Review: Charleston Municipal Golf Course (Part 1)

You would think that, with there being so many golf courses in Myrtle Beach, my brother and I could keep ourselves in Myrtle Beach over the course of a few days. But no, we just had to make the 2-plus-hour trip down to Charleston. Though to be fair, it was raining in Myrtle Beach the day we went down, but not in Charleston, so it worked out well enough. Though, to be fair, I wanted to play this course anyway, and there's a good reason for that.

Charleston Muni is an old golf course, built in 1929 by ... some guy. No one special in this case, and the golf course sort of reflected this. It wasn't bad, but it was a bit bland, and there were always big drainage problems with it. It was entering the classic public golf death spiral of losing money and deteriorating conditions when the city of Charleston stepped up and footed the bill for a full-scale renovation. The architect they got for the job, Troy Miller, decided to redo the course in the style of Seth Raynor. Now, while Raynor is much more known for his work up north, two of his best courses – Yeamans Hall and the Country Club of Charleston – are located in this neck of the woods. So the idea of giving the average Charleston golfer access to a Raynor-style design made a lot of sense. 

The new and improved course opened at the very end of 2020, and reviews seemed to be pretty good. I couldn't resist going down to see it while we were in the general vicinity, since I really wanted to make a comparison with the other Raynor-ized old municipal golf course that I've played: Keney Park. Which would be better? Let's find out. 

The first hole does an excellent job of setting the tone for the round. It's a mid-length par 4 with almost no elevation change at all, except for at the green, which we'll get to in a second. This is the Lowcountry, and unlike the courses at Myrtle Beach, which disguise their flat land with blatantly artificial humps and mounds, Charleston Muni makes no attempt to hide the landscape. This is a flat golf course, with the disadvantages and potential advantages that come with it. And so the tee shot on this first hole is pretty easy. Just don't go into the driving range left or the houses right (and there's plenty of space) and you'll be fine. The second shot is more interesting, thanks to the green. We get our first template hole right off the bat in the form of a Double Plateau. The back and front left sections of the green are significantly higher than the front right and middle section, and if you're not on the right level, or if you have to chip from the left side, you won't be in for a fun time.

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green. Now, the elevation change is extreme within the green, but the flags are shorter than usual, so it's not quite as extreme as it looks.

The second hole is a mid-length par 5 at 520 yards, and something to notice when you step onto the tee is that there's actually a small pond just right of the fairway that definitely comes into play on the drive. It's not blind, but it's also not the most obvious hazard in the world. But you don't want to go down the right side anyway, because you'll be partially blocked out by trees. So you'll need two strong shots to get to the green in under regulation since you'll have to go the long way around the hole. But it's not an easy second shot, since the green is small and surrounded by sand. It's a tricky green to approach, since it's elevated as well, but it's definitely easier the closer you are.

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is a shortish par 4 where you need to make a decision off of the tee. A narrow ditch cuts across the fairway at the dogleg right where you might want to land a long iron or fairway wood. The hole sort of invites a nonaggressive play because of the big dogleg and the trees left. But because of the ditch, you either need to lay back further than you might want or go for a big draw around the trees. Do that you'll just have a little wedge left; otherwise it'll be a longer wedge or short iron to a fairly large green that falls away on most sides.

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

The fourth hole is the first par 3, and Charleston Muni's next template hole. If you know Raynor, you probably know the par 3s by heart: Redan, Biarritz, Eden, Short. This course does not disappoint in that regard, and first up is the Eden. It's 180 yards, and everything you want is here. The deep bunkers left and right, the steeply sloped green from back to front, the incredible difficulty of recovering from past the green. I don't know if other Edens have noticeable false fronts, but this one does. And let me tell you, when the hole is cut about a foot from the top of that false front, it's very difficult hitting putts hard enough from past the flag. It was honestly a little too extreme for my taste. A few more feet of space would have been nice.

The fourth hole.

The fifth hole is a mid-length par 4 with a fairway bunker on the right side of the fairway, right where you'd want a drive to end up. The green has a bunker left, meaning that it's better approached from the right. This is also the first time that one of Charleston Muni's shortcomings comes into play: Some of the greens are just too small. This one in particular has a big chunk of the right-hand side at a much lower level than the rest, with the higher portion forming a sort of C around the lower section. That's fine in theory, but the problem is that the green is barely 20 yards wide, and that C narrows down to barely more than 5 yards in the middle. When the hole is cut in the middle and you're unfortunate enough to end up in that bunker, it is essentially impossible to stop the golf ball on the upper level, and so it runs off the green on the other side. Then you've got an incredibly difficult chip where your only real play is to leave on the lower level and try to two putt from down below. An aggressive chip runs the very high risk of going back in the bunker, and then you get to repeat the process all over again. It's fine for a recovery to be difficult, but this goes too far in my opinion.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green. Don't miss left.

The sixth hole is another template, and it's a fun one. The drive is pretty simple, but the second shot is where things get interesting. It's a Punchbowl, and quite an extreme one at that. The edges of the green are several feet above the middle of the green, and as such golf balls will funnel in toward the flag. Even those deep bunkers are relatively easy to get out of, since all you have to do is get out and the slope will do the rest. If you really want to have some fun, you can use those big slopes on putts as well. Go ahead, aim in basically a 90 degree angle away from the hole, it'll come right back. I just wish the green was a little bit bigger; it would make things even more fun.

The sixth hole.

Approaching the sixth green.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is a mildly reachable par 5 at 515 yards, but I wouldn't recommend going for it. The fairway is cut in two by a pond at around 325 yards from the tee, so that's not a huge problem for most (unless you catch one of those trees and can't make the carry on the second shot), but it is something to keep in mind if it's playing downwind. The second shot, if you want to go for the green, is to an elevated green fronted by three deep bunkers. That's why I recommend laying up. Going for the green in two is just asking for trouble, since the green is once again not incredibly large. It's much easier coming at this one with a wedge.

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green (sort of).

The eighth hole is a long 220 yard par 3, and you might know what that means. This is a Biarritz, though sadly the signature swale is both not as extreme as I would have liked (one of the few times this course takes it easy with its design features) and isn't part of the green either. Honestly, it really doesn't come into play, so which makes the real trouble on this hole the narrow green and the bunkers that line it. Plus there's a pond lurking left, and I got very lucky not to go in that. The green has a bit of a left to right tilt, so that makes chips from the left tougher as well. This is a tough hole, but as we'll see next week, it's not the toughest par 3 Charleston Muni has to offer.

The eighth hole.

The eighth green. Sadly, the Biarritz swale isn't part of the green.

The ninth hole is the longest par 4 on the course by a considerable margin (and actually the same length as the next hole, which is a par 5), and the biggest hazard on the drive is the parking lot over to the left. It can absolutely be reached, as I found out when I hooked a driver and found my golf ball sitting underneath a pickup truck. So yeah, if you park close the ninth fairway, don't be surprised if you end up with a suspiciously golf ball–sized dent in your car. But if you do things correctly and hit the fairway, you'll have a mid or long iron into a fairly large square green with a fair amount of undulation protected by a couple of bunkers.

The ninth hole.

Approaching the ninth green.

The ninth green.

That's it for this week, next week we'll take a look at the back nine.