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A Quest to Play the Top 100 Public Golf Courses in the United States
A Quest to Play the Top 100 Public Golf Courses
2006 CONTINUED
(CONT'D) ... the fairway. Then there is the noise that comes from a group after a hole-in-one. This celebrating is in a class of its own and has its own unique decibel rating. After a much-deserved flurry of high-fives, our groups worked our way the final 400-yards to the clubhouse and rang up the obligatory bar tab. Now getting a hole-in-one at your local muni-course is one thing. But acing it at Kiawah Island is about as good as it gets. Mark can now brag that he one-timed it at the Toughest Resort Course in America. It’s also the same place where they held the famous Ryder Cup “War on the Shore” in 1991. And of course, let’s not forget that Bagger Vance thing.
Afterwords our group motored up the freeway about an hour to Pawleys Plantation and hooked-up with the rest of the group. Joining us were Art Taylor, Tony Fernandes, Mike Muchmore, Bob Potts, and Greg Jones. Our group shared a huge two-story four-plex condominium house at the Pawleys. There was a ton of room to spread out and
we had the perfect patio and chairs needed to enjoy the fine art of cigar smoking. On the agenda the next morning was the 78th ranked Heritage Club, followed by a non-rated expedition at the Plantation course.
The Heritage Club was unique in that it contains some true remnants of the old south. On the peripherals of the course are old tomb stones and even an old slave graveyard left over from the old Plantation days. You don’t find that everywhere. The course is very scenic, loaded with trees and an abundance of water. By the way, there was a lady on the first tee who in just a matter of minutes snapped individual and group photos of our Golfest faction. At the turn, they were all framed up, something that is proudly displayed in my home office.
On Tuesday, we took in the sister courses at True Blue Golf Club and the Caledonia Golf and Fish Club. Both are on Pawleys Island and both are fantastic courses, complete with a full serving of photo opportunities with
the scenery and even more GATORS. Caledonia even serves up a bowl of fresh clam chowder on the first tee. How cool is that?
Speaking of Caledonia, it is a unique course that features a two-story plantation clubhouse that overlooks the 18th green – the end of a 377-yard par four, with a huge carry over water. We really didn’t pay much attention to it until we stood on the 18th tee box. At that point, we noticed that the group in front of us was getting cheered and/or heckled by the spectators kicking back on the rockers on the second floor patio. They were enjoying their 19th hole cocktails. Not only was the second shot over the water scrutinized, they analyzed every chip and pitch around the green. Great … can you say performance anxiety?
Our group made it through pretty much unscathed. This allowed us time grab a cocktail, a rocker, and fine tune our best sport announcer voices as we narrated the action of the remaining Golfest foursomes coming home.
We were cruel, we were funny, and we were throwing fuel on the hecklers fire with our comments. It was hilarious. The locals joined in and many were laughing so hard, tears were coming out of their eyes and beer out of their noses. We intended to only “critique” our groups so we wouldn’t offend somebody we didn’t know. However, at that point, we had primed the pump and the boo’s got more rambunctious and personal. Things went downhill when one of the (non-Golfest) hackers dumped his second shot in the water. The boo’s were brutal. The guy promptly pumped a defiant and very purposeful “I’m not joking” one-finger salute at the clubhouse. We got out of dodge before they made a sequel to Deliverance.
We headed a little further up the coast to North Myrtle Beach and the Barefoot Resort. We stayed in the towers at the resort and the accommodations were over the top. Six of us were directed to the 4000 square foot penthouse in the middle building. The rest of our group got the same settings on a different floor. Each was decked with flat screens, a huge kitchen, four bedrooms and four huge bathrooms. If there was ever perfect accommodations for 13 tired golfers, this was as close as it gets. (They need to add wireless for a perfect score).
Wednesday would mark the third of four consecutive back-to-back golf rounds. The first stop was at the Fazio course right up the street, followed by a quick drive over to the Tidewater Golf Club. Between the two, we wolfed lunch outside of the Barefoot clubhouse – which features an outside bar and hamburger stand. If you inhaled your burger fast enough (which are awesome), you could waddle over to the shade of the clubhouse patio where a lady was giving massages. Mark Suzda was all over that.
Our drive to Tidewater was supposed to be a quick drive, but we got spun around a couple of times. But it still left us enough time to grab some Gatorades and a box of golf balls from the pro shop. It is interesting to point out that Tidewater bills itself as the “Pebble Beach of the East.” Kind of ironic since Pebble overlooks an ocean and Tidewater overlooks a swampy Inter-Coastal marsh. It’s nice in its own right, but it’s like comparing Angelina Jolie to Rosie O’Donnell. The two are not equal and chances are the publicist who came up with the perky quote never went to Pebble Beach. It is what it is, a golf course which offers the “perfect combination of natural beauty and challenging play.”
