Review: True Blue Golf Club (Part 1)

Mike Strantz is one of golf course design's most mythic figures. His courses are filled with ambition, whimsy, strategy, and danger. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but you can always tell he put his whole heart into every hole. The fact that he was able to complete only nine courses before his untimely death from cancer is a tragedy on multiple levels.

Myrtle Beach is therefore quite lucky to possess not one, but two Mike Strantz golf courses, located on the southern end of the Grand Strand on Pawleys Island. Sister courses, in fact, located right next to each other. True Blue and Caledonia. We'll get to Caledonia soon, but first we're going to take a look at the younger and less heralded course. Designed in 1998, True Blue is a sprawling and open layout, stretching over 7,100 yards from the back tees. Not nearly as long as Royal New Kent, the first Strantz course I played, which is a back-breaking 7,450 yards from the whole way back, but still, not many people will complain that True Blue is too short. So, despite being shorter and a whole lot flatter than Royal New Kent, can True Blue keep up with its cousin a couple states north? Let's find out.

The first hole is an absolutely gargantuan par 5, the longest hole on the course at 625 yards, which certainly does get your attention right off the bat. The fairway, while very wide, zig-zags between two large waste bunkers before turning hard left; it's not a tough drive but there's enough going on to at least give you a little to think about before pulling driver. Provided you do hit the fairway, the second shot should favor the left side, flirting with the long waste bunker, in order to set up the best angle for the third. The green is small and elevated, with deep bunkers left and right, and a stream crossing about 20 yards in front just to fully drive home the point that this is not a par 5 anyone will be hitting in two.  

The first hole.

Approaching the first green.

The first green.

The second hole is a shortish par 4, playing 365 yards. The hole bends right, with forest bordering the outside of the dogleg, with the fairway becoming incredibly wide at the turn, about 225 yards out. Hit a long iron off the tee, and you'll have all the room in the world. However, if you want to use less club than a short iron on your second shot, you'll have to deal with a rapidly narrowing fairway hemmed in by sand right and the forest left. Also, to get the best angle for the second, you'll need to favor the left side, flirting with the tree line. The green is long and narrow, protected by a large bunker right and a waste bunker left intermixed with trees.

The second hole.

Approaching the second green.

The second green.

It was only a matter of time before we ran into an island green at Myrtle Beach, and the third hole provides in a big way. At 190 yards, it's hardly a short par 3, and the target is smaller than you'd think. Technically, the green's on the larger size, but that's mostly because it's very long. At most, this green is 20 yards wide, and in the middle it gets cut down to half that. Sand does circle around from the front to the right and behind the green to help catch some wayward shots, but still, this is not an inviting target. And honestly, I think that's a good thing. A lot of the time when you see an island green, there's some forgiveness built in between the green and water, which kind of brings up the point of why bother with the island green in the first place. This hole commits to being tough, and I think that's a reasonable thing to do.

The third hole.

The third green.

Speaking of committing to being difficult, the fourth hole is a 550-yard par 5 of the fish hook variety, akin to the second hole at Royal New Kent. This time, though, the hazard the hole boomerangs around is water. The strategy is basically the same; people who hit driver down the left side, flirting with the lake, will be rewarded with a shorter second shot and an opportunity to go for the green in two. Most people will likely not do this, taking the safer three-shot route around the lake. But even here, there's opportunity for aggression. You can play this hole extremely safely, almost avoiding the water entirely, but that means you'll have a full iron into the green on the third. Or you can cut off some of the lake, leaving a pitch shot in. I think I like the second at Royal New Kent a little more than this hole, since the water here presents a firm finality that the native area at Royal New Kent simply doesn't. You're more likely to be lured into attempting a foolhardy shot there, since there's a chance you can find your golf ball. Here? Your golf ball's gone. This is still a really good hole though, and provokes a lot of thought on every shot.

The fourth hole.

Approaching the fourth green.

The fourth green.

The fifth hole certainly looks intimidating, with waste bunkers running down the entire length of both sides of the fairway, but in reality the strategy here's pretty straightforward. There's a lot of fairway out right, but if you hit out that way, you'll be left with a longer second shot from a worse angle. Challenge the bunker at the corner of the dogleg, and the second shot will be much shorter and easier. The green here doesn't do anything too crazy, but it's definitely not flat either.

The fifth hole.

The fifth green.

The sixth hole is a mid-length par that's a bit of a novelty, possessing something I haven't seen in a very long time: an alternate green. For the green we did play, the strategy off the tee was definitely to hit past the widest part of the fairway into a narrow isthmus between two waste bunkers. Doing this would provide the best angle and a shorter shot into the green, which was sloped pretty severely from back to front. The alternate green would have turned the sixth from a sharp dogleg right into a slight dogleg left, with the green isolated on a peninsula of grass in a sea of sand. A second shot to that green would have been a lot of fun. Not that there was anything wrong with the hole we did play, but the alternate sixth would have been quite interesting on its own.

The sixth hole.

The sixth green.

The alternate sixth green.

The seventh hole is a 175-yard par 3, and I have to say, we got very fortunate with our hole location. This one could get brutal; the green is angled about 45 degrees from the tee, with 90% of it tucked behind a large bunker. The green's also extremely shallow, you've got maybe 20-25 yards to work with between the front and rear bunkers. Oh, and if that's not enough, the green's also tilted severely from right to left. Aim a safe tee shot at the left side while the flag's cut on the right, and you're going to have an 80-foot putt that also has to ascend something like 4 or 5 feet. Of course, that's preferable to the short, awkward bunker shot you'd face if you went directly at a right-side hole location and came up short, but still, not an ideal situation. Luckily, we got the left-side hole location, turning this into a much friendlier hole.

The seventh hole.

The seventh green.

The eighth hole is 380 yards, but because it's a nearly 90-degree dogleg right, it can potentially play a lot shorter. The green may not be driveable, but you could definitely get within 50 or so yards. Of course, to do that you'll need to clear a wide variety of sand, scrub, and trees to get to a narrow neck of fairway with even more trees lurking just beyond. Meanwhile, a judicious lay-up to the center of the fairway will still leave you with just a wedge second. Considering I tried the aggressive play and ended up with a triple bogey, I think safety is the way to go here. The green here is quite large as well, though it is elevated and has a large bunker left and a little pot bunker just short.

The eighth hole.

Approaching the eighth green.

The eighth green.

The ninth hole is a par 5 playing 550 yards to a very wide fairway, with a waste bunker right and several smaller bunkers and trees left. Hugging the right side, challenging the waste bunker, shortens the hole and will give you the opportunity to go for the green in two. However, a stretch of marsh cuts across the fairway about 150 yards short of the green. If you don't hit a good drive, you may not be able to carry that on your second shot, leaving you with little hope of hitting the green in regulation. While you'll obviously be a long way out, this green is extremely small, hidden in a little punchbowl behind several large bunkers. Hitting this little green in two is unlikely, though of course you can get close. The best strategy, I think, is to lay up in the wide section of fairway between the marsh and greenside bunkers. You can leave yourself a simple little 75-yard pitch, as the bunkers are placed a bit away from the green itself; they're more hazards for long second shots, not short third shots. I like this hole, it's got more thought behind it than you might think.

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.