TPC of Myrtle Beach

The TPC of Myrtle Beach, was designed by Tom Fazio and opened to rave reviews in 1999, some of which included a 5 Star Rating by Golf Digest, “Top Ten Courses in South Carolina,” and inclusion in Golf Digest’s  “Top Twenty New Courses in America.”   With six sets of tee boxes and yardages from 6950 to 5118 and a slope and rating from the tips of 145 and 74, TPC provides a fair, peaceful, enjoyable, and memorable round for players of all skill levels.   The course is fairly traditional and straightforward and in most cases you can see the pin and what you’re up against.  Play early in the morning and you’re likely to see a lot of wildlife – fox, turkey, alligators, bob cats, and more

The course plays through the towering pines and natural wetlands and it starts you off with a typical Fazio design – a dog leg left with three steep and deep large sand bunkers right where your drive wants to land and then a 547 yard par five that will test your shot making accuracy and ability to avoid the 7 bunkers, towering pines, two ponds, and hit the narrow fairway which dog legs left to the green.   After that if settles down and is very peaceful as the course plays through the trees – all you hear is the chirping of birds, scampering squirrels, woodpeckers pecking, croaking frogs, the “ping” of those huge drivers, and balls ricocheting off the pines. 

The tree lined fairways were in great shape and lined with a pretty thick rough and lots of soft thick sand bunkers.  The fairways are ample but if you spray the ball, you’ve got some trouble and will need to find a path through the trees and pine needle beds back to the fairway making par a little more difficult.  A few huge beautiful mansions overlook some of the greens.  Myrtle Beach had one of the worst winters on record and some of the greens were still showing a little damage from the severe winter, but in general they were in excellent condition.  We were told that the greens and fairways were about 85% of their normal condition thanks to the harsh winter. 

Most of the greens are very large and have both slope and undulation.  They seemed to hold the ball well and putting wasn’t a major issue at TPC.   The greens were running about an 8.5 and normally run a little over 9 on the Stimp meter

Some of what contributes to making TPC a fantastic track include: 

  *  some of the best par 3s that we played in Myrtle Beach – all four of which are very fun, challenging, and scenic

  *  the variety of holes and number of different challenges (dog legs, Fazio’s steep and deep bunkers, forced carries, water hazards) which force you to focus on your A game

  *  a fantastic finishing hole that will make you anxious to come back and play TPC again.    

TPC Myrtle Beach is the home course of PGA TOUR star Dustin Johnson.  In fact, Johnson made a significant contribution to the club to upgrade the fitness facility there which is not only used by him, but by the Coastal Carolina golf team where he competed for four years.  TPC Myrtle Beach was also home to numerous Champions Tour events over the years.