Outback would serve as the restaurant of choice for two consecutive nights. Knocking down a salad, a Victoria fillet, some shrimp on the Barbie, a baked potato, a piece of cheesecake, and a couple of frozen margaritas after 36-holes isn’t quite heaven, but you sure can definitely see the pearly gates from there. There was no dieting on this trip.
The final day of our trip featured another awesome morning round at Barefoot, this time on the Love course. This course has some pretty cool golf holes and is extremely worthy of its #38 rating. Then it was time for another burger, another massage, and a 20-minute drive. The final venue of the trip was the semi-private Dunes Golf & Beach
Club (rated #39), whose logo is appropriately – an alligator. While here, it struck us as kind of strange that this is the first time we actually saw the ocean from a golf course while in Myrtle Beach. All of the other courses were located inland, surrounded by dense tree lines.
Mike Werner, Jeffrey Adkins, and Mike Muchmore were the first group out at the Dunes and blew through in only 3 ½ hours. The rest of us took a more leisurely approach. The cart girl ended up making a killing off of us as we celebrated our Top 100 Quest throughout the round. Brian Birdwell put the trip in perspective as we stood on the 17th tee box. “Now teeing off on the 179th hole of Golfest 2006 …” Man, that is a lot of golf.
Sometime during our four-and-a-half hour adventure, our group stumbled across a left-handed wedge. After inquiring with left handers Greg Jones and Jim Dee, we determined that the club must belong to Mr. Werner – the only other left hander in our group. Something told me that the frat boys were going to get creative returning this club. Obviously, Mike’s toilet was going to come into play, preferably after taking care of business. Later that evening, when the time was right, the club was left stuck in his commode. By the luck of the draw, somebody forgot to flush (actually Mike claimed there was a plumbing problem). About 20-minutes later Mike was heard asking, “Hey, how did this club get in my toilet? Very funny!” We stated we were doing him a favor by returning it -- since he left it on the course. “It’s not mine,” explained Mike. “I use a Callaway wedge. The club in the toilet is a Cleveland?” Whoops? That didn’t work out like it was planned.
When all was said and done, nine courses were knocked off our list in South Carolina. Overall, we played 10 rounds of golf in only six days. Most of us slept very well on the plane, dreaming about Caddyshack. …
(Ty Webb) “I'm going to give you a little advice. There's a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball." (HOME PAGE)
Afterwords our group motored up the freeway about an hour to Pawleys Plantation and hooked-up with the rest of the group. Joining us were Art Taylor, Tony Fernandes, Mike Muchmore, Bob Potts, and Greg Jones. Our group shared a huge two-story four-plex condominium house at the Pawleys. There was a ton of room to spread out and
we had the perfect patio and chairs needed to enjoy the fine art of cigar smoking. On the agenda the next morning was the 78th ranked Heritage Club, followed by a non-rated expedition at the Plantation course. The Heritage Club was unique in that it contains some true remnants of the old south. On the peripherals of the course are old tomb stones and even an old slave graveyard left over from the old Plantation days. You don’t find that everywhere. The course is very scenic, loaded with trees and an abundance of water. By the way, there was a lady on the first tee who in just a matter of minutes snapped individual and group photos of our Golfest faction. At the turn, they were all framed up, something that is proudly displayed in my home office.
On Tuesday, we took in the sister courses at True Blue Golf Club and the Caledonia Golf and Fish Club. Both are on Pawleys Island and both are fantastic courses, complete with a full serving of photo opportunities with
the scenery and even more GATORS. Caledonia even serves up a bowl of fresh clam chowder on the first tee. How cool is that? Speaking of Caledonia, it is a unique course that features a two-story plantation clubhouse that overlooks the 18th green – the end of a 377-yard par four, with a huge carry over water. We really didn’t pay much attention to it until we stood on the 18th tee box. At that point, we noticed that the group in front of us was getting cheered and/or heckled by the spectators kicking back on the rockers on the second floor patio. They were enjoying their 19th hole cocktails. Not only was the second shot over the water scrutinized, they analyzed every chip and pitch around the green. Great … can you say performance anxiety?
Our group made it through pretty much unscathed. This allowed us time grab a cocktail, a rocker, and fine tune our best sport announcer voices as we narrated the action of the remaining Golfest foursomes coming home.
