Village Squire, 1976-02, Page 21Travel
It's the time
of year
when the golf fanatics
rush south
to rush spring.
BY TED PARKS
Relegate the skis to the attic, unearth the
golf clubs, re -polish the irons and grip the
driver.
Feeling good?_
Keep your head down, your eyes on the
ball.
FORE!
Swing now towards spring when the snows
have melted and the frost has gone, leaving
the home greens and fairways ready for play.
For the necessary pre -season practice, go
south and join what, at last count, were close
to 12 million players in the United States
enjoying the golf boom there.
Investors pumped more than S350 million
into new courses last year despite the
recession, and in the three years before that
700 regulation layouts and 75 shorter ones
were built.
Together, the U.S. can now count a total of
12,300 courses for a gross investment of $3.8
billion.
The private clubs, which once held the
monopoly in championship layouts, have
challengers now in resort courses, both old
and new.
Among the glamour resorts in the south are
Hilton Head in South Carolina, Doral in
Florida and Sea. Island in Georgia.
Newer courses are also being talked about.
Here is a selection:
Copperhead at Tarpon Springs, Florida, a
7,031 -yard, par -71 course; John's Island
North at Vero Beach, 6,189 yards and par -71;
Lake Surf at Southern Pines, North
Carolina, 7,000 yards and par -72;
The new George Fazio at Palmetto Dunes,
Ancient Elms and lush greenery dominate the beautiful Callaway Gardens Golf
course at Pine Mountain, Georgia.
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, 6,873
yards and par -70;
Arcadian Shores at Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina, 6,960 yards and par -72.
Teeing off across the U.S. means driving
across courses of all sizes and all varieties,
each a match for every grade of player.
Take a pin for a selection, since this
mini -guide can do no more than suggest
locations ranging from tropical layouts
surrounded by palms and live oak, to courses
fringed by sandy shores.
In between are mountaintop and valley
courses, lending a terrible hazard to the
game, since the scenery is often so splendid
that the player is tempted to lift his head and
to slice the approach shot.
South Carolina can match the best in
quantity and quality, particularly in the
Myrtle Beach area and the Grand Strand, a
60 -mile stretch of oceanfront between
Georgetown and Loris through which the
Intracoastal Waterway runs.
Golf has been booming here for little more
than a decade, but during this time Myrtle
Beach, at the Grand Strand's centre, has
established itself as the Canadian golfer's
second home.
It would be wrong to stress favourites,
since tastes differ, but, touching on some will
give a general idea of the whole.
For example, Myrtlewood, within the
Beach itself, has a par -72 championship
course ssith enough treeha;ards and water
and sand traps to satisfy anyone.
Sea Gull, built in an old plantation below
Pawleys Island, has large greens and wide
fairways and at least 50 sand traps. It has no
parallel fairways and is a good test for the
medium and the top player.
Cyprus Bay, located near Little River, off
Highway 17 North, has its own private
airstrip - fly in and be on the tee within
minutes.
There can be flying of a,different sort at the
Eagles Nest Golf Club, established in an old
pine forst.
The chances here are that the eagle family,
which maintains squatter's rights on the
eighth tee, will be there to watch you
critically.
On Highway 501, about seven miles from
the Beach, is Myrtle Beach National Golf
Club, a 72 -hole complex with best grass
greens.
Litchfield Country Club's 18 -hole champ-
ionship course - all Tifton grass - plays to a
par -72 and is 6,751 yards from the
tournament tees, 6,376 yards from the
regular tees.
Now, on to Hilton Head Island, that part of
South Carolina which lies between Charleston
and Savannah, Georgia.
Golf here has risen steadily and, along with
it, tennis.
Sea Pines Plantation, with more than four
miles of beach along the Atlantic, has three
resort courseg and 39 tennis courts.
Among the golf courses is the Harbor Town
Golf Links, home of the Heritage Classic. It
has boarded sand traps in a sea island
setting.
Here, too, is the Ocean Course whose 15th
whole is said to be the most photographed of
any on the east coast.
Local players warn that to overshoot it
VILLAGE SQUIRE/FEBRUARY 1976, 19