TimGavrichGP

Myrtlewood has made huge strides as a multi-course facility in the last decade, between renovations to both of its golf courses and clubhouse. It is now one of the best of the middle-tier places to play in the Grand Strand, and its proximity to the airport makes it a perfect spot for first and/or last rounds on a trip. PineHills, in particular, is an ideal first course for a winter trip because of its relatively open-plan routing that only has out-of-bounds in play around the perimeter.

PineHills’ back nine is the stronger side here, with the run from the par 5 13th hole to the clubhouse featuring a lot of interesting shots. Architect Dan Schlegel’s recent bunker renovation included creating a clever centerline bunker on the par-4 16th that prompts a decision off the tee for every golfer. With the most recent work at PineHills complimenting a renovation a few years ago at the Palmetto course, Myrtlewood is better than ever.

True Blue was an early revelation for me. When I played it for the first time, it opened my eyes to how creative golf course design could be. The sandscapes bordering every hole and the huge, sculpted greens were eye candy that made a deep impression on me. A recent round stirred the familiar warm feelings and nostalgia. Although the greens have shrunk considerably and are due for regressing in the next couple of years, a round at True Blue is as close to a must as the greater Myrtle Beach area provides.

The 1997 PGA Champion and his golf course design firm represent one of America’s most underrated such concerns, and they have been producing high-quality work for three decades going back to this, their first layout on the west side of Fripp. The first dozen holes here are splendid, highlighted by the marshy 6th through 8th and a bona fide drivable par 4 at number 4 (just 275 yards from the tips).

The final third of the course sags ever so slightly with some pedestrian holes, but there is nothing offensive here and like its sibling golf course, plays much longer than its posted yardage from all tees.

Cynthia Dye McGarey and her son Matt took on the task of refreshing this George Cobb original design, and succeeded in tying the golf course cleverly to its partially oceanside setting. Holes move between forest and beach relatively effortlessly, with exposed sandscapes providing aesthetic continuity in both parts of the property.

One impressive aspect of Ocean Point: it might be the longest 6,500-yard course in America, as the prevailing breeze tends to make the long holes play longer. The par 5s are short, so the par 3s can be bearish and the par 4s are sneaky-long because of this. The par-4 9th and par-5 18th holes, each playing along the beach, provide satisfying endings to each nine.

Even though I find the Dye Course to be the best-designed of the three golf courses at PGA Village, the Wanamaker serves as the facility’s flagship course. Ahead of 2025 PGA Professional Championship hosting duties, it just reopened from a summer-long renovation project that brought all new turf and reduced the bunkering by some 40% while giving the course a cleaner, more crisp overall presentation. Members are impressed by the changes, and while I certainly understand the impulse to give that new sheen to a course that will be on TV, I find myself missing some of the more rugged aspects of the course in its previous iteration.

Aesthetic preferences aside, the Wanamaker remains well worth playing, and PGA Golf Club remains one of my favorite golf places for its practically unmatched culture and membership of retired and active PGA professionals. It still accepts public play, and is well worth visiting.

It was fun to return five years after the renovation of the premier resort course at Reynolds to see how nicely it has matured. Conditioning is flawless and the sense of an escalating journey – a mostly inland front nine that gives way to the shoreline-tickling inward half – continues to animate the round. The course is tough but playable from the right tees, with the only real forced carries coming on par 3s (14, 17) or shots that are likely to be played with wedges (9, 11).

Great Waters enjoys its own environment unto itself, away from the main Reynolds complex. This sense of isolation adds to its charm. As a result, it’s one of my favorite 1990s golf courses.

Combining nine brand-new holes with the existing Bluff nine pilfered from The National Course, Reynolds’ new private club-within-the-club is an enjoyable effort by Tom Fazio. The new holes are open-plan, set on their own 75-acre paddock, while the Bluff holes feature the course’s most scenic and interesting golf, from the lakeside par-3 4th to the (now) down-and-left par-5 15th hole and an attractive par-4 17th with a stream beside the green and cutting across to run beside the fairway. Now, Reynolds’ Platinum members can play a different course every day of the week. Must be nice.

Opened in 2002, The Oconee has all the hallmarks of courses built in the hottest years of golf development: heavy shaping, huge bunkers, plenty of water and large, fast-running tiered greens. That was Rees Jones’ specialty through this period, and his course at Reynolds jumps out at you like a full magazine spread. Some holes are a bit one-dimensional but there are some memorable tests here, especially late in the round. The downhill par-3 13th with an enormous coral-shaped bunker is an over-the-top-fun set piece, and the finishing holes that touch the lake are beautiful, especially if you can time your round to coincide with the end of the day.

To the vast majority of golfers, Lake Oconee is associated entirely with the mega-community of Reynolds Lake Oconee and its (now) seven golf courses. The independent Harbor Club therefore flies under the radar – just how the folks there like it. The Tom Weiskopf golf course is charming and beautifully maintained, with a few peeks at the lake.

With a passionate membership, it is open to non-members but doesn’t heavily advertise this fact, so golfers who go to the effort of arranging a round here will feel like invited guests of a refined private club. The community has the distinction of being the post-retirement home of New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle.

