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Par-3, Par-4 or Par-5 holes: Which is best?

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If you asked a dozen golfers which type of hole they prefer — a par-3, a par-4 or a par-5 — I’d be surprised if any said they liked the par-4 best.

At least none did when I asked that question last week around some local courses.

The par-3 got some votes for its one crack at glory ethos; its closest to the pin competitions and the only semi-legitimate hope most golfers have for a hole-in-one.

Overwhelmingly though, in my admittedly small sample, the majority prefer a par-5.

[quote_box_center]“Especially if it bends a little left and maybe has an elevated tee,” G told me at Vellano Country Club. And it was instantly obvious. “If I catch my drive I can go after the green on my second shot.” Even if the 23-year old with a powerful, though ungainly swing mishits it a little, he’ll still have an attacking short wedge for his third. “Par should be the worst score I make then,” he said.[/quote_box_center]

“I like short par-3s,” Josh said. He’s probably in his early 30s in age and mid-teens in handicap and he was getting ready to play at Woodhaven. “But even when the par-3s are longer, over 165 say, I can still have a couple of ‘short par-3s’ if I hit two good shots on the par-5s.”

And he lost me there for a second, then I realized he meant he was playing the par-5s to make them into par-3s.

It’s true. A 520-yard par-5 sounds long and possibly intimidating to many golfers, but if you can hit two shots a total of 400 yards, your third shot on that par-5 will only be 120. And that’s shorter than three-quarters of the par-3s that most of us play.

The par-3 did get some outright love from the golfers I asked.

[quote_box_center]“Everybody in the foursome has the exact same shot, so it’s a chance to beat the other guys,” an older man, Richard, told me at Mesquite, a public course in Palm Springs. “Guys remember who hits it close on the 3-pars.”[/quote_box_center]

And I thought calling them 3-pars was something they only did on TV. Then I wondered away, wondering why no one ever mentions 5-pars during the telecasts.

[quote_box_center]“I like a golf course that opens with a par-5,” Luke told me at Shandin Hills, a course where the first hole is a 490-yard par-5 from the blue tees. “You can get a lot of roll here and have a shot at it, but with those traps in front of the green [on both sides] today I’ll probably lay-up unless I crush it.”[/quote_box_center]

On the PGA Tour, par-5s are the scoring holes, whether players are laying-up to their favorite distance or if they’re two-putting for birdie. Bubba Watson currently leads the Tour in percentage of birdies or better on par-5s, making a score of either 3 or 4 over 60 percent of the time.

On the par-3s, the leading pros are barely above 20 percent, though surprisingly to me, that’s slightly below the birdie or better percentage leader for par-4s. Then again, it’s Jordan Spieth leading that category, so maybe there’s no reason to be surprised.

[quote_box_center]“Par-4s don’t always give you a chance to recover from a bad shot,” Freddy told me at PGA West. And with that mindset, I told him I hoped he wasn’t playing the Stadium Course today.[/quote_box_center]

“With a par-5,” he said, “you can usually still recover from a not-so-great drive. Or if you hit a good drive but not a good second, you’ll still have a chance to get on the green in regulation,” he reasoned.

“But don’t most par-5s have more trouble than other holes?” I asked. “The greens are usually smaller on par-5s and there’s generally trouble around them.”

“There’s usually trouble on all the holes,” Freddy said, and I could see he was familiar with Pete Dye’s Stadium Course.

A woman named Jenny who was making the turn at Escena told me, “The par-4s and par-5s are usually too long for most women, so I prefer a par-3. I’ve made a hole-in-one before, in fact I have two of them, but I’ve never eagled a par-4 or a par-5.”

And with that she got in her cart to go try her luck at No. 10, a 260-yard par-4 from the forward tees.

The last golfer I asked was Damien, a deeply-tanned desert player wearing all white. “I’m pretty long off the tee,” he said, not bragging I knew since I’d seen him pound a few drives already. “I’ll usually have at least a short iron in on any par-4 or par-5. But sometimes, when par-3s are over 200-yards, then I’ll have to hit a 4-iron or hybrid.”

