If Legends Heathland wasn't in Myrtle Beach

[Eric Smith]

...and say in Nashville, and on it's own, 18 holes only, would it be the best public course in the state?  

I can say that in my state, Tennessee, according to GD, Kieth Foster's The Tennessean is ranked #1 public.  I don't think it's even close compared to Heathland, sand based soils aside.

Is it just me?  I love Heathland!  It makes me smile just thinking about my times playing it.

It doesn't seem to get the love 'round here like TD's others.

Does the Myrtle Beach, Legends golf factory setting hurt it's appeal to gca?

[A.G._Crockett]

I have played Heathland many times, and always enjoy it.  I agree with you with the concept that there are very good golf courses at MB that get either lost in the shuffle, or discounted due to the negative connotation to some of MB golf.

Heathland is a very good golf course, and especially in a resort setting containing the other two Legends courses.  Heathland is the clear best of the three (with Parkland a bit too easy, and Moorland just a mess), and a solid favorite of mine.  I would put it in the top 20 at MB at worst.

That said, I do NOT think it is a "great" golf course, or that it would be considered to be the best in any state (including TN) if it were taken out of MB.  While Heathland is both fun and somewhat challenging, and isn't gimmicky in the least, it lacks something.  What that something is, is tough for me to quantify, but The Love Course, Tiger's Eye, Caledonia, True Blue, Tidewater and others just in the MB area have more of whatever stirs the soul of a golfer and make you want to play a course again immediately.  I just don't leave Heathland with that feeling; once a summer is fine.

[jeffwarne]

If Heathland were on St. Simon's Island (Sea Island),
it'd be $400 to play it.

[Bart Bradley]

Of course, the Legends setting detracts from the experience.  Slow play, tons of people, etc...

I have played Heathland twice and enjoyed it both times...I wouldn't mind to play it again but am not eagerly anticipating my return.  I also live in TN and maybe our public golf isn't the greatest but I don't think it would rate as a top course in TN...plus it would be out of place in TN....I don't think it would fit the surroundings or soil type.

I would agree that it ranks in the upper quartile of MB but not the TOP 10.

Just my opinion.

Bart

[Brent Hutto]

Legends Heathland is on my list of "gonna play one day" courses. But when that day comes I suspect I'll suffer from a congenital personality shortcoming that limits my appreciation of the quality of a golf course per se if I don't have a pleasing round of golf.

One of the greatest experiences of my golfing life was my morning playing Cypress Point Club. It is a vexing question to contemplate my reaction to that peerless setting and course had I spent 5-1/2 hours on my butt in a golf cart seeing dozens of other carts full of hackers crawling over every inch of the property. Certain places would still be special--nothing could ever diminish my love for CPC's seventeenth tee box--but the overall experience would have been a poor one, albeit with a few brilliant moments.

If that makes me seem a bloody-minded misanthrope then so be it. We all have our crosses to bear.

[Eric Smith]

As far as fitting in to the surroundings, Legends is pretty much a dead flat clearing in a young pine forest. They shaped everything.  There are a couple of 1000 acre potato farms bordering pine forests owned by the paper companies where I live. These farms could match the 'look' of the place, sans all the sandy soil of course.  The added 20' elevation change or two would only enhance the playability imo.

As far as a top course in TN, I'll bet it would take first place public on the right site, the kicker being it's a Tom Doak course.

[George Pazin]

I haven't played Legends Heathland, but I always enjoy relating this story:

I run a t shirt printing business. Two summers ago I was doing a rush order for an older guy doing t's for an Allman Brothers concert (he gives them out to his other buddies at the show). Because we were rushing the order through, he opted to hang out at my shop, where we happened to have The Open Championship on the tube that day (it was the Friday of Jack's last round).

This guy turns to me and says, those bunkers are even worse in person than they look on TV. I was a little surprised, he didn't seem like the type to travel overseas to play golf, so I said, "You've played The Old Course?"

He looked at me and said, "No, but there's this course down in Myrtle called The Heathland...."

That memory always puts a smile on my face, thanks for reminding me of it.

[Mike Hendren]

As far as a top course in TN, I'll bet it would take first place public on the right site, the kicker being it's a Tom Doak course.

The bar for best public in the Volunteer state is relatively low.  That said, Oaky Doaks is better known among Hillbillies than Tom.