I tend to play here one or two times per year and every time I come away impressed. The course is a fun low-profile take on Pete Dye’s design philosophy, it’s always in good shape and there are always accomplished players hanging around. The group in front of me included some competitively accomplished local pros, and an aspiring PGA Tour player cleaning clubs and talking up the day’s players at the bag drop. That sort of convivial atmosphere is rare and precious, and I am always glad to be immersed in it for a while whenever I decide to tee it up at The Florida Club.

Located just north of Port St. Lucie, this public course has a ways to go before being considered more than a filler-round option in the area. Several holes have potential, but the conditioning, especially of the greens, could use a little work. My recent round was delayed more than half an hour due to a very crowded first tee; tee times might be too close together. The clubhouse – a converted model home for the surrounding community – is welcoming, though, and the hot dog is very good.

South Florida has one of the densest concentrations of private golf clubs in America, and the mostly flat terrain makes it challenging for one to stand out from the pack. Despite typically excellent course conditions, Hobe Sound Golf Club suffers slightly from this face-in-the-crowd syndrome, but nevertheless is a fun experience, with several greens with one or two challenging hole locations cut into little corners and shelves. The best aspect of the club is the hangout aspect – a great indoor/outdoor bar and restaurant beside the excellent practice facility.

A checkered past put this course behind the 8-ball, but new ownership is beginning to turn it around. Conditioning is slightly scratchy but improving, and the layout is quirky but has several fun holes that play either precipitously uphill or downhill. The long drop-shot par-3 6th hole is a standout, and the clubhouse and restaurant have been reimagined into a hangout for locals – golfers and otherwise.

After a summer-long renovation project by architect Nathan Crace, this well-priced and picturesque course that straddles a river 35 minutes south of Nashville is better than ever. Brand-new zoysia greens are especially impressive and the removal of thousands of square feet of sand enables some creative mounding to take center stage on several holes. A refreshed clubhouse makes for a welcoming pre- and post-round hangout spot, and the practice facility is well above average for a muni. If I lived close by, I’d be there often.

Recent changes in ownership seem to be benefiting this well-priced semi-private course north of Stuart. The design suffers a bit from low-lying terrain, which can remain soggy for days after a rain, as well as several wetland carries where deferred maintenance can result in overgrowth that is tough to see over. Nevertheless, the greens are decent and the people are friendly.

Dick Wilson’s premature death cost golfers more of his inventive work through the 1960s, but he did leave behind this enjoyable DeKalb County-owned 18 on exciting but still walkable terrain. The front is the better nine here, with a cracking opening: a par 5 that bends like a backwards C to an elevated green followed by a short uphill par 3 to a diabolically pitched putting surface. Conditions were solid and early-morning pace of play was speedy. For less than $50 for an early fall round, it’s hard to beat in a crowded Atlanta metro market.

No longer associated with the resort, Chateau Elan’s private club is a scenic and peaceful place to play if you can score an invite. It loosely fits in the category of “replica” or “tribute” golf courses, because architect Denis Griffiths took input from golf legends Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead and Kathy Whitworth on its design, adapting six of each champion’s favorite holes each. To the course’s benefit, most of these adaptations are on the looser side, and fit the terrain well, although a near-exact replica of Augusta National Golf Club’s 12th hole (Legends’ 15th) is the most memorable single hole on the course.

As one would expect for a well-established private club, conditioning was excellent, pace of play was brisk and the people – members and employees – could not have been more welcoming.

The original golf course at this pleasant winery/resort northeast of Atlanta has the bulbous shaping and grandiose bunkering that many of its contemporaries share, but a tendency towards generous playing corridors makes it a very serviceable resort golf course, as do its good conditioning and its welcoming people. The course switches between hilly and flat river-bottom holes, with the last third featuring the its most memorable holes, including the awkward down-then-up par-4 17th before a long, stately par-4 finisher.

Tour vs. LIV turmoil aside, there is little doubt that the longtime host of the Tour Championship has a brighter future than ever in the wake of a “sympathetic restoration” of its Donald Ross design by architect Andrew Green. Ironically, Green’s most noticeable changes at East Lake were the bunkers, which now look like they were built in the 1920s, when the course originally came into its own. And to be fair, the putting surfaces are much improved, too, with interesting shapes and expanded corners with all sorts of eclectic slopes, tiers and ridges to challenge all comers. Significant tree removal has opened up commanding vistas across the rectangular property with the titular body of water in the middle.

The golf course is likely to be slightly easier for the pros, but more importantly, it is more fun for its well-heeled and enthusiastic membership the other 51 weeks of the year.

My first impression of the Woodlands was about as negative as I have had towards any golf course. It was the 2008 Division III National Championships, and in short, it thrashed me. Narrow fairways, lots of bunkers and firm, unforgiving greens conspired to beat me down in the first round of the tournament.

But my return trip 16 years later was a different story. In recent years the resort has toned down the bunkering, providing a bit more room to play while managing tree encroachment along the corridors well. It’s still my second-favorite of the two 18s at Chateau Elan, but I actually like it now.