Review: Legends Golf Resort - Moorland (Part 2)

It's time to check out the back nine at Legends - Moorland, go here to see the front.

The tenth hole is quite the wake-up call when it's your first hole of the day. Not the drive, as that's not terribly difficult. Okay, there's a native area right and a row of uncanny identical townhouses left, but the fairway itself is quite wide. A 3 wood on this mid-length par 4 will leave a wedge or short iron. The green, on the other hand, is quite a sight to behold. It's elevated several feet above the surrounding land and has multiple tiers and humps to it. Also, there's a large cluster of bunkers left and one right that you can't see from the fairway. Basically, you want to hit this green; if you have a weak short game like I do, missing this green is a death sentence. Of course, hitting this green is no guarantee of making par either. If you're not in the correct section, three putting is very much a possibility. It's not a bad hole, but I'm just not going to look favorably on any hole where I make a quintuple bogey.

The tenth hole.

Approaching the tenth green.

The tenth green.

The eleventh hole is 460 yards, which sounds quite long until you look closer at the scorecard and realize that you're playing a par 5. And it's not like there's any reason to not use driver either; the fairway's wide open with minimal trouble in play. Sure, there are plenty of mounds and hollows, so finding a level stance for your second shot is tricky, but still, this has got to be a solid birdie or even eagle opportunity, right?

Well, technically yes, but the green complicates matters. Like the previous hole, it's an all-or-nothing proposition elevated several feet above the surrounding landscape, but this green has the added wrinkle of being tiny. It's 10, maybe 15 yards wide, and it's not exactly long either. And with a ridge running through the middle, it's also not easy to putt. It honestly might be worth laying up on this hole, just to approach this green with a full wedge. Hitting this speck of a green with a long iron or fairway wood feels like a fool's errand, and trying to finesse a short pitch from around the green on is going to be a delicate operation. So yeah, this par 5 is shorter than multiple par 4s at Moorland, and while I wouldn't call it truly difficult, I think it deserves the extra shot.

The eleventh hole.

Approaching the eleventh green.

The eleventh green.

The twelfth hole is 455 yards, making it nearly as long as the previous hole, though of course, this one is a par 4. If anything, it plays slightly longer, as it goes uphill the whole way (or at least as much as a hole in coastal South Carolina can go uphill). Yeah, not much pretense of naturalness here; you've seen elevated greens, but this is practically an elevated hole. The big bunker right is the obvious hazard on the tee shot, but it's not too far away and pretty easy to clear with a driver. The fairway's very wide beyond that, though very far from flat. That will complicate the long second shot into this green, which is behind a series of low mounds and falls away sharply long and left (it falls away right too, just not quite as much). The green's very large, which is good, but heavily undulating, so finding the green in two is no guarantee of par.

The twelfth hole.

Approaching the twelfth green.

The twelfth green.

The thirteenth hole is the shortest hole at Moorland at just 150 yards, and it's a fun little short par 3. The green's fairly large, but it's surrounded by a massive waste bunker on three sides, with some mounding right. The green itself doesn't look too intimidating from the tee, but when you get closer, you'll notice a whole lot of undulation. Not too complicated a hole, but a solid one.

The thirteenth hole.

The fourteenth hole is a short drive-and-pitch par 4 that looks more intimidating than it actually is. There doesn't appear to be a whole lot of fairway before you transition into dense forest, but there's actually quite a bit more hidden behind the bushes. Enough to feel comfortable at least. You'll want to favor that blind portion of the fairway as well; doing so will give you both a better view and a better angle into the green, which is tucked behind some tall mounding. The green is pretty small and, while it's not as crazy as some others, has some very nasty sloping to it. It's also got two small bunkers left and a long waste bunker right that stretches back along most of the length of the fairway.

The fourteenth hole.

Approaching the fourteenth green. This is not the recommended angle to approach this green.

The fourteenth green.

The fifteenth hole is by far the longest hole at Moorland, playing nearly 600 yards from all the way back, and rest assured, it's not skating by difficulty wise on length alone. The fairway is technically extremely wide, but there's a line of four internal fairway bunkers running diagonally through the middle. The upper level is safer and wider, but if you can skirt between the bunkers and water left of the fairway, you'll be left with a better angle. Not into the green, no, but to the next section of fairway, which is on the other side of the pond. You absolutely need to hit a solid drive in the fairway in order to take on the water on your second shot. Anything less and you'll be laying up short of the pond, leaving 200 yards or more for your third. 