And thinking about hitting my driver from that distance on a par-3, I was sure Damien could feel my sympathy.

[quote_box_center]“I have a better chance on the par-4s and 5s,” he said. “But any hole, par-3, par-4 or par-5, if you hit a couple of good shots, or even a good chip, you should have at least a putt for par.” [/quote_box_center]

What’s your favorite par hole?

Let us know in the comments section below, and read the first three chapters of Tom Hill’s humorous golf book, A Perfect Lie – The Hole Truth: 18 Holes of Golf in Pursuit of the Round of a Lifetime, for free at 7-ironpress.com. Get free shipping on the paperback or $4 off on the e-book when you enter the code GOLFWRX1 at check-out.

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Tom Hill is a 9.7 handicap, author and former radio reporter. Hill is the author of the recently released fiction novel, A Perfect Lie – The Hole Truth, a humorous golf saga of one player’s unexpected attempt to shoot a score he never before thought possible. Kirkus Reviews raved about A Perfect Lie, (It) “has the immediacy of a memoir…it’s no gimme but Hill nails it square.” (kirkusreviews.com). A Perfect Lie is available as an ebook or paperback through 7-ironpress.com and the first three chapters are available online to sample. Hill is a dedicated golfer who has played more than 2,000 rounds in the past 30 years and had a one-time personal best handicap of 5.5. As a freelance radio reporter, Hill covered more than 60 PGA and LPGA tournaments working for CBS Radio, ABC Radio, AP Audio, The Mutual Broadcasting System and individual radio stations around the country. “Few knew my name and no one saw my face,” he says, “but millions heard my voice.” Hill is the father of three sons and lives with his wife, Arava Talve, in southern California where he chases after a little white ball as often as he can.

9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Dave N

    May 6, 2015 at 9:57 am

    Absolutely a short (drive able) par 4. So much variety based on where they put the tees, what the weather is doing, etc. especially like one that requires skill to hit the green… No straight aways, plenty of risk to go for it. Options to lay back with an iron but still a challenging approach. Hole 12 at Chambers Bay is an example. Used to play a course with a hole that was 275-290 with a sharp dog leg right, over trees, three bunkers short and right, two bunkers left, tri-level green with a hill in the back. So you could go for it, but usually ended up with a sand shot or a downhill pitch onto a downhill green. Laying up off the tee still required long iron or hybrid to get around the corner– 220-250 and still required a good pitch because the green was tricky. So much fun to play.

  2. TheCityGame

    May 6, 2015 at 8:58 am

    First thought i had was par 4’s. Par 4’s are the thinkers. The risk-reward decisions on par 5’s are always obvious : Hit driver, then go for it or lay up.

    Par 4’s challenge you with club choice, ball flight, taking on a trap, finding the best angle.

    One course I play, the 5’s are long and straight with occasional bunkering. The 4’s challenge you to hit draw, draw, draw, then 2 in a row that demand a fade. Then, a draw where you can reach if you carry some trees followed by a 420 uphill par 4. On the back, the 4’s require a draw, a fade, a fade, a draw, a fade and then a draw.

    On my home course, my club selection on the par 4’s from the whites is typically driver, hybrid, 4W, driver, 4W, 4 iron, 4 iron, hybrid, 4W, driver, 6 iron. On the par 5’s, every one of them is driver-4W, unless you catch a good drive on one and then it’s driver driver-whatever. There’s no logic in laying up on that hole.

    Most par 3’s are just a matter of club selection and good contact. They might have options to be beautiful, but strategically, the only question is really “how aggressive do I want to be?”

    Par 4’s are the spice of a golf course.

  3. other paul

    May 5, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    All holes are par 3s… Sort of…

  4. CRiley

    May 5, 2015 at 6:57 pm

    Definitely a 270-310 yrd par-4. I love the variety and challenge. You can lay up with an iron if you hit it long, or for sorter hitters hit driver or 3-wood of the tee. Either of these leaves you a short iron in and a chance at Birdie. If you can hit it 240+ you can bomb and leave yourself a pitch or try and drive the green. Either way this risk can lead to a tricky short side or easy pitch. I just love the creativity and options. A short hitting kid with a good wedge can beat a Big hitter straight up. That is one of the things I love about golf.

