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Story by Ian Guerin
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. | The Masters Tournament captures our hearts each year, the perfect combination of the transition from winter to spring and the first major of the PGA calendar. We tune in to hear Jim Nantz’s “Hello, friends” and then watch some bit of drama unfold from there.
The 2020 version will be the first time the event has ever been played beyond April &#8211; being held November 12-15 this year. But that won’t change the Master’s ties for South Carolina’s northern coastline and how some of the best parts of it connect us to all the game has given us.
From a course with a significant Augusta influence, to designers who succeeded there dropping high-level designs of their own, Myrtle Beach celebrates the Masters as if we were located a few hours to the west.
A SNIPPET OF AUGUSTA
<a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/world-tour-golf-links">World Tour Golf Links</a> includes four homages to the Masters, with the Open Nine’s No. 7 looking awfully similar to Augusta National’s Par-3 16th.
However, the bread and butter of the comparison comes via the 11th, 12th and 13th holes at Augusta National &#8211; represented here at Nos. 4, 5 and 6 on World Tour’s Championship Nine. That’s not by coincidence. Save for the days where double teeing is necessary, players who start on the Open Nine will be faced with these three at the same portion of a round that the big boys do.
It starts with a 435-yard Par 4, where anyone who can stick the middle-to-left side of the fairway will have an opportunity to go after an unobstructed (but tiny) green that is protected on one side by a small pond, the back by the smallest portions of the replica of Rae’s Creek and the right by a banked tree and a minuscule sand trap.
Get through there with par, and the real fun begins.<img decoding="async" alt="World Tour Golf Links" src="/media/images/WTA.jpg" style="width: 300px;height: 225px;float: right" />
The 155-yard Par 3 provides a great view of the replica of Hogan’s Bridge, Rae’s Creek now screaming at players from the tee box. Fly that sufficiently, and the hole’s three bunkers come into play.
The last phase is the 485-yard Par 5, the originally nicknamed “Azalea” for obvious reasons. At World Tour, nearly all of the original dynamic has been presented wonderfully. There is the huge dogleg left after a small streamlining the bend. From there, the water then cuts just wide enough to force the inevitable lay-up for 95 percent of the golfing population. When you eventually do make it over? Yeah, just thank your lucky stars (if) it didn’t take seven shots to start putting.
DESIGNER’S GALORE
Not all former players turn into great designers, but thankfully for us here along the Grand Strand, we got a few who could do both with a sense of responsibility that helped shape the local scene.
Six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus has his <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/long-bay-golf-club">Long Bay Golf Club</a> and <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/pawleys-plantation">Pawleys Plantation Golf &amp; Country Club</a> sandwiching the north and south ends of the Grand Strand, the latter of which he appeared at in the fall of 2018 to review and slightly alter his initial design from 30 years earlier.
Nicklaus’ good friend and three-time Augusta National conqueror Arnold Palmer has four local designs credited to his name: <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/myrtle-beach-national-kings-north">King’s North</a>, <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/myrtle-beach-national-southcreek">SouthCreek</a> and <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/myrtle-beach-national-west-course">West at Myrtle Beach National </a>and the esteemed River’s Edge just across the North Carolina border.
And the third part of the Big Three? Yeah, we’ve got a touch of Gary Player here, too. The three-time Masters winner unveiled his <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/blackmoor-golf-club">Blackmoor Golf Club</a> design thirty years ago, and it’s every bit the thinking-golfer’s track it was that first day.<img decoding="async" alt="Arnold Palmer Statue" src="/media/images/Masters_300.png" style="width: 300px;height: 225px;float: right" />
Smack dab in the middle of Nicklaus, Palmer and Player winning 12 total Masters, Ray Floyd notched the biggest win of his career in 1976 at Augusta. Some 20 years later, he joined forces with Tom Jackson to design <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/arrowhead-country-club">Arrowhead Country Club</a>, a pristine 27-hole design that offers a little bit of everything.
Ian Guerin has been covering sports and golf in South Carolina since 2004. His game has ebbed and flowed like the Atlantic, but he&#8217;s never had to explain to his kids why his round won&#8217;t be televised. You can follow along with the day-to-day conversation on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/iguerin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@iguerin</a>.

Master’s Tie-Ins Abound For Myrtle Beach’s Golf Scene

Courses in this Article

Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club

Long Bay Golf Club

West Course at Myrtle Beach National

South Creek at Myrtle Beach National

Arrowhead Country Club

Blackmoor Golf Club

King's North at Myrtle Beach National

World Tour Golf Links

Additional Myrtle Beach Golf News