<img decoding="async" alt="Pine Lakes Country Club" src="/media/images/Pine_Lakes_golfers_600x300.png" style="width: 600px;height: 300px" />
Story by Ian Guerin
| It’s important to start this off by telling you that I absolutely love Sunday Bermudagrass as it has started to be utilized up and down South Carolina’s Grand Strand.
The strain fits perfectly with the climate here, and even after a few short years since certain courses started retrofitting their greens with it, we can tell it holds up extremely well.
Spoiler: I was a wee bit jazzed to see how it was applied at <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/pine-lakes-country-club">Pine Lakes Country Club</a>.
As part of a large-scale greens and bunkers revitalization project, The Grandaddy installed Sunday on all 18 holes of the Par-70 design.
“[The response has been] overwhelming positive,” General Manager and Head Golf Professional Jimmy Biggs said. “The members and general public love the speeds that we can achieve on the Sunday Bermudagrass. … The Sunday can get as quick as we want it while the paspalum had its limitations.”
The project, done in conjunction with architect Craig Schreiner, didn’t simply cut out some old sod and drop the Sunday on top. Greens were expanded back to their original design &#8211; an addition of some 21,000 square feet, or roughly 20 percent. It was joined by a rejuvenation effort on its bunkers. I’ll get to that in a moment.
Need to gush about these greens a bit more.<img decoding="async" alt="Pine Lakes Country Club" src="/media/images/Pl1.png" style="width: 225px;height: 225px;float: right" />
Even without some of the remaining white lines from the expansion still on the turf, the change was felt immediately. The larger back end of the putting surface on No. 1 (in this case, since it was a front hole location) was obvious. And by that, I mean massive.
Connecting with greens in regulation is crucial, even if the first putt is 40-50 away. That’s because with the new speeds that are possible &#8211; and the fact that new grass is going to lead to more consistent putting conditions &#8211; 40-50 feet on Sunday can feel like 20-30 on something else. Does that mean any ol’ duffer is going to be knocking in PGA-distance putts?
Of course not.
But getting close to the stick is no stretch of the imagination. It’s a nice touch.
Now, about those bunkers? That’s the other big thing that happened here.
The days of the flashed bunkers with steep faces between you and the green are gone. So, too, are the days of sludgy sand after wet days. Schreiner and Co. smoothed out those bunkers and even added some grass here and there to create pockets of space between the sand and putting surface (some “finger” grass juts into a few of the old bunker patterns, as well). It means in several spots &#8211; No. 5, among them &#8211; that if you fall just short of the green you’re not automatically forced to add a sand save to the hole.
But even if you do plunk down, this is where the upgraded sand and drainage system come into play. Not all that long ago, another local golfer and I were playing <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/pine-lakes-country-club">Pine Lakes</a> when the skies opened up and everything was under water for a few minutes. Most of the grass dried out pretty quickly, but the bunkers were a different story.
We played 14 of the 18 holes that day with free drops from the sand. Don’t judge us. It was what it was.<img decoding="async" alt="Pine Lakes Country Club" src="/media/images/Pl2.png" style="width: 225px;height: 225px;float: right" />
Now, the sand used will take that out of the equation. It’s ultra-fine, and any potential water isn’t sitting in the bunkers long enough for it to goop up the sand.
In my mind, the improvements completed the course.
Pine Lakes is supposed to be fun, a throwback layout that isn’t too easy but also is going to rough you up on something that isn’t supposed to. Getting those greens and bunkers updated does just that.
“I tell everyone that we took the two biggest knocks on the course and removed them,” Biggs said. “Poorly draining bunkers and slow greens are no longer in our vocabulary. You truly get the whole golf experience that Pine Lakes deserves.”
 
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="https://twitter.com/iguerin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@iguerin</a>

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