  5. acemandrake

    May 5, 2015 at 6:12 pm

    Any hole where the approach shot is a 7-iron or less.

  6. Mke

    May 5, 2015 at 5:58 pm

    A par 5 you can reach in 2.

  7. Craigar

    May 5, 2015 at 2:02 pm

    The one thing I have noticed in my area are the some of the disadvantages for the people playing from the forward tees. Most of the par 4’s & 5’s with elevated tee boxes have some sort of forced carry. As you move forward and by the time you get to the forward tee box, not only can you not see the flag most of the time, there are a few holes you can’t even see the 150 yard marker due to the hill you have to hit over. I am not sure how you can reverse the tee boxes to where the forward tee boxes are at the highest point and the tips are at the lowest to challenge the better players. The problem I have witnessed is that the majority of the players from the forward tees have the length to get to the 150 yd marker on a par 4, but don’t have the height to make it over the hill. Theoretically these become a par 5 for most of those players. My wife doesn’t complain because that is just the way has been for decades, but I have seen younger women starting out get frustrated and quit after a couple of years. Unfortunately I don’t know if there is a cost effective way to rectify the situation.

  8. MHendon

    May 5, 2015 at 11:54 am

    Well if you putt a gun to my head and made me pick one over the other I guess it would be a par 5 for the chance at eagle. However I like them all, a par 3 gives you a chance at one swing glory for a hole in one, long par 4’s give me the opportunity to stripe a long iron onto the green, and short par 4’s give you a chance to drive the green. Any one of the above scenarios will have you sticking your chest out a little more than usual. The one hole I don’t like is the supper long par 5 that even with your best drive you still have to lay up.

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Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Why the race to get better at golf might be doing more harm than good

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B.F. Skinner was one of the most important psychologists of the 20th century, developing the foundation of the development of reinforcement, and in doing so, creating the concept of behaviorism. In simple terms, this means that we are conditioned by our habits. In practical terms, it explains the divide between the few and far between elite instructors and college coaches.

To understand the application, let’s quickly review one of B.F. Skinner’s most important experiments; superstitions in the formation of behavior by pigeons. In this experiment, food was dispensed to pigeons at random intervals. Soon, according to Skinner, the pigeons began to associate whatever action they were doing at the time of the food being dispensed. According to Skinner, this conditioned that response and soon, they simply haphazardly repeated the action, failing to distinguish between cause and correlation (and in the meantime, looking really funny!).

Now, this is simply the best way to describe the actions of most every women’s college golf coach and too many instructors in America. They see something work, get positive feedback and then become conditioned to give the feedback, more and more, regardless of if it works (this is also why tips from your buddies never work!).

Go to a college event, particularly a women’s one, and you will see coaches running all over the place. Like the pigeons in the experiment, they have been conditioned into a codependent relationship with their players in which they believe their words and actions, can transform a round of golf. It is simply hilarious while being equally perturbing

In junior golf, it’s everywhere. Junior golf academies make a living selling parents that a hysterical coach and over-coaching are essential ingredients in your child’s success.

Let’s be clear, no one of any intellect has any real interest in golf — because it’s not that interesting. The people left, including most coaches and instructors, carve out a small fiefdom, usually on the corner of the range, where they use the illusion of competency to pray on people. In simple terms, they baffle people with the bullshit of pseudo-science that they can make you better, after just one more lesson.

The reality is that life is an impromptu game. The world of golf, business, and school have a message that the goal is being right. This, of course, is bad advice, being right in your own mind is easy, trying to push your ideas on others is hard. As a result, it is not surprising that the divorce rate among golf professionals and their instructors is 100 percent. The transfer rate among college players continues to soar, and too many courses have a guy peddling nefarious science to good people. In fact, we do at my course!

The question is, what impact does all this have on college-age and younger kids? At this point, we honestly don’t know. However, I am going to go out on a limb and say it isn’t good.

Soren Kierkegaard once quipped “I saw it for what it is, and I laughed.” The actions of most coaches and instructors in America are laughable. The problem is that I am not laughing because they are doing damage to kids, as well as driving good people away from this game.

