Review: Wilmington Municipal Golf Course (Part 1)

Myrtle Beach is a golfer's paradise. There are so many courses, and while I would say Myrtle Beach lacks a true standout great golf course, there's plenty of quality golf to be played. It is essentially everything any golfer could ever want. 

And yet, something's off about the Myrtle Beach golf experience. Take your average Myrtle Beach vacationer: They're probably not going to be a hardcore, passionate golf enthusiast. They may love to play golf, but if you ask them what their favorite Ross, Tillinghast, Doak, or Coore-Crenshaw course is, they're probably not going to have any strong opinions. Or any opinion. No, the average Myrtle Beach golfer is there to hang out with buddies, drink beer, and play terrible golf. And that's fine, it's good they can have a place to do that. However, if you're like my brothers and I, who are decidedly more serious minded about our golf – and consider walking the definitive way to play – Myrtle Beach isn't the greatest overall golf experience. There is no walking on the Myrtle Beach resort courses, and there are no sub–4-hour rounds. Moorland was nearly 5 hours. No wonder, considering how tough a lot of Myrtle Beach courses are, how many people the resorts jam onto their courses, and the general "I spent my money, I deserve to take as much time as I want" attitude most golfers bring to the course.

I'm probably being a little unfair. There are probably plenty of walker-friendly golf courses in Myrtle Beach, but I don't think any of them are particularly noteworthy in terms of design or architecture, and to be honest I didn't drive 8 hours to play average golf.

Fortunately, however, Wilmington Municipal exists. It's a bit of a drive from Myrtle Beach (though not nearly as far as Charleston Muni), but your reward is a genuine, recently restored Donald Ross course that's both cheap and walker friendly in the middle of North Carolina's eighth largest city. Yes, another Donald Ross muni. Hey, North Carolina was his winter home, the man designed a million courses in Pinehurst alone, so of course there are Ross courses all over the state. So now the question is: How does Wilmington stack up in the Donald Ross municipal pantheon? 

The first hole is a fairly straightforward, if fairly long par 4 at 430 yards. The fairway's wide open, with no bunkers in play on the tee shot. There is a gate of bunkers about 50 yards short of the green, but obviously those don't come into play if you hit a solid drive. If you slice right into the trees or are a shorter hitter, then it's a different story. The green's fairly large and also pretty open, though it is pretty undulating. All in all, a pretty typical Ross gentle opening hole. 

The first hole.

The first green.

The second hole is a 525-yard par 5, and ups the difficulty from the first hole. There are two fairway bunkers, and while the first one on the left side is pretty easily carried, the one on the right side is much more threatening. And this fairway isn't particularly wide, with there being some less than pleasant sandy waste area left and the main road far right. Also complicating things is a ditch and small stream crossing the fairway about 150 yards from the green. If you don't hit a good drive, that ditch becomes a problem, and if you can't carry it, you're going to have an awfully long third shot. Not what you want on a not particularly long par 5. But if you do hit a good drive, the green is reachable in two, and open in the front. It is slightly elevated, as most greens here are, and nestled among a group of mounds, with a fairly large bunker left. Those mounds are incorporated into the green as well, making it a pretty tough green to putt. 

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is the longest par 4 at Wilmington Muni at 435 yards, and while that's just a few yards longer than the first hole, the third is no joke. The hole bends right through a fairly narrow playing corridor, with pine trees pressing in from both sides. Also, the fairway is tilted hard from right to left, the opposite direction the hole doglegs. You pretty much have to hit a fade if you want to hit driver and hold this fairway. Pull it off, and you'll have a flat stance and a short iron second shot. You can lay back with a wood or long iron, but that will leave you with a mid iron second shot up the hill from a downhill, sidehill lie, and that's probably not what you want. The green is pretty big, tilted from back to front, and guarded by a bunker front right, so if you can, favoring the left side on the drive is preferable. Just don't run out of fairway.

The third hole.

Approaching the third green.

The third green.

The fourth hole is Wilmington Municipal's most difficult and distinctive hole for good reason: It's the classic Donald Ross Volcano hole. It's also kind of funny that this course's Volcano comes at this point in the round. The Volcano hole at Shennecossett? The fourth hole. The Volcano hole at Bedford Springs? Also the fourth. Three Volcanos, all three separated by hundreds of miles, and they're all fourth holes. Yet, they all manage to play distinctly, each intensely memorable in their own way. Shennecossett's played up to a horizon-type green, with a single tree behind, while Bedford Springs saved the 50-foot climb for the last 50 yards, resulting in an almost comically abrupt platform for the green. 

