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<p><em>Story by Chris King</em></p>
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<p>Architect Jeff Brauer designed more than 50 golf courses and remodeled 80+ layouts in a decorated career. Based in Texas, Brauer, who is now retired, designed courses throughout America, and one of his first nationally acclaimed layouts was <a href="http://avocet">Wild Wing’s Avocet Course</a>.</p>
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<p>Brauer partnered with three-time major champion Larry Nelson to craft a design that helped anchor Wild Wing, which was once home to four courses. While the Falcon, Hummingbird and Woodstork courses all closed, Avocet continues to delight Myrtle Beach golfers.</p>
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<p>As Avocet enjoys its 31st year, we caught up with Brauer, who pulled back the curtain on the design and construction of the course.</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-Clubhouse-and-Putting-Green-ND-042424-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11436" style="width:325px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-Clubhouse-and-Putting-Green-ND-042424-1024x576.png 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-Clubhouse-and-Putting-Green-ND-042424-300x169.png 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-Clubhouse-and-Putting-Green-ND-042424-768x432.png 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-Clubhouse-and-Putting-Green-ND-042424-1536x864.png 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-Clubhouse-and-Putting-Green-ND-042424-2048x1152.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p>Enjoy these five anecdotes from his work at Avocet.</p>
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<p><strong>Prior to Avocet, the Willard Byrd designed Hummingbird Course opened and concern about the game’s impact on nature was just beginning.</strong></p>
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<p>“The wetlands era had just begun and (Byrd’s team) didn’t take it quite as serious as they should have and impacted more than what the limit was &#8211; something like 3 acres &#8211; so they got a fine,” Brauer said. “First thing on the project (I was told was) whatever you do, don’t touch the wetlands. One to two old logging roads sunk, so now they were considered wetlands, and that explains some of the routing and the long walks, but they aren’t terrible.”</p>
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<p>The budget for the Hummingbird and Avocet courses was largely the same, and Byrd moved 400,000 yards of dirt to build the fairways up two to three feet to ensure quality drainage, eating up significant budget dollars. Hummingbird was a popular but traditional design, and Brauer was instructed by Wild Wing’s Japanese owner to deliver more “fru fru,” but he had to address the drainage issue.</p>
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<p>“If you know the 5th tee, that was the low point of the property,” Brauer said. “That was the drainage outlet. We connected a lot of lakes so instead of raising the fairways 2 or 3 feet, we lowered the water table to keep the fairways pretty well at grade; then we were able to use the 400,000 yards of dirt to build the ‘fru fru.’”</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-9th-Mowing-2-ND-042424-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11438" style="width:325px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-9th-Mowing-2-ND-042424-1024x576.png 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-9th-Mowing-2-ND-042424-300x169.png 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-9th-Mowing-2-ND-042424-768x432.png 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-9th-Mowing-2-ND-042424-1536x864.png 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-9th-Mowing-2-ND-042424-2048x1152.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong>Avocet’s “fru fru” included the 9th hole, which features a double fairway and used to have a Valley of Sin as part of the front of the green before it was converted into fairway years ago. While Avocet has many cool design features, including the drivable par 4 14th hole, Brauer has described the layout as being brawny with a soft heart.</strong></p>
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<p>“We knew it was a resort course,” he said. “The greens are open in the front and have good size, fairways corridors are much wider than the Woodstork (used to be). There is a lot of room to play and a lot of ways to get the ball to the green, no matter how you are playing.”</p>
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<p><strong>Byrd handled land planning for the property and that included leaving room for a row of housing near what would become Avocet’s third and fourth holes, leading to what might be the longest, last minute site inspection trip in golf history.</strong></p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-2nd-Tee-ND-042424-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11439" style="width:325px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-2nd-Tee-ND-042424-1024x576.png 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-2nd-Tee-ND-042424-300x169.png 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-2nd-Tee-ND-042424-768x432.png 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-2nd-Tee-ND-042424-1536x864.png 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-2nd-Tee-ND-042424-2048x1152.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p>“They were concerned it wasn’t wide enough for two holes,” he said of ownership. “Mr. Hyakumata didn’t believe it, so he flew all the way from Japan to look at the clearing and he said this works. The (third and fourth holes) are a little narrow but they work just fine. It ended up being one of the keys to the routing to be able to use that land.”</p>
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<p><strong>Brauer did most of the heavy lifting, but Nelson certainly contributed, particularly on the par 4 sixth hole, the course’s hardest.</strong></p>
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<p>“I learned something from him,” he said of Nelson. “(No. 6 has) a relatively narrow fairway corridor and he said all those fairway mounds on the right-hand side (of the hole) need to be angled more so you can see the width of them, which is a good way of describing that they were kind of paralleling the fairway. In reality, you could only see the first one and the rest of them are hidden behind it. I don&#8217;t want to say it was a debate, but he pointed it out and he was right.”</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-8th-Hole-ND-042424-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11440" style="width:325px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-8th-Hole-ND-042424-1024x576.png 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-8th-Hole-ND-042424-300x169.png 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-8th-Hole-ND-042424-768x432.png 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-8th-Hole-ND-042424-1536x864.png 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Wild-Wing-8th-Hole-ND-042424-2048x1152.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p>Avocet was the first course Brauer designed that was recognized by Golf Digest as being among America’s best new courses and it has stood the test of time. Brauer delivered the “fru fru” that was requested of him, creating a layout with double greens, drivable par 4s, a Cape hole (No. 18) and so much more.</p>
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<p><em>(Photos for this piece from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/myrtlebeachgolftrips/">Myrtle Beach Golf Trips Instagram Account</a>)</em></p>
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Architect Pulls Back Curtain on Acclaimed Avocet Layout

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