The fact is that golfers don’t need more tips, secrets, or lessons. They need to be presented with a better understanding of the key elements of golf. With this understanding, they can then start to frame which information makes sense and what doesn’t. This will emancipate them and allow them to take charge of their own development.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Valspar Championship betting preview: Elite ballstrikers to thrive at Copperhead

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The PGA TOUR will stay in Florida this week for the 2024 Valspar Championship.

The Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort is a par 71 measuring 7,340 yards and features Bermudagrass greens overseeded with POA. Infamous for its difficulty, the track will be a tough test for golfers as trouble lurks all over the place. Holes 16, 17 and 18 — also known as the “Snake Pit” — make up one of the toughest three-hole stretches in golf and should lead to a captivating finish on Sunday.

The field is comprised of 156 golfers teeing it up. The field this week is solid and is a major improvement over last year’s field that felt the impact of players skipping due to a handful of “signature events” in a short span of time. 

Past Winners at Valspar Championship

  • 2023: Taylor Moore (-10)
  • 2022: Sam Burns (-17)
  • 2021: Sam Burns (-17)
  • 2019: Paul Casey (-8)
  • 2018: Paul Casey (-10)
  • 2017: Adam Hadwin (-14)
  • 2016: Charl Schwartzel (-7)
  • 2015: Jordan Spieth (-10)

In this article and going forward, I’ll be using the Rabbit Hole by Betsperts Golf data engine to develop my custom model. If you want to build your own model or check out all of the detailed stats, you can sign up using promo code: MATTVIN for 25% off any subscription package (yearly is best value). 

Key Stats For Copperhead

1. Strokes Gained: Approach

Strokes Gained: Approach grades out as the most important statistic once again this week. Copperhead really can’t be overpowered and is a second-shot golf course.

Total SG: Approach Over Past 24 Rounds (per round)

  1. Tony Finau (+.90)
  2. Nick Taylor (+.81)
  3. Justin Thomas (+.77)
  4. Greyson Sigg (+.69)
  5. Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+.67)

2. Good Drive %

The long hitters can be a bit limited here due to the tree-lined fairways and penal rough. Playing from the fairways will be important, but laying back too far will cause some difficult approaches with firm greens that may not hold shots from long irons.

Golfers who have a good balance of distance and accuracy have the best chance this week.

Good Drive % Over Past 24 Rounds

  1. Brice Garnett (+91.3%) 
  2. Zach Johnson (+91.1%)
  3. Sam Ryder (+90.5%)
  4. Ryan Moore (+90.4%)
  5. Aaron Rai (+89.7%)

3. Strokes Gained: Ball Striking

Adding ball-striking puts even more of a premium on tee-to-green prowess in the statistical model this week. Golfers who rank highly in ball-striking are in total control of the golf ball which is exceedingly important at Copperhead.

SG: Ball Striking Over Past 24 Rounds:

  1. Xander Schauffele (+1.32)
  2. Keith Mitchell (+1.29)
  3. Tony Finau (+1.24)
  4. Cameron Young (+1.17) 
  5. Doug Ghim (+.95)

4. Bogey Avoidance

With the conditions likely to be difficult, avoiding bogeys will be crucial this week. In a challenging event like the Valspar, oftentimes the golfer who is best at avoiding mistakes ends up on top.

Gritty golfers who can grind out difficult pars have a much better chance in an event like this than a low-scoring birdie-fest.

Bogey Avoidance Over Past 24 Rounds

  1. Brice Garnett (+9.0)
  2. Xander Schauffele (+9.3)
  3. Austin Cook (+9.7) 
  4. Chesson Hadley (+10.0)
  5. Greyson Sigg (+10.2)

5. Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions

Conditions will be tough this week at Copperhead. I am looking for golfers who can rise to the occasion if the course plays as difficult as it has in the past.

Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions Over Past 24 rounds

  1. Xander Schauffele (+1,71) 
  2. Min Woo Lee (+1.39)
  3. Cameron Young (+1.27)
  4. Jordan Spieth (+1.08)
  5. Justin Suh (+.94)

6. Course History

That statistic will tell us which players have played well at Copperhead in the past.

