you are planning to play near your hotel you might want to consider one of the courses at Barefoot Resort. They are fairly close to Kingston Plantation. I think you would really enjoy the Love Course.

[Greg Holland]

About 2 weeks ago, I was there for a conference as well.  Arcadian Shores was in HORRIBLE condition.   The greens were furry at best.  There was a big rain storm that morning, but they still let people drive on the fairways and tire tracks/impressions were visible in the fairways.  

[Brent Hutto]

Greg,

Thanks for the heads-up. I've been there once when Arcadian was in terrible shape as you describe. Quit after nine holes. Then last year I went to play the front nine before we checked out and it was in gorgeous shape. It killed me not to play the whole eighteen.

That seems to be a common Myrtle Beach issue. I played at Myrtlewood the same weekend in November back to back years (probably 2000/2001) and the first time conditions were immaculate for a resort course and the second it was basically in goat-track shape.

Michael,

As it turns out the Love course is the only one at Barefoot that has a tee time late enough for me to play Friday. So it's so long Rees, hello Davis. I'm playing at noon. The pro shop told me I can walk but it's miles of cart path between holes. Maybe the folks I get paired up with will let me take my bag and walk for a while and just hitch a ride from green to tee.

This will be interesting. I'm hoping to play at The Patriot some time over the next few weeks so maybe I'll get two Davis Love Design courses in short order. Was our own Paul Cowley involved at Barefoot, I wonder?

[Michael Whitaker]

Brent - Glad it worked out... you will enjoy the Love Course at Barefoot. I don't remember "miles" of cartpath between holes, but it has been a while since I played there. Have a great time!

[Brent Hutto]

I'm starting a thread under another title to post my impressions of True Blue and the Love course at Barefoot Resort.