Review: Caledonia Golf & Fish Club (Part 1)

For a place so strongly associated with golf, Myrtle Beach is surprisingly light on nationally ranked golf courses. True Blue, Moorland, Heathland, and the Dye course at Barefoot are all among the top 20 public courses in South Carolina, according to Golfweek, but none manage to crack a national ranking of public golf courses. There are only two courses on the entirety of the Grand Strand that do so (specifically I'm looking at Golf.com, easily the best list among the major golf publications), and the higher ranked of the two, The Dunes, is only playable if you're staying at a couple specific resorts. Including it on a list of publicly accessible golf courses is dubious, in my personal opinion.

And so, that makes Caledonia Golf & Fish Club the only truly accessible top 100 golf course in the Myrtle Beach area. Located on a pretty snug property alongside the marshes of the Waccamaw River – and right across the road from True Blue – Caledonia is Mike Strantz's first solo design, and right away, it's very different to True Blue and Royal New Kent. The routing is more intimate and the design far more classical and old school; even the scenery feels distinct from True Blue. But here's the big question: Does Caledonia deserve its reputation? Is it as good as the magazines make it out to be? Is it worth the nearly $200 price tag? Let's find out. 

The first hole is not a particularly difficult opener, but it's also not an easy one. It's not long, just 375 yards, and the playing corridor is reasonably wide, but there's O.B. on both sides – houses right and the course's entrance road left – and there are several bunkers scattered around the landing area, eating into the fairway from both sides. Basically, no matter what club you use on the tee shot, you'll have some hazard to think about. But again, it's a pretty wide fairway, so a solid 3 wood should do just fine, and you'll be left with a wedge or short iron second shot into the green, which is medium sized and protected by two bunkers, one on each side.

The first hole. The picture from the tee got absolutely fried by the rising sun. Not the ideal routing choice, having the first hole head east.

The first green. Fun fact, this green is less than 200 yards from the sixteenth at True Blue. I'd never have guessed without looking at a map, the two holes feel very different. 

The second hole is the longest hole at Caledonia, playing just over 570 yards along the property's eastern side. The O.B. right isn't a huge factor, as the fairway is once again quite wide, but it is there. More pressing is a large bunker right along with a group of small trees in front of it; hit a weak slice, and you can easily find your second shot blocked out by those trees. The small bunker left of the fairway is a good place to aim, as it's out of range for all but the longest hitters. 

The second shot, provided you've hit your drive into a good position, can either be pretty simple or quite difficult, depending on how aggressive you want to be. Want to leave yourself a hundred-yard wedge third? Then the fairway's open and inviting. Go further than that, and bunkers and trees narrow the fairway significantly. The green is also wider than it is deep, which is fine if you're approaching it with a full wedge, but less so if you're in that awkward 50-yard range or fully going for the green in two.

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

The third hole is a medium-length par 3, and a fairly memorable one at that. The green is on the larger side, but that's mostly because it's 50 yards long; that X axis is a lot smaller than the Y axis. The green's also got a very large amount of back-to-front tilt, which admittedly was less of an issue for our round there, as the hole was cut in the back. Then, of course, there's the matter of the sand. There's a lot of it, and the bunkering renders this green a virtual island. Miss this green on either side, and you're going to have a delicate bunker shot with very little green to work with and the threat of another bunker shot awaiting you on the opposite side. If bunker play isn't your strong point, you can rack up a big number on this hole.

The third hole.

The fourth hole is, when you get right down to it, a pretty simple strategic mid-length par 4. The ideal tee shot should hug the right side of the fairway, flirting with the enormous waste bunker running alongside. This gives you the best angle into the green for the second shot; bail out left toward the safer part of the fairway, and the approach will be impeded by trees and sand, not to mention the green being a shallower target. It's really the scale of the waste bunker that makes this hole stand out; it's easy to say you should favor the right side, but when you're looking at a bunker that's 250 yards long, actually committing to that shot isn't so easy.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole is just under 420 yards, and while it's not a bad hole, it's pretty far from being a good one. There are two fairway bunkers cutting in from the right side, forcing you to either confront them or risk the second shot being blocked out by trees. It's a fine enough challenge, but the last hole literally asked the same question, but in a much more memorable way. Also, this green isn't as interesting as the last one; it's slightly elevated and quite shallow, but there aren't any bunkers around it. This is definitely the weakest hole on the front nine, maybe even the whole course.

The fifth hole.

Approaching the fifth green.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is a shortish, 160-yard par 3, and this is the first time we've gotten a really memorable, exciting green at Caledonia. The others were all fine and interesting enough, but this one really stands out. It's long and thin, like the third, but it heaves and dips multiple times, essentially breaking the green up into multiple mini-greens. Also unlike the third, there's a fair amount of space to miss the green right, so it's also a friendlier hole to the higher handicappers/poor bunker players. And to be honest, I just like the look of this hole, I think it sits on the land very naturally.

The sixth hole.

The seventh hole is a mid-length par 4 playing alongside an inlet of the Waccamaw River, which reaches deep into the heart of the property. Obviously, with water running down the entire left side, you're going to be tempted to bail out right, but doing so means you'll have to more directly contend with a group of live oaks jutting halfway across the fairway about 50 yards short of the green. These trees aren't an impassable hazard; it's possible to go over, under, or even around if you can hit a big cut. Also, the green is very large, perhaps even the largest on the course, and nestled in a shallow punchbowl; even if you do hit the tree and drop straight down, recovery isn't difficult. Of course, a more aggressive drive, flirting with the river, will give you a much better and more direct line at the green. In the end, the strategy isn't revolutionary, but the hole presents that strategy in a memorable, unique fashion, which I think makes this one of the course's best holes.

The seventh hole.

Approaching the seventh green.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is the shortest of Caledonia's three par 5s at 530 yards, doglegging hard right around a line of four small cross bunkers. If you cut the corner, you should be close enough to the green to go for it in two, though whether you will want to is another question. The eighth green isn't exactly an inviting target, as an arm of the river cuts it off from the rest of the hole; in addition, the green is two tiered, with sand both right and long. Unless you're really confident in your long irons/fairway woods, caution is definitely the way to go on the second shot. Just leave yourself a reasonably full wedge third, and the water shouldn't give you too much trouble.

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green.

On the previous two Mike Strantz courses I've played, there's been an awkwardly placed par 3 that poorly meshes into the overall routing of the course, and the ninth hole here at Caledonia continues the streak. In this case, after playing the eighth, you head out a hundred or so yards to this tee, turn 90 degrees right to play this hole, then immediately head back in the direction you just came from to reach the tenth tee, which is right next to the eighth green. Then there's the matter of ninth's length, or lack thereof. The scorecard lists this hole at 120 yards, which is ... optimistic. It may not even be 100 yards, particularly when the hole's cut in the front of this very wide but very shallow green. That shallowness and lack of length, combined with the numerous bunkers both in front and behind the green, combine to make this a surprisingly tricky green to hit. You need precise distance control, which is tough if you're not hitting a full wedge off the tee. 

The ninth is a solid hole, honestly, just oddly placed, dangling out at the corner of the property. At least with Caledonia, the odd routing is understandable, considering how cramped the site is. I'll give this one a pass.

The ninth hole.

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