Course History Over Past 24 rounds

  1. Patrick Cantlay (+3.75) 
  2. Sam Burns (+2.49)
  3. Davis Riley (+2.33)
  4. Matt NeSmith (+2.22)
  5. Jordan Spieth (+2.04)

The Valspar Championship Model Rankings

Below, I’ve compiled overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed — SG: Approach (27%), Good Drive % (15%), SG: BS (20%), Bogeys Avoided (13%), Course History (13%) Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions (12%).

  1. Xander Schauffele
  2. Doug Ghim
  3. Victor Perez
  4. Greyson Sigg
  5. Ryan Moore
  6. Tony Finau
  7. Justin Thomas
  8. Sam Ryder
  9. Sam Burns
  10. Lucas Glover

2024 Valspar Championship Picks

Justin Thomas +1400 (DraftKings)

Justin Thomas will be disappointed with his finish at last week’s PLAYERS Championship, as the past champion missed the cut despite being in some decent form heading into the event. Despite the missed cut, JT hit the ball really well. In his two rounds, the two-time major champion led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach per round.

Thomas has been up and down this season. He’s missed the cut in two “signature events” but also has finishes of T12 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, T12 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, T6 at the Pebble Beach AT&T Pro-Am and T3 at the American Express. In his past 24 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and 6th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking in the field.

Thomas loves Copperhead. In his last three tries at the course, he’s finished T13, T3 and T10. Thomas would have loved to get a win at a big event early in the season, but avoidable mistakes and a balky putter have cost him dearly. I believe a trip to a course he loves in a field he should be able to capitalize on is the right recipe for JT to right the ship.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout +6000 (FanDuel)

Christiaan Bezuidenhout is playing spectacular golf in the 2024 season. He finished 2nd at the American Express, T20 at Pebble Beach and T24 at the Genesis Invitational before finishing T13 at last week’s PLAYERS Championship.

In his past 24 rounds, the South African ranks 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and 26th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking. Bezuidenhout managed to work his way around TPC Sawgrass last week with minimal damage. He only made five bogeys in the entire week, which is a great sign heading into a difficult Copperhead this week.

Bezuidenhout is winless in his PGA Tour career, but certainly has the talent to win on Tour. His recent iron play tells me that this week could be a breakthrough for the 35-year-old who has eyes on the President’s Cup.

Doug Ghim +8000 (FanDuel)

Doug Ghim has finished in the top-16 of his past five starts. Most recently, Ghim finished T16 at The PLAYERS Championship in a loaded field.

In his past 24 rounds, Ghim ranks 8th in Strokes Gained: Approach and 5th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking. In terms of his fit for Copperhead, the 27-year-old ranks 12th in Bogey Avoidance and 7th in Strokes Gained: Total in Difficult Conditions, making him a great fit for the course.

Ghim has yet to win on Tour, but at one point he was the top ranked Amateur golfer in the world and played in the 2017 Arnold Palmer Cup and 2017 Walker Cup. He then won the Ben Hogan award for the best male college golfer in 2018. He certainly has the talent, and there are signals aplenty that his talent in ready to take him to the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour.

Sepp Straka +8000 (BetRivers)

Sepp Straka is a player who’s shown he has the type of game that can translate to a difficult Florida golf course. The former Presidents Cup participant won the 2022 Honda Classic in tough conditions and should thrive with a similar test at Copperhead.

It’s been a slow 2024 for Straka, but his performance last week at the PLAYERS Championship surely provides some optimism. He gained 5.4 strokes on approach as well as 1.88 strokes off the tee. The tee-to-green game Straka showed on a course with plenty of danger demonstrates that he can stay in control of his golf ball this week.

It’s possible that the strong performance last week was an outlier, but I’m willing to bet on a proven winner in a weaker field at a great number.

Victor Perez +12000 (FanDuel)

Victor Perez is no stranger to success in professional golf. The Frenchman has three DP World Tour wins including a Rolex Series event. He won the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, as well as the 2023 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, which are some big events.