Mike

[Matt MacIver]

I've only played it once but enjoyed it.  Probably wouldn't play it again until I sampled at least the "reported" top 20 in the area again first...which will never happen.  But I do remember a surprising number of holes from my round, which is often rare for me given my poor memory.  I read somewhere recently that simply remembering the golf holes isn't a sign of greatness -- fine, but it certainly helps in my book.  

As far as being a top public in my state, NC has quite a few good ones.  

[paul cowley]

....makes me wonder if Love Barefoot [GD's #1 course in MB] was moved out of there.....

[A.G._Crockett]

....makes me wonder if Love Barefoot [GD's #1 course in MB] was moved out of there.....

Paul,
The Love Barefoot course is one of several at MB that suffers from the volume of courses there, IMO.  Even with the recognition that it has gotten, that course would be much more highly regarded if it were elsewhere and the golfing public and media were able to focus on it a little more clearly.  I put Tiger's Eye by Tim Cate very much in the same category, and there are a couple of Dan Maples courses that I feel that way about as well, though neither of the Maples tracks that I have in mind have been as well-received as the Love Course.

Heathland is in a little different situation.  It has actually come way UP in the rankings in the last few years as Tom Doak's reputation has grown.  It was always a very good golf course, but it isn't now, and wasn't when it was built, in the very top tier of MB courses, and it is very hard for me to consider it to be underrated at this point.

[Ted Kramer]

I don't want to get too far off topic, but I played Moorland on my last trip to Myrtle and thought it was pretty solid. I'd definitely play it again, I really enjoyed my round out there.

-Ted

[A.G._Crockett]

I don't want to get too far off topic, but I played Moorland on my last trip to Myrtle and thought it was pretty solid. I'd definitely play it again, I really enjoyed my round out there.

-Ted

Yikes.
We see that one differently, for sure.  If I ever get a pass for a free round at Moorlands, I'll send it to you asap.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I played it years ago when doing the Avocet course. I didn't know anything about TD back then but did find it different and a good representation of some of the GBI features, like tees mowed down the slopes a bit, rather than conforming strictly to the tops.  I always wondered if, as time goes on, those little design bits were maintained to keep the unique feel of the course.  I wonder because some of the typical MB crowd I was paired with wondered about my fascination with such features, i.e. they didn't get it.

[Bill Brightly]

Jeff,

I didn't know you did Avocet! I really liked that course, my favorite at Wild Wing. I'm psyched that I can say I played a Jeff Brauer course now!

[Brock Peyer]

I am taking 12 buddies to MB in March and we are playing Heathland.  I haven't played it in about 10 years but it is in my top 20 courses that I have played (my list is more limited than most here).  None of my buddies have played it and I think that they will love it.  My Dad lives near MB and plays it pretty regularly and loves the character of the course.

I do agree and think that if it were somewhere else that it would have a better reputation and rating.

I can't wait to play it.

[Bill Gayne]

I don't think it would be the best in a state but it would be the best public in the District of Columbia.

[PThomas]

 That said, Oaky Doaks is better known among Hillbillies than Tom.

a classic Mike!

[Tom_Doak]

I think the course is underrated in Myrtle Beach, but I don't think it would get much attention if moved somewhere else.  In fact I find the premise somewhat odd, because what I like about the course is that it is well designed for the Myrtle Beach market.  It's got big greens with open fronts to move play along, and the first few years it was open, they had no problem handling 60,000 rounds per year.  [I have no idea how many rounds they play there now.]  It's also very walkable, although they wouldn't let anybody walk it.

There are a number of little features on that course that I have a fond feeling about -- the double tees on 9 and 11, the berm through the middle of the course which breaks it up visually, and the four finishing holes in particular.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Jeff,

I didn't know you did Avocet! I really liked that course, my favorite at Wild Wing. I'm psyched that I can say I played a Jeff Brauer course now!

Larry Nelson has better marketing folks than I do, I guess.

And now, the only course at Wild Wing, as I understand it!   I am told that it was clearly WW most popular, and hence, the reason it was kept when the rest was sold off for housing, despite a Rees Jones and two Byrd courses who are the architects many MB golfers seek out to play.

At a US Open, I saw a guy next to me with a Wild Wing hat and asked which course he played.  He replied "The Hummingbird" which dissapointed me, until he added "because I can never get on the Avocet......"