[Tim Gavrich]

On Friday I played the Dye Course at the four-course Barefoot Resort up in North Myrtle Beach and would say it is the second best course I've played on the Grand Strand (I'd say I've played just over half of them and almost all of the top ones).  To my knowledge, the Dye course is the longest course in the Myrtle Beach area at just over 7,300 yards from the tips (the other tees are about 6,650, 6,000, and 5,000 yards), with five par 4s of over 460 yards from the back tees.  But there are also a bunch of holes that the patient player can take advantage of as well, which makes the course quite a well-balanced one.  The par 3s and Par 5s are also especially good.

Here are my pictures:

#1: 425/375/359/317--Solid opener that starts the player off thinking about angles.  You can try and take on a lot of the left-hand waste area if you want, or you can play out right a bit if you are okay with a longer second shot.



#2: 380/350/327/256--One of the shorter par 4s; pretty wide fairway, good birdie opportunity early on (the first five holes are all among the better birdie opportunities on the course).



#3: 185/165/160/153--Solid par 3.  Pretty straightforward but not bad; the other three short holes are more interesting and tougher.


#4: 396/360/321/270--Again, you can play a bit of the angles game by challenging the steep-lipped fairway bunker to the right.  Lots of mounds around the green which could cause some interesting short shot options.



#5: 581/564/472/401--First of four very good par 5s.  It's a pretty true three-shot hole with an elevated green and chipping areas low, left, and long.




#6: 195/175/155/110--This is the hole where the fun starts.  Good mid- to long-iron par 3.  Miss the green right means water, but there's more room than there appears.  You can bail out a little to the right if you want.


#7: 475/435/375/337--The first of the big-bad-par-4s.  The closer you place your tee shot to the big right-side waste area, the shorter the second shot.  Modern look, classic strategic principles at work.



#8: 543/486/445/400--My favorite of the par 5s, and a great switchback hole (left-to-right, then right-to-left).  A neat centerline bunker group in the second-shot landing area complicates the layup.  If you want to have the best angle, it's best to play left of them, but there's a waste area and lake there.  Right of them, you can see the green but it's a rather awkward angle.  Behind them, the angle's fine but the green and flag are obscured a bit.  Options!






#9: 493/410/405/326--A very long but very fair par 4 to close the outward nine.  It was dead into the wind the day I played and I hit a very good drive followed by a solid 3 wood and came up 15 yards short of the green.  Tough hole with some clear trouble, but plenty of room to play.





Back nine to follow.

[Brian Ross]

Tim,

You noted that it was your second favorite of all of the Grand Strand courses that you have played.  Just curious, as a former resident, what was your favorite?

[Brett Waters]

Interesting to hear other comments on the Dye course...I personally despise the place and don't really care to ever play it again.

[Matt Kardash]

Nice photo tour. I actually thought it was definitley one of the better courses in the Myrtle beach area. I think it had a number of really fun holes. I think it kinda goes under the radar a little though. I think the course it reminds me of in concept a little is PB Dye's Moorland.
I could see the look of this course not being the cup of tea of this message board. But that kinda makes me happy, since I am a shit! 

[PThomas]

Interesting to hear other comments on the Dye course...I personally despise the place and don't really care to ever play it again.

why

[Tim Gavrich]

Brian--

Caledonia's my favorite Grand Strand course.  It excels all the others, in my opinion, in that it would be a really neat course to walk, is unimpeded by housing, and (most importantly) Strantz displayed such a deft touch and created a bunch of golf holes that are quite different (and, a lot of people think, better) than those on other golf courses.  My ten round split between Caledonia and the Dye Club would be 6-4 in Caledonia's favor.

Brett--

Like Paul, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the course.  I can certainly see the Dye "look" rubbing people the wrong way.  I personally really like the Dye aesthetic in general so I find his Barefoot course to be quite enjoyable.

~ ~ ~

Now, the back nine:

#10: 344/317/287/256--I think they've abandoned the 344 tee actually, but the hole is great from the 317 tee anyway.  It's a lot like the 10th hole at Whistling Straits, I gather, in that you can drive it up by or onto the green if you want or lay back for a solid wedge shot and have the hole play about the same general difficulty, meaning that a player can play to his/her strengths, which I love in a short/semi-drivable par 4.



#11: 461/402/366/291--The third of the long par 4s, this hole offers a bit of a different look.  A little more restrained-looking than some holes, but the green complex, which is saddle-like, was one of my favorites on the course.  Apologies for forgetting a shot from the tee; it's a slight dogleg right where you can do the angles thing again a little bit.



#12: 538/494/452/403--The penultimate par 5 is very lunar-looking, with a very hittable half-pipe of a fairway.  The rub is that the second shot (on which you may well wish to go for it in two) is pretty blind.  Another really good green site, especially for a par 5.




#13: 392/354/332/292--Probably the easiest par 4 on the course and also the least visually "built-up" hole.  Of course I three-putted from 15 feet when I played it.  Another green surrounded by mounds rather than hazards.  A good respite before the closing stretch.



#14: 475/429/367/309--Another brute of a par 4.  This time, the hole angles left, so you can make the hole shorter by putting your ball at risk of a sandy fate to that side.  There's also an interesting greenside feature that is, well, featured in one pic.




#15: 226/204/162/119--Great hanging par 3 that seems similar in concept to some of the ones at Whistling Straits.  The green is very deep and so the hole can play radically differently on different days.  Go for the gusto or bail out a bit right.  Options!


#16: 574/526/494/400--The last par 5 is a good one with another interesting green site.  I forgot tee and landing area pics; my bad.


#17: 188/175/158/105--Very inventive par 3.  Long, skinny angled green on a pad that is completely surrounded and elevated by railroad ties and sort of sits above a wetland area.  Different; cool.



#18: 471/415/368/276--The finisher is what you'd expect from a lot of Dye courses: long par 4 hard by a body of water.  Just because it's been done a lot doesn't make it bad and I like this hole as a final battle.




Hope you enjoyed the tour.  I like the course but would love to hear the dissenters' rationales.

Cheers.

--Tim

[Mark McKeever]

Great pictures Tim.  Thanks for sharing!

Mark

[Sven Nilsen]

Tim:

Thanks for the photos.  I played the four Barefoot courses shortly after the place opened.  I've never been sure why the Love course garnered all the praise.  I thought the Dye course was by far the toughest test of the four, and played completely different from the other three.  I seem to remember the tee shot on 17 being through a corridor between trees.  I couldn't pick this out from your pictures, but maybe the angles were different.

I'd put the entire complex on the top of my list of stay and play spots in MB.  Tough to beat 3 quality courses (Dye, Fazio and Love - I thought the Norman course was so-so) with differing styles.

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