Things don't get much easier if you do manage to hit your second shot into prime lay-up position on the correct side of the pond. This green, while lacking the flanking bunkers of a Biarritz, very much has the shape of one. It's extremely long, very narrow, and has a deep swale running through the middle. The back hole location we saw is especially brutal, as the back shelf is tiny and ridiculously elevated above the central swale. Getting a putt from the wrong level anywhere close to that back flag is ... well, it's almost more luck than skill at that point. 

Now, don't get me wrong, it's good for a long par 5 to provide challenge and interest no matter the golfer. Too many times at least one shot on a hole of this length devolves into "hit the ball as far as you can" with no additional thought required. That is not the case here. No, this one goes a bit too far, I feel. Amongst the three of us, bogey won the hole by two shots. The penalty for failing the second shot in particular is just too steep. And four central bunkers is a little excessive. The further two are fine, but perhaps the closer two could be removed to give the shorter hitters somewhere practical to aim.

The fifteenth hole. Yeah, things really started to back up at this point. Absolutely no idea how that could happen on an incredibly difficult backbreaker of a par 5.

Approaching the fifteenth green.

The fifteenth green.

The sixteenth hole, unlike the previous hole, is an absolutely miniscule par 4, playing just 244 yards. That's a yard shorter than the longest par 3 at Moorland (the seventh). Interesting that this course does this move twice in the span of six holes. Like the eleventh, the reason for the extra shot is the green, which is not a particularly inviting target. More so than the eleventh, but still, it's small and elevated, with numerous bunkers and waste areas left, as well as a dramatic falloff right. It is possible to hit this green with the drive, but the judicious golfer will likely want to lay up with an iron, leaving a relatively easy pitch shot into the green, which is mercifully on the flat side. 

The sixteenth hole.

The sixteenth green.

The seventeenth hole is, after some of the holes that we've seen at Moorland, kind of simple and straightforward. Sure, the green of this mid-length par 3 is almost completely surrounded by a waste bunker, but the green itself is pretty big and not particularly undulating. Not compared with something like the fifteenth. It's a little too long to be a legitimate birdie hole, but at the very least you shouldn't make a big number.

The seventeenth hole.

The eighteenth hole is exactly what you'd expect from a Dye family course: A long par 4 with water in play. At 430 yards, it's not ridiculously long, but seeing as the eighteenth bends hard left around that water, you'll naturally be drawn out right, lengthening the hole. The fairway is at least decently wide and tilted up to keep golf balls from going too far out of the way. A solid drive will leave a short or mid iron, and while the water isn't really a factor on the second shot, rest assured, this is no easy par. The green is partially hidden in amongst a group of large mounds and features a huge amount of back-to-front slope, mostly but entirely down to the vast tier running through the middle. There are three greenside bunkers, one short, one right, and one long, and if you miss left, there's a falloff down into forest. It is quite a sight, this green. And while it's not my favorite hole in the world, it's certainly an appropriate cap to a round at Moorland.

The eighteenth hole.

Approaching the eighteenth green.

The eighteenth green.

In the end, "controversial" ended up being a decent if not perfect adjective to describe Moorland. I can definitely see the average golfer getting pretty fed up and angry with some of what Moorland throws at you. Some of it is justified, some of it isn't. Personally, I would describe the course as uneven. There's quite a bit to like. The greens are never boring, and most of the time enough width is provided to give the wild greens space to breathe. However, there are a few really silly holes, and they really hold my general opinion of the place back. The second and fifteenth in particular just don't work, and the sixteenth feels too busy. Aside from the green, the ninth is quite boring, and the tenth and eleventh have greens that can be extremely punishing for those with weak short games. It's not fun chipping multiple times up, down, over, and around a green that will not give you any mercy.

Overall, I would definitely classify Moorland as the worst of the Dye family courses I've played. Not by much, but it's not as good as P.B. Dye Golf Club or Bulle Rock, and it's definitely not as good as the Dye course at Barefoot, which solidly remains my favorite Dye course. It's not devoid of charm or interest, far from it, but it can and does cross the line from interesting to silly fairly often.