Myrtle Beach Sojourn: S.C. 31, True Blue and Arcadian Shores

The MonFam arrived in Surfside Beach on Sunday, and Mr. Mon headed to True Blue on Monday for his first taste of Mike Strantz golf. Having read for years about this architect who left us too soon, it was time to experience his worth first-hand.

True Blue underwhelmed me at the start, with a modest club drop and practice facility, which is always a good thing. Huh? Well, if you are blown away by the attendants and the range, you might forget that what matters is the course. True Blue is true in senses of the word not yet imagined. Strantz was a master, in the tradition of MacKenzie, Hurdzan, and Old Tom, of creating a course that challenges the low ‘capper from the tips, yet is playable from the forward tees. I experienced this with Donald and Donna Blinko from Bardstown, KY. Donald is five inches taller than I, and hits it about 290 (some forty yards farther than my best.) It sucked to get outdriven, but that’s golf. Now I know how David Toms feels when paired with Vijay.

Mom Donna is a forward-tees player who hits it well at 150 yards, sometimes more. They had quite a match, and proved that Strantz was as capable an architect as there is/was of his generation.

My one regret is that Caledonia, the sister course, would not extend an invitation to play a round. Donald compared True Blue to Pine Valley, and Caledonia to Augusta National. I will have to go with his assessment for the time being.

The coolest non-golf thing I found was the waste bunkers…you drive your carts through them, packing the sand. Strantz produced five magnificent par fives with enormous berths of fairway, making the holes a cinch if you hit those pastures. Trouble is, he lures you visually to cut corners, seek shortcuts, and risk rewards. In the end, he got me on all five par fives, as I managed only one par (and I was striping it!).

Tuesday brought one of Rees Jones original creations from 1974, Arcadian Shores. When you make plans for Myrtle Beach, it makes sense to mix the old with the new. On the way to the Shores, we passed Waterway Hills, still the only golf course accessible by ski lift that I know of. Huh? Well, parking is on one side of the Intracoastal Waterway, and the course on the other. You load your clubs, climb aboard the coaster, and off you go!

Arcadian Shores is a clear example of a son following his father, while not making the course too diabolical for the average golfer. If you don’t like the middle-of-the-fairway hazards that Rees is placing in his current crop of courses, come play Arcadian Shores. Rees placed those bunkers to the sides, allowing avenues of escape for anyone over a scratch handicap. True, he does go overboard with the forced water hazard carries (2, 13, and 11 are three examples), but that’s part of the era. Although the course likes to point to numbers 2 and 13 as signature holes, I will remember numbers 11 and 18, as they challenged on the drive and the approach, yet remained fair. The course is playable from 1st tee to 18th green, and will soon boast enhanced conditioning when it is taken over by Burroughs and Chapin in two years.

My partners for the day included nephew Karl, playing his first full 18 holes, and Larry and Lynn Moore of Roanoke and Nashville, respectively. Again we ran the gamut of skill levels, with the Mon off the back tees, Larry off the middle tees, and Lynn and Karl from the fronts.

I’m looking forward to Wachesaw East on Wednesday, and two more surprises on Thursday and Friday. Thank God for Route 31, the antidote for 17 N and S. After traveling 30 miles in one hour to the north on 17, I accidentally jumped across the waterway and onto 31, and made the same trip in 20 minutes (I had the wind at my back!) Myrtle Beach golf is full of surprises, and if you can avoid the hot babes on the beach and the motorcycles on the roadways, you’ll get your fill of golf.