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<p><em>Story by Ian Guerin</em></p>
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<p>We’ve spent so much time pin-pointing the very best holes South Carolina’s Grand Strand has to offer over the years that we frequently ignore some that we absolutely can’t stand.</p>
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<p>Frankly there are more of the ones that embarrass us and make us second guess our games more than anyone would let on.</p>
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<p>But I’m going to take one for the team.</p>
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<p>These things, for me, just suck.</p>
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<p>They beat me down, frustrating me and leaving me to question some life choices (“Why didn’t you cash in those gift certificates for lessons, you dummy?”). These six holes can go right to where the sun doesn’t shine for all I’m concerned.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/true-blue"><u><strong>TRUE BLUE GOLF CLUB</strong></u></a>, NO. 15<br>Mike Strantz was an artist. He arguably crafted courses in tune with their natural environments better than anyone, and True Blue is a great example of the overall product he delivered before his untimely death. But on the 577-yard Par 5 15th, he put up a monster that I’ve on two occasions had me wondering if I should just pick up my ball and move on to No. 16. The massive waste bunker up the left side swallows up what easily could have been fairway space to actually attack this sucker. Instead, it sucks your golfing life force. <em>(pictured right)</em></p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://mbn-admin.travelboommarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0944-edit-1024x575.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9417" style="width:450px;height:253px" width="450" height="253" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0944-edit-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0944-edit-300x169.jpg 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0944-edit-768x431.jpg 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0944-edit-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0944-edit-2048x1150.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" /></figure></div>

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<p><a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/myrtlewood-golf-club-pinehills"><u><strong>MYRTLEWOOD GOLF CLUB, PINEHILLS</strong></u></a> NO. 8<br>Nope. Salt the earth, light the fire, something. Get this thing outta here. Or, at least, that’s my take every time I play PineHills. What is a relatively straightforward hole &#8211; a 431-yard Par 4 with an 80-degree dogleg right &#8211; has one hell of a poker face. Every time I play here, that patch of trees erected to create the dogleg draws me in, begging me to muscle up and clear the trouble. Every time, my opponent flips Aces full of kings to my Jack high. While the pine straw underneath those trees is relatively forgiving, the bunker between it and the green is not. Shouldn’t have gone all in.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/river-club"><u><strong>RIVER CLUB</strong></u></a>, NO. 15<br>Seriously? Another 15th hole? We’re going to look into this. With Tom Jackson’s River Club layout, the peninsula layout is all sorts of gross. I mean, why drop this into a 384-yard hole in which even middle-of-the-road hitters could roll one into perfect position to attack the pin? Oh, that’s right. It’s because Jackson wanted to really make us work for it. The least the staff could do is let that small sliver of rough grow extra thick between the fairway and water to serve as a back stop. But we’re not that lucky most of the time.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/burning-ridge-golf-club"><u><strong>BURNING RIDGE GOLF CLUB</strong></u></a>, NO. 6<br>Let he who is without the ability to drop his tee shot into a small target area cast the first stone. Cool, I’ll go first. Unlike the aforementioned dogleg at Myrtlewood, Burning Ridge’s first such hole is protected not by a tree line, but by an oversized waste bunker that prohibits any type of favorable cut &#8211; unless you’re highly precise at getting your tee shot up and down at 250 yards. Hit it flat and short, and you’re in a world of sand. Long and straight carries you right on through the fairway and off in another zip code as the green. No. 12 handicap my &amp;%$. <em>(pictured right)</em></p>
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<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://mbn-admin.travelboommarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0986-1024x575.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9418" style="width:450px;height:253px" width="450" height="253" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0986-1024x575.jpg 1024w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0986-300x169.jpg 300w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0986-768x431.jpg 768w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0986-1536x863.jpg 1536w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/DJI_0986-2048x1151.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" /></figure></div>

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<p><u><strong><a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/wild-wing-plantation-avocet">WILD WING GOLF CLUB</a>,</strong></u> NO. 17<br>At 165 yards from the whites (196 blacks, 98 reds) the final Par 3 at Wild Wing is in most people’s wheelhouses in terms of getting a full swing with a short iron. Sweet, right? Wrong. There are so many depth perception issues going on here that we’re just going to assume that luck is why most people hit the green in one. There’s a small pond to the left, a significant wetlands area running up to the green, a banked backstop complete with two decent-sized bunkers and then a tree line extending well behind the green. On super sunny mornings, you can add in some shadows from the trees. So much fun.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/arcadian-shores"><u><strong>ARCADIAN SHORES GOLF CLUB</strong></u></a>, NO. 1<br>A 486-yard Par 5 to start the day? That’s great, says the person who’s only looked at the scorecard and hasn’t yet reached the middle of the fairway on Arcadian’s opener. That’s because, unless you’ve played here before, you don’t realize how psychotic the bunker complex around the green is &#8211; or how much it can increase your blood pressure. On top of the four medium-sized bunkers start front right and working counterclockwise, there’s a mega bunker in the shape of &#8211; we’re not making this up &#8211; brass knuckles. We can only assume that Rees Jones wanted to hit you in the face early so you’d enjoy the rest of the course that much more. <em>(top photo)</em></p>
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<p><em>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&nbsp;<u><a href="https://twitter.com/iguerin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@iguerin</a></u></em></p>
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Golf Writer’s Perspective: My Six Least Favorite Holes In Myrtle Beach

Courses in this Article

Wild Wing Golf Club

True Blue Golf Club

River Club

Myrtlewood Golf Club - PineHills Course

Burning Ridge Golf Course

Arcadian Shores Golf Club

Additional Myrtle Beach Golf News