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<p><em>Story by Chris King</em></p>
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<p>The last time I was at the <a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/the-dunes-golf-and-beach-club">Dunes Golf &amp; Beach Club</a>, <a href="https://www.myrtlebeachgolftrips.com/news/gotterup-starts-finishes-strong-at-myrtle-beach-classic/">Chris Gotterup was pulling away from the field en route to a 6-shot victory in the PGA Tour’s inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic</a>.</p>
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<p>Now, it was my turn to challenge the Robert Trent Jones Sr. masterpiece. On a beautiful September afternoon with a slight breeze and no humidity, it was time for me to bring the Dunes Club to its knees.</p>
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<p>(In the interest of full disclosure, I entered the round as a 17 handicap that has risen 2.5 strokes in recent months because I’m suddenly incapable of hitting any iron that doesn’t have 56 degrees of loft. But I arrived certain that a strong round was at hand.)</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="575" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-1-1024x575.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11967" style="width:325px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-1-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-1-768x431.jpg 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-1-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-1-2048x1151.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong>12:45 p.m.</strong><br>A morning meeting ran long so I’m coming in on two wheels with a 1 o’clock tee time. I load up the cart, say hello to Willie, the long-time bag drop attendant at the Dunes Club who is great, and take a couple quick swings to loosen up on the range.</p>
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<p>The practice facility at the Dunes Club is great, so this is the day’s first lost opportunity, but my swing feels good.</p>
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<p><strong>1:00 p.m.</strong><br>My playing partner is a Scotsman who I’ve just met. He is a delight and has a swing I’d consider trading a kidney for. As I watch him bomb his opening tee shot from the 6,735-yard blue tees over the bunkers that haunt people like me, I take a deep breath.</p>
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<p>This poor bastard is from the land of the game’s origin, he arrived on a transatlantic flight the night before, and his introduction to golf in Myrtle Beach and the great state of South Carolina is a round with me.</p>
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<p>Tough break for him.</p>
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<p>My Callaway Epic Max is the most reliable club in my bag, and my first drive is center cut. The approach is short but I two-putt for bogey. A good start.</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="575" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-4-1024x575.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11968" style="width:325px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-4-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-4-300x169.jpg 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-4-768x431.jpg 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-4-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-4-2048x1151.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong>1:34 p.m.</strong><br>No matter the handicap, golfers all battle mental demons. I typically obsess over how I’m hitting the ball. When I have the three-way miss going &#8211; right, left, chunk &#8211; I tend get some combination of embarrassed and angry, especially when I’m playing with someone I don’t know.</p>
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<p>Fortunately, that’s not the case today.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately, I occasionally putt as if the face of my Odyssey Two-Ball is made of rocks. On the Dunes Club’s nearly perfect greens &#8211; they are fast and undulating &#8211; I’m struggling with the flatstick, leading to double bogeys on the second and third holes.</p>
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<p><strong>2:06 p.m.</strong><br>Don’t look now but your boy is playing better. Bogeys on four and five stopped the bleeding. I hit what I thought was a perfect approach on six only for it to go long; a stubbed chip led to a maddening double bogey, but I’m starting to feel good about things.</p>
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<p><strong>2:35 p.m.</strong><br>My new friend, who is cruising along after making par on five of the first six holes, tells me he once shot 4-under in a Scottish junior event but got closed out on 16 by Robert McIntyre (Yes, that’s the same Robert MacIntyre who played for the 2024 European Ryder Cup team and won on the PGA Tour this year).</p>
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<p>None of that intimidates me. We both made bogey on seven and had matching pars on holes eight and nine. I shot 46 on the front, and I’m just hitting my stride.</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="575" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-10-1024x575.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11969" style="width:325px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-10-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-10-300x169.jpg 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-10-768x432.jpg 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-10-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-10-2048x1151.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong>2:46 p.m.</strong><br>A three-putt bogey on the short par 4 10th doesn’t discourage me. I’m playing good golf on a great course.</p>
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<p>My man Fraser might be telling Robert MacIntyre he once played with Chris King at the Dunes Club.</p>
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<p>I can’t wait to play Alligator Alley, as holes 11, 12 and 13 are called!!</p>
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<p><strong>3:21 p.m.</strong><br>Golf is a cruel game. A blocked drive on the beautiful par 4 11 led to an approach shot that was too ambitious for my meager skills. The aggressive play ended at the bottom of Singleton Swash. I made an 8. Let’s move on because I don’t want to talk about it.</p>
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<p>I thinned my tee shot on the par 3 12th and it ended up in a different part of the same swash. The double bogey ended my dreams of breaking Thorbjørn Olesen’s course record of 61, set during the fourth round of the Myrtle Beach Classic.</p>
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<p>Things don’t get any better on the Dunes Club’s most famous hole, the par 5 13th, where another blocked drive (it’s not my miss off the tee. honest!) left my Vice golf ball at the bottom of the lake.</p>
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<p>For those of you concerned about my mental health, I only briefly considered feeding myself to the 11-foot alligator lounging near where I took my drop. I made triple, concluding Alligator Alley in a mind-numbing 9-over. Ugh.</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="575" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-13-1-1024x575.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11970" style="width:325px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-13-1-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-13-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-13-1-768x431.jpg 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-13-1-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Dunes-Club-Hole-13-1-2048x1151.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong>4:15 p.m.</strong><br>On the bright side, I didn’t mail it in after the three-hole dumpster fire, playing the final five holes in 3-over to shoot 49 on the back and 95 for the match. Fraser shot an effortless 74.</p>
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<p>A score for me to be super proud of? No.</p>
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<p>But I played a 3-hour, 15-minute round of golf with great company on an outstanding course that was in mint condition.</p>
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<p>If you have the opportunity to play the <a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/the-dunes-golf-and-beach-club">Dunes Club</a>, take advantage of it; just try not to throw up on yourself on the course’s most famous stretch.</p>
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A Golfer’s Tale: My Round at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club

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