While the elevation changes at play here at of course less extreme than Bedford Springs or even Shennecossett, this Volcano has the benefit of playing downhill, and with the back side of the hole bereft of trees, you get a fantastic long view of a large portion of the course. And it's not like we're talking a few feet of elevation here; the dropoff behind the green is easily 15 or 20 feet, and this green is both small and steeply sloped. There's also a pond wide right if you slice, though it's far enough out that I don't imagine it catches too many golf balls. Overall, I think this slots into the middle of the Volcano tier list: Better than Shennecossett's, but lacking the comic insanity of Bedford Springs. All three are great golf holes though, and there's no shame in Wilmington coming second in this contest. 

The fourth hole.

The fifth hole is a mid-length par 4 playing out along the edge of the property, with trees and O.B. running down the entire right side. The fairway's pretty wide and there aren't any hazards, so driver is an option off the tee. A good drive will leave a wedge or short iron into the green; while the sole bunker on the hole is 50 yards short of the green, the green isn't completely defenseless. For one, it's got plenty of undulation to it, but in addition, there's a pretty steep falloff right. So while hole locations on the left side of the green are pretty benign and give you a good chance at making birdie, hole locations right are significantly more treacherous, and you'll want to play safer with the second shot.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole isn't particularly long at 375 yards, but like the previous hole it also works along the property line right of the fairway. And this hole actually does have fairway bunkers in play, with the one left coming into play if you use a wood or long iron off the tee and the one right becoming an issue if you use driver. No matter what, you'll have something to think about on this tee. The green here is pretty small and backed up against the main road, and with no trees to catch wayward shots, you really don't want to hit a thin on your second shot. You're best off approaching this green from the right, as there's a bunker left and the back right portion of the green falls away, meaning approach shots from the left have a lot less room to work with.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The seventh hole is another fairly short par 4, this one just 350 yards. The tee shot here is basically blind, and while the fairway is fairly wide, there is a bunker right of the landing area that you really can't see from the tee. If you're like me, then this won't bother you. Golf isn't fair sometimes, and there's plenty of space to avoid that bunker. But I can imagine that bunker leading to some frustration in other golfers. And it's not like this hole's very long. Even if you hit a wood on the tee, you'll only have a wedge or short iron at most for your second shot. Good thing too, because this green is by far the most well guarded we've seen so far; the green itself isn't large and falls away at the back, and it's surrounded by four bunkers. Precision is the name of the game on this hole.

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is by far the shortest hole on the course, playing just under 150 yards, which I think qualifies it as a short par 3. And if you hit the green, it's a good birdie opportunity. The green's got some back-to-front tilt to it, but nothing extreme, and these greens don't roll too fast. However, if you miss the green to either side, you're in for a tough par. The bunker shot from either side is tricky as the green's pretty narrow. Even a slight thin or overshot pitch out of the sand will go right through the green into the opposite bunker. It's definitely something that's in the back of your mind. Oh, and if you try to get cute, the bermuda rough does not effectively stop golf balls from rolling back into the sand. So, this hole's not tough, but if you hit a bad tee shot, you need to take your medicine and accept bogey as a possibility, or you could definitely rack up a big number.

The eighth hole.

The ninth hole is the shortest of Wilmington's three par 5s, playing 510 yards. Interestingly, while the hole bends left, it's best to hit a fade off the tee, as there are trees immediately right of the tee and there's a fairway bunker right where a good draw would end up. There's also three smaller fairway bunkers right, so if you do want to hit driver and get to the green in two, you'll need to step up and hit a really good one. Of course, if you accept this as a three-shot hole, you can stay short of the fairway bunkers, but unlike a lot of par 5s where the lay-up shot is just a matter of advancing the ball, there is trouble to deal with on this hole. There are two more fairway bunkers pinching in, one left and one right, around 75-100 yards from the green. Nothing dramatic, but more than enough to give you something to think about. The green is partially tucked behind a bunker front right, but there's a lot of room left to miss, and if you can't quite get at the green itself, 10 yards left isn't a bad place to miss. I like this hole; it's not difficult and pretty easy to birdie, but you have to think and execute to do it, and that's really all you need.

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.