We were cruel, we were funny, and we were throwing fuel on the hecklers fire with our comments. It was hilarious. The locals joined in and many were laughing so hard, tears were coming out of their eyes and beer out of their noses. We intended to only “critique” our groups so we wouldn’t offend somebody we didn’t know. However, at that point, we had primed the pump and the boo’s got more rambunctious and personal. Things went downhill when one of the (non-Golfest) hackers dumped his second shot in the water. The boo’s were brutal. The guy promptly pumped a defiant and very purposeful “I’m not joking” one-finger salute at the clubhouse. We got out of dodge before they made a sequel to Deliverance. We headed a little further up the coast to North Myrtle Beach and the Barefoot Resort. We stayed in the towers at the resort and the accommodations were over the top. Six of us were directed to the 4000 square foot penthouse in the middle building. The rest of our group got the same settings on a different floor. Each was decked with flat screens, a huge kitchen, four bedrooms and four huge bathrooms. If there was ever perfect accommodations for 13 tired golfers, this was as close as it gets. (They need to add wireless for a perfect score).
Wednesday would mark the third of four consecutive back-to-back golf rounds. The first stop was at the Fazio course right up the street, followed by a quick drive over to the Tidewater Golf Club. Between the two, we wolfed lunch outside of the Barefoot clubhouse – which features an outside bar and hamburger stand. If you inhaled your burger fast enough (which are awesome), you could waddle over to the shade of the clubhouse patio where a lady was giving massages. Mark Suzda was all over that.
Our drive to Tidewater was supposed to be a quick drive, but we got spun around a couple of times. But it still left us enough time to grab some Gatorades and a box of golf balls from the pro shop. It is interesting to point out that Tidewater bills itself as the “Pebble Beach of the East.” Kind of ironic since Pebble overlooks an ocean and Tidewater overlooks a swampy Inter-Coastal marsh. It’s nice in its own right, but it’s like comparing Angelina Jolie to Rosie O’Donnell. The two are not equal and chances are the publicist who came up with the perky quote never went to Pebble Beach. It is what it is, a golf course which offers the “perfect combination of natural beauty and challenging play.” Outback would serve as the restaurant of choice for two consecutive nights. Knocking down a salad, a Victoria fillet, some shrimp on the Barbie, a baked potato, a piece of cheesecake, and a couple of frozen margaritas after 36-holes isn’t quite heaven, but you sure can definitely see the pearly gates from there. There was no dieting on this trip.
The final day of our trip featured another awesome morning round at Barefoot, this time on the Love course. This course has some pretty cool golf holes and is extremely worthy of its #38 rating. Then it was time for another burger, another massage, and a 20-minute drive. The final venue of the trip was the semi-private Dunes Golf & Beach
Club (rated #39), whose logo is appropriately – an alligator. While here, it struck us as kind of strange that this is the first time we actually saw the ocean from a golf course while in Myrtle Beach. All of the other courses were located inland, surrounded by dense tree lines. Mike Werner, Jeffrey Adkins, and Mike Muchmore were the first group out at the Dunes and blew through in only 3 ½ hours. The rest of us took a more leisurely approach. The cart girl ended up making a killing off of us as we celebrated our Top 100 Quest throughout the round. Brian Birdwell put the trip in perspective as we stood on the 17th tee box. “Now teeing off on the 179th hole of Golfest 2006 …” Man, that is a lot of golf.
Sometime during our four-and-a-half hour adventure, our group stumbled across a left-handed wedge. After inquiring with left handers Greg Jones and Jim Dee, we determined that the club must belong to Mr. Werner – the only other left hander in our group. Something told me that the frat boys were going to get creative returning this club. Obviously, Mike’s toilet was going to come into play, preferably after taking care of business. Later that evening, when the time was right, the club was left stuck in his commode. By the luck of the draw, somebody forgot to flush (actually Mike claimed there was a plumbing problem). About 20-minutes later Mike was heard asking, “Hey, how did this club get in my toilet? Very funny!” We stated we were doing him a favor by returning it -- since he left it on the course. “It’s not mine,” explained Mike. “I use a Callaway wedge. The club in the toilet is a Cleveland?” Whoops? That didn’t work out like it was planned.
When all was said and done, nine courses were knocked off our list in South Carolina. Overall, we played 10 rounds of golf in only six days. Most of us slept very well on the plane, dreaming about Caddyshack. …
(Ty Webb) “I'm going to give you a little advice. There's a force in the universe that makes things happen. And all you have to do is get in touch with it, stop thinking, let things happen, and be the ball." (HOME PAGE)
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