Posted on Aug 09, 2007 - 09:08 AM

Wachesaw East Named 2007 Myrtle Beach Golf Course of the Year

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It's always good to be honored by your peers.

That's the sense of pride being felt these days by the folks over at Wachesaw Plantation East Golf Club, which was recently named the "2007 Myrtle Beach Golf Course of the Year" by the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association.

MBAGCOA membership votes each year on the winning course, and evaluates its honorees based on quality of the layout, quality of ownership and management, and contributions to both the community and growth of the game.

The Clyde Johnston design opened in 1996, hosted LPGA events from 1997-2000 and has also been home to numerous charity, junior and Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday events in recent years. As a member of the 12-course Waccamaw Golf Trail, it has also become a popular inclusion to the itineraries of visitors' South Strand golf vacations.

To give you an idea of what you can expect when you play Wachesaw East, The Sun News' Al Blondin and his foursome recently played it as part of a detailed course review. Here's an excerpt:

The closing holes at Wachesaw Plantation East always provided drama when the course hosted an LPGA Tour event from 1997-2000, and they'll do the same to your recreational round.

The 500-yard par-5 17th has a creek fronting a sloping green, and the 430-yard par-4 18th requires an accurate drive and has water and a waste bunker that must be avoided on the approach shot.

"I think 17 and 18 are the best holes on the golf course, and it's nice to have those to finish," said Danny Hammond of Nichols, a tobacco farmer who took part in a review of the 6,933-yard par-72 Clyde Johnston design in mid-June. Hammond and I were joined by Matt Muir, the superintendent of Pineland Country Club in Nichols, and Trent Lupo, an Horry County road maintenance supervisor from Green Sea.

The closing holes highlight a layout that is challenging enough to be enjoyable but not taxing. "I thought it was a competitive golf course for the average golfer," Danny said. "It's not super-hard. I don't like courses where the average golfer can't go out and enjoy themselves."

Wachesaw East does require accuracy off the tee, as each hole is framed by a fairly thick tree line. "If you're hitting it straight and solid it's a great golf course," Trent said. "If you're spraying it around you'll be chipping out a lot."

While forced carries over water or wetlands off a number of tee boxes and on a couple approach shots add to the course's aesthetics, only a few are significant enough to cause concern.

The TifEagle Bermudagrass greens are generally large and don't add to the course's difficulty. "They don't have an excess amount of undulation in the greens," Danny said. "Some courses are getting a little ridiculous with mounds and undulations."

The layout offers enough variety to keep a round interesting. "This course has different types of holes, which is excellent," Danny said.