Perez earned his PGA Tour card this season and enters the week playing some fantastic golf. He finished in a tie for 16th in Florida at the Cognizant Classic and then tied for third in his most recent start at the Puerto Rico Open.

In his past 24 rounds in the field, Perez ranks 11th in Strokes Gained: Approach, 1oth in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking, 6th in Good Drive % and 15th in Bogey Avoidance.

Perez comes in as a perfect fit for Copperhead and offers serious value at triple-digit odds.

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Opinion & Analysis

Myrtle Beach, Explored: February in South Carolina

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As I gain in experience and age, and familiarity breeds neither contempt nor disdain, I understand why people return to a place. A destination like Myrtle Beach offers a sizable supply and diversity of restaurants, entertainment venues, and shops that are predicated on the tenets of the service industry. Greet your customers with a smile and a kind word, and they will find comfort and assurance. Provide them with a memorable experience and they will suggest your place of business to others.

My first tour of Myrtle Beach took place in the mid-1980s, and consisted of one course: Gator Hole. I don’t remember much from that day, and since Gator Hole closed a decade later, I cannot revisit it to recollect what I’d lost. Since then, I’ve come to the Grand Strand a few times, and been fortunate to never place a course more than once. I’ve seen the Strantz courses to the south and dipped my toe in the North Carolina courses of Calabash. I’ve been to many in the middle, including Dunes, Pine Lakes, Grande Dunes among them.

2024 brought a quartet of new courses, including two at the Barefoot Resort. I’d heard about the North Myrtle Beach four-pack of courses that highlight the Barefoot property, including layouts from Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Davis Love III, and Greg Norman. I had the opportunity to play and shoot the Dye and Fazio tracks, which means that I’ll have to return to see the other two. Sandwiched between them were the TPC-Myrtle Beach course, also from Tom Fazio, and the Pawley’s Plantation trace, by the hand of Jack Nicklaus. I anticipated a bit of the heroic, and bit of the strategic, and plenty of eye candy. None of those architects would ever be considered a minimalist, so there would be plenty of in-play and out-of-play bunkers and mounds to tantalize the senses.

My nephew arrived a few days early, to screen a few more courses. As a result, you the reader will have an extra quarter of mini-reviews, bringing the total of courses in this piece to eight. It was inconceivable that CJR would play four courses that I had never played nor photographed, but that was the case. His words appear at the end of this piece. We hope that you enjoy the tour.

Main Feature: Two Barefoots, a TPC, and Pawley’s Plantation

Barefoot Dye

What Paul “Pete” Dye brought back from his trips to the United Kingdom, hearkened back to what C.B. MacDonal did, some 65 years prior. There is a way of finding bunkers and fairways, and even green sites, that does not require major industrial work. The Dye course at Barefoot Resorts takes you on a journey over the rumpled terrain of distant places. If there’s one element missing, it’s the creased and turbulent fairways, so often found in England and Ireland. The one tenet of playing a Dye course, is to always aim away from temptation, from where your eyes draw you. Find the safe side of the target, and you’ll probably find your ball. It then stands that you will have a shot for your next attempt. Cut the corner, and you might have need to reload. The Barefoot course begins gently, in terms of distance, but challenges with visual deception. After two brief 4s and a 3, the real work begins. The course is exposed enough, to allow the coastal winds to dance along the fairways. Be ready to keep the ball low and take an extra club or two.

TPC-Myrtle Beach

If memory serves, TPCMB is my first trek around a TPC-branded course. It had all the trappings of a tour course, from the welcome, through the clubhouse, to the practice facilities and, of course, the course. TPC-Myrtle Beach is a Tom Fazio design, and if you never visit Augusta National, you’ll now have an idea of what it is like. You play Augusta’s 16th hole twice at TPCMB, and you enjoy it both times. Fazio really likes the pond-left, green-angle-around par three hole, and his two iterations of it are memorable.

You’ll also see those Augusta bunkers, the ones with the manicured edges that drop into a modestly-circular form. What distinguishes these sand pits is the manner in which they rise from the surrounding ground. They are unique in that they don’t resemble the geometric bunkering of a Seth Raynor, nor the organic pits found in origin courses. They are built, make no mistake, and recovery from them is manageable for all levels of bunker wizardry.

