<img decoding="async" alt="True Blue Golf Club 1st Hole" src="/media/images/True_Blue_1st_Hole_1200.png" style="width: 600px;height: 300px" />
Story by Ian Guerin
The joy of golf isn’t tied to difficulty &#8211; that is, if you’re concentrating on what’s important.
And for those of us who won’t be teeing it up on a tour any time soon, that means ultra-beautiful courses can frequently hand us our behinds on a silver platter. On the south end of the Myrtle Beach area, three courses fit that bill for me more often than not, packaging some of the nicest tracks along the entire Grand Strand are also among the hardest.
These three have earned their reputations, both in terms of wow factor and the potential gut punches they can deliver.
These three have earned their reputations, both in terms of wow factor and the potential gut punches they can deliver.
3. <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/true-blue">TRUE BLUE GOLF CLUB</a> 
Designer: Mike Strantz 
Year opened: 1998 
Par: 72 
Distances: 6,812/6,205/4,508 
Careful now: Strantz tuned his inner Salvador Dali with True Blue, using various bunkering, dog legs, natural grass and waste areas throughout before using the oversized ponds feeding this old rice land as centerpieces for the final three holes. All that makes True Blue a true shotmaker’s course, something that doesn’t exactly play into most players’ hands.
Hole to watch: The tone setter here smacks many a player in the face right off the bat. The 499-yard Par 5 No. 1 includes dueling fairway waste bunkers on either side &#8211; both of which are reachable from the tee &#8211; a dogleg left, an oxbow stream separating the approach and green from the fairway and then a green protected on either side by two more waste bunkers. (Top photo) 
 
2. <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/tournament-player-club">TPC OF MYRTLE BEACH</a><img decoding="async" alt="TPC Myrtle Beach 15th Hole" src="/media/images/TPC_15.png" style="width: 250px;height: 250px;float: right" /> 
Designer: Tom Fazio 
Year opened: 1999 
Par: 72 
Distances: 6,950/6,193/5,118 
Careful now: The funny part about TPC is that this course can be a whole bunch tougher than what the average player can even imagine. Trust us; we played it when it was set to the championship levels for the <a href="https://worldjuniorgolfchampionship.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship</a>. It’s important to remember that Fazio originally designed this bad boy to hold professional events. TPC is tamed some by playing from the whites, but the element of danger is there regardless.
Hole to watch: The 403-yard Par 4 at No. 15 is a good microcosm of how the difficulty factor at TPC can sneak up on you in a hurry and then stick in your craw for the next few swings. From the tee box, you’re asked to fly a natural waste area onto a fairway shaping 45 degrees toward the green. If you don’t carry it, your penalty stroke doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods, either. The relatively slender fairway drops off on the left side into all sorts of problems. (Pictured right) 
 
1. <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/pawleys-plantation">PAWLEYS PLANTATION GOLF &amp; COUNTRY CLUB</a><img decoding="async" alt="Pawleys Plantation 16th Hole" src="/media/images/PP16.png" style="width: 250px;height: 250px;float: right" /> 
Designer: Jack Nicklaus 
Year opened: 1988 
Par: 72 
Distances: 7,031/6,184/4,932 
Careful now: Every bit of a Lowcountry course, Pawleys Plantation made extensive use of the three biggest environmental traits of the area: Live oaks with plenty of Spanish moss, huge waste areas (both sand and grass) and the water feeding from the nearby marshes powering it all. Those elements both blend and contrast spectacularly, leaving your focus and ability to take on Nicklaus’ gem nothing short of an extreme challenge.
Hole to watch: Make it to the tiny green on No. 16, and your emotions are in one of two camps &#8211; either feeling like you just conquered the world or pure relief that this hole is over. The 405-yard Par 4 tricks you off the tee with a wind landing area, only to backdoor you with a dogleg left, squeezed fairway, an unnavigable waste area up the right and then a huge waste bunker hugging that minuscule putting surface. (Pictured right)
 
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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Three Most Difficult Courses on the South Strand

Courses in this Article

True Blue Golf Club

TPC of Myrtle Beach

Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club

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