<img decoding="async" alt="Arthur Hills Myrtlewood PineHills Course" src="/media/images/Arthur_Hills_pinehills_600x300.png" style="width: 600px;height: 300px" />
Story by Ian Guerin
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. | Decade after decade, a number of designers used their talents to earn Myrtle Beach the moniker “Golf Capital, U.S.A.”
Arthur Hills was no different.
The passing of the famed architect and course restoration icon in 2021 reminded us of his contribution to the Grand Strand golf scene. <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/myrtlewood-golf-club-pinehills">Myrtlewood Golf Club’s PineHills Course</a> helped continue the myriad reasons why the golf industry blew up here, thrived for years and shows no signs of letting up any time soon.
ADDING THE ‘HILLS’
Hills was a bit ahead of his time when it came to the idea that playable golf courses were going to be all the rage.
When considering the difficulty of many of the 1970s and 1980s course designs that came just before, it showed that Hills and a small number of others realized that bigger and badder created a selective market. It was part of the reason he was chosen for Myrtlewood’s reclamation project.
Originally an early 1970s design, the Pines course was tree heavy and maybe even a bit clunky. It wasn’t a hard course (by all accounts), but it was confusing to first-time players who weren’t keen on some of the features.
Its centralized location carried it into the early 1990s, but something was missing.
Enter Arthur Hills.
He smoothed over the rough edges. He removed trees. He created difficult-but-avoidable bunkering. And, maybe most importantly, he cut the fairways in such a method that left the water as an accent without removing its benefits.
All the while, he did so without the bulldozer-style approach that changed the topography of the land. All the benefits remained, new ones were added, and the players reaped the benefits.
MOVING ALONG<img decoding="async" alt="PineHills Course at Myrtlewood Golf Club" src="/media/images/Pinehills_17th_flag11.JPEG" style="width: 310px;height: 233px;float: right" />
Among the highest compliments we hear about PineHills year in and year out is its ability to handle the crowds.
When you’re located smack-dab in the middle of Myrtle Beach, the traffic will come. And, yet, no tee sheet seems to be too much. The staff gets a ton of credit for that, of course.
But routing and design also plays a huge role.
Those rough edges we mentioned eliminating? They were done in clusters. It left Nos. 1 and 2 extremely playable to get you going. The 3-4-5 combination can be tricky, but it won’t bottleneck you. The rest of the back nine can feel like you’re blasting out of a shotgun, with double next to nil.
Before you know it, you’re on the back nine wondering where the time went.
But here’s the thing that <a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/myrtlewood-golf-club-pinehills">PineHills</a> novices don’t understand: The speed of the game isn’t entirely tied to your skill level. Even middle-of-the pack players &#8211; the occasional slicers, toppers and shanksters among us &#8211; rarely find out-of-bounds markers.
The space under the trees is forgiving, and a shot back to the fairway almost always exists. The biggest caveat to all that is on No. 13, we’re the majority of the hole comes after a strong dogleg right. Otherwise, it’s smooth sailing.
We can thank Arthur Hills for that.
Ian Guerin has been covering sports and golf in South Carolina since 2004. His game has ebbed and flowed like the Atlantic, but he&#8217;s never had to explain to his kids why his round won&#8217;t be televised. You can follow along with the day-to-day conversation on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/iguerin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@iguerin</a>

Arthur Hills’ Contribution To Myrtle Beach Golf Unmistakable

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Myrtlewood Golf Club - PineHills Course

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