Barefoot Fazio

If you have the opportunity to play the two Tom Fazio courses back to back, you’ll notice a marked difference in styling. Let me digress for a moment, then circle back with an explanation. It was written that the NLE World Woods course designed by Fazio, Pine Barrens, was an homage to Pine Valley, the legendary, New Jersey club where Fazio is both a member and the architect on retainer. The Pine Barrens course was plowed under in 2022, so the homage no longer exists. At least, I didn’t think that it existed, until I played his Barefoot Resort course in North Myrtle Beach.

Pine Valley might be described as an aesthetic of scrub and sand. There are mighty, forced carries to travers, along with sempiternal, sandy lairs to avoid. Barefoot Fazio is quite similar. If you’re not faced with a forced carry, you’ll certainly contend with a fairway border or greenside necklace of sand. When you reach the 13th tee, you’ll face a drive into a fairway, and you might see a distant green, with a notable absence: flagstick. The 13th is the icing on the homage cake, a callout of the 8th hole at Pine Valley. Numero Ocho at the OG has two greens, side by side, and they change the manner in which the hole plays (so they say.) At Barefoot Fazio, the right-side green is a traditional approach, with an unimpeded run of fairway to putting surface. The left-side green (the one that I was fortunate to play) demands a pitch shot over a wasteland. It’s a fitting tribute for the rest of us to play.

Be certain to parrot the starter, Leon’s, advice, and play up a deck of tees. Barefoot Fazio offers five par-three holes, so the fours and fives play that much longer. Remember, too, that you are on vacation. Why not treat yourself to some birdie looks?

Pawley’s Plantation

The Jack Nicklaus course at Pawley’s Plantation emerged from a period of hibernation in 2024. The greens were torn up and their original contours were restored. Work was overseen by Troy Vincent, a member of the Nicklaus Architecture team. In addition, the putting corridors were reseeded with a hardier, dwarf bermuda that has experienced great success, all along the Grand Strand that is Myrtle Beach.

My visit allowed me to see the inward half first, and I understand why the resort wishes to conclude your day on those holes. The front nine of Pawley’s Plantation works its way through familiar, low country trees and wetlands. The back nine begins in similar fashion, then makes its way east, toward the marsh that separates mainland from Pawley’s Island. Recalling the powerful sun of that Wednesday morning, any round beginning on the second nine would face collateral damage from the warming star. Much better to hit holes 11 to close when the sun is higher in the sky.

The marshland holes (12 through 17) are spectacular in their raw, unprotected nature. The winds off the Atlantic are unrelenting and unforgiving, and the twin, par-three holes will remain in your memory banks for time’s march. In typical Golden Bear fashion, a majority of his putting targets are smallish in nature, reflecting his appreciation for accurate approach shots. Be sure to find the forgiving side of each green, and err to that portion. You’ll be grateful.

Bonus Coverage: Myrtlewood, Beechwood, Arrowhead, and King’s North

Arrowhead (Raymond Floyd and Tom Jackson)

A course built in the middle of a community, water threatens on most every hole. The Cypress 9 provides a few holes forcing a carried drive then challenge you with water surrounding the green. On Waterway, a drivable 2nd hole will tempt most, so make sure the group ahead has cleared the green.

Myrtlewood (Edmund Alt and Arthur Hills) and Beechwood (Gene Hamm)

A middle of the winter New Englander’s paradise. Wide open fairways, zero blind shots and light rough allow for shaking off the rust and plenty of forgiveness. A plethora of dog legs cause one to be cautious with every tee shot. Won’t break the bank nor the scorecard.

King’s North @ Myrtle Beach National (Arnold Palmer)

A signature Arnold Palmer course, waste areas, island greens and daring tee shots. Highlighted by the 4th hole Par 5 Gambler hole, if you can hit the smaller fairway on the left you are rewarded with a short approach to get to the green in 2. The back 9 is highlighted by an island green par 3 and a finisher with over 40 bunkers spread throughout. A challenge for any golfer.
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