By Steve Gordon
The first week of March my longtime golf partner and I
decided to take an early spring getaway to Myrtle Beach before it got super
packed and overcrowded.
We got in six consecutive days of golf before jumping in the
car to drive back north. In the process we played six different courses in iffy
early season weather (that was still better than SE PA/South Jersey conditions)
but that didn’t detract from two courses that jumped out of the pack in
Arcadian Shores and Thistle.
I’d like to point out that both of us like new courses and
although it has been maybe 20 years since we played Arcadian Shores it was like
playing a new course. On the other hand the 27-hole once private Thistle Golf
Club was totally new to us.
Our day at Arcadian Shores started out looking like a
washout. A severe overnight storm dropped more rain to add to the over 100
inches the area has endured. We drove over to the course shortly after breakfast
with no expectations. Once there we sat inside talking golf with a beverage and
aside from a couple other people we were very much alone.
The puddles were jumping as the rain slowed before it
eventually stopped. There was nobody on the course. We made the call to take on
this former top 100 Rees Jones layout around noon. All the courses we visited
were wet with very soft turf and standing water, bunkers that were compacted
and wet and of course cart path only was the theme for the week.
One thing that was evident was that the fairways were
consistently firmer from what we experienced the past two days but still soft
enough that there was no roll on tee shots and no run up shots were possible.
Oh my, this is just what we needed, two seniors playing the 5628
yard gold tees on a course playing very long.
The dormant Bermuda rough framed the lush green fairways and
greens and made the course have a very unique and pleasant look to it. This was
a first solo design for Jones but it featured classic Jones traits that would define
his work on multiple courses and redesigns.
Angles to the greens and well place bunkers dotted nearly
every hole. The doglegs were subtle and the forced carries were minimal but
make no mistake that this was not a pushover. The mostly wide fairways were tree
lined but without heavily wooded or overgrown areas. If you got that far off
the fairway generally you wouldn’t have a shot unless perhaps you had Mickleson
like skills because that is part of how Jones tests you.
From the white tees only one par 5 stretched over 500 yards.
This is after all a resort golf facility and sitting at sea level the ball
doesn’t carry as far most are used to, so in addition to being an older layout
the design wasn’t made to punish golfers, just give them a challenge.
I think the third hole was the best of them. There was a
little water not in play to tee off over and no fairway bunkers on this 465
yarder (508 from the back tees). All the challenge was a sloping green that was
heavily bunkered.
The par 3 holes were all comfortable distances from 138 to
168 yards from the white tees. The number one handicap hole was also the prettiest
and played a moderate 367 yards from the white tees. The hole presented two
distinct challenges. First to put your tee shot in a favorable position and
then hit a shot to carry water that was hard to the front of the green. Hit the
tee shot too far and you had a downhill lie. Hit it too short and you had to
lay up.
Thistle is a Tim Cates design built to have a Scottish feel.
The name comes from the original club of the same name in Leith, Scotland that
is no more. What was so unique about this course is that it did not have a
typical Carolina look to it except for water that was on 23 of the 27 holes.
It opened in 1999 as a private facility 30 minutes north of
Myrtle Beach in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. The clubhouse features stately
wood paneled walls with a huge fireplace just inside the main entrance. The
Myrtle Beach area is a tough place for a high end private club to exist so to
survive it opened as a high end facility to the golf crazed masses to the Myrtle
Beach area.
Of the Stewart, Cameron and MacKay courses the MacKay provides
the toughest test with the highlight being the par 5 seventh hole. I was
rolling along with four straight pars as I stepped on the tee of this 526 yard
(white tees) tester. Generally I don’t agree that a par five is really a number
one handicap hole but this one deserved that rating and it was atypical to the
rest of the course.
On the next tee my card did not show five consecutive pars.
We were fortunate to have the opportunity to play all 27
holes and no two holes were remotely similar. There was a nice mix of long and
short par 4 holes ranging from 317 to 397 yards and all with a unique feel and
challenge. The water on the course was manageable but it was strategically out
there in play and made you be careful on those holes where you were forced to
shoot over it.
The end of the week came too fast as we packed the car for
the 10 hour drive home. All the courses we played were a treat for two golf
starved guys from up north but Arcadian Shores and Thistle just made the trip
and the memories…and for good conversation on the road.
“Remember that day I was playing well and then hit that one
bad tee shot and ended up with a triple?” I commented at one point. “ Man, I
could really have had a great score that day.”
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