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<p><em>Story by Ian Guerin</em></p>
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<p>Go big too fast, and you’re likely to lose your edge. Don’t push yourself along the way, and expect to level off in a hurry.</p>
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<p>Sometimes, saying it out loud is the key.</p>
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<p>We’ve done this long enough to know the best improvements to this game often aren’t found with equipment or weather conditions or even how difficult the courses we’re playing truly are.</p>
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<p>No, they’re resting in that small space between our ears. We often need to convince ourselves we’re ready for the next rung, something a little harder than before. Baby steps, if you will.</p>
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<p>So, we put together a progression right on up the skill ladder &#8211; this time along the South Strand of Murrells Inlet and Pawleys Island. You start at the bottom and move up round after round. If you’ve got five to spare, and can do these in order, we think the benefits are there for the taking.</p>
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<p><em>EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a four-part series highlighting a progression plan for each of the primary pockets of South Carolina’s Grand Strand golfing Mecca. Each of the four (North Strand, South Strand, Inland and Central) are uniquely qualified to meet any skill level.</em></p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Blackmoor-Golf-Club-18th-Green-and-Fairway-1024x768.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-10280" style="width:300px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Blackmoor-Golf-Club-18th-Green-and-Fairway-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Blackmoor-Golf-Club-18th-Green-and-Fairway-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Blackmoor-Golf-Club-18th-Green-and-Fairway-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Blackmoor-Golf-Club-18th-Green-and-Fairway-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Blackmoor-Golf-Club-18th-Green-and-Fairway-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong>OPENER: <a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/blackmoor-golf-club">Blackmoor Golf Club</a></strong><br>Out of the four starter courses we used in this series, Blackmoor is almost certainly considered the most difficult. However, we included it because some of the toughest and biggest variety of golf we have is here on the south end. But we’re going to give you a nice tip to help you start your South Strand ladder: Exhibit some serious patience on Blackmoor and you’re going to get 1. Rewarded on your Day 1 scorecard, and 2. Take something practical with you for the rest of this journey.</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Founders-Club-18-2-1024x768.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-10281" style="width:300px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Founders-Club-18-2-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Founders-Club-18-2-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Founders-Club-18-2-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Founders-Club-18-2-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Founders-Club-18-2-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong>STRETCHED AND READY: <a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/founders-club">Founders Club of Pawleys Island</a></strong><br>The target-rich golf you hopefully parlayed into a nice round at Blackmoor is even more vital at Founders Club. This sand-heavy design squeezes fairway after fairway and will at some point force you to hit a long shot out of one of the many waste bunkers you’re about to be confronted with here. The well-versed players here will tell you to take your time and ease off most of your tee shots.</p>
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<p><strong>MOVING ON UP: <a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/river-club">River Club</a></strong><br>Replace “sand” with “water” and you have a new-yet-similar dynamic greeting you for your visit on stop No. 3. River Club has water on 14 of the 18 holes, and the majority of those ponds and streams are very much in play. Take the 514-yard No. 3, for instance. A sliver stream running up the right fairway has a magnetic quality for slices and all but forces you back to the left. That’s just one example, and there are plenty more to follow. <em>(River Club 18th top photo)</em></p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/True-Blue-Clubhouse-1024x768.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-10282" style="width:300px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/True-Blue-Clubhouse-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/True-Blue-Clubhouse-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/True-Blue-Clubhouse-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/True-Blue-Clubhouse-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/True-Blue-Clubhouse-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong>NO EASY TASK: <a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/true-blue">True Blue Golf Club</a></strong><br>If Founders Club and River Club had a baby, it would no doubt come out looking like True Blue. The combination of sand and water here is all set atop one of the most beautifully manicured tracks around, disguising the brute force in which this course has destroyed many a scorecards. True Blue can eat your lunch, sure, but we’ll bring you back to what we told you with Blackmoor: Any who rushes will feel it so much more.</p>
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<p><strong>FINAL TEST: <a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/pawleys-plantation">Pawleys Plantation Golf &amp; Country Club</a></strong><br>Before we go any further, we’ll point out that Jack Nicklaus designed this bad boy in the late 1980s during what we can only assume was his Revenge Tour. The course is everything you want from a championship-level layout capable of testing the best of the best. From beastly bunkers to impossible doglegs to more than enough views to pull your eye away from your intended sight lines, Pawleys Plantation doesn’t include much room for error.</p>
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<p><em>Photos for this piece from the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/myrtlebeachgolftrips/">@myrtlebeachgolftrips</a> Instagram Account</em></p>
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Climbing The South Strand Golf Ladder

Courses in this Article

Blackmoor Golf Club

Founders Club

Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club

River Club

True Blue Golf Club

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