“There's no fair advantage if you're a short hitter. As an example, if you go to The Players Championship, the course is shorter, but it gives everybody an equal opportunity. If you hit it a mile, you're in the fairway; if you hit it short, you're still in the fairway. This event doesn't do that. Period. That's why I'll never play the Buick (again).” - Stephen Ames on Torrey Pines
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I'm always on the lookout for something different where golf holes are concerned and from this list of the 5 toughest golf courses in Myrtle Beach, it's the third hole at River's Edge GC in Shallotte, North Carolina that caught my eye.
This isn't even the most talked about hole on this course, let alone in the Myrtle Beach area (that honour tends to go to the 9th) but I like the way in which a small sliver of creek can impose itself so markedly on the way in which you play the hole.
Contrast it, for example, with the ugly, 'overkill' beach bunkers on some of the holes at Jack Nicklaus' Pawley's Plantation course.
Even if you opt to play safe with your second shot, it's not a shot you play on auto-pilot. Bunkers at the end of the left-hand finger of fairway require you to focus as much on length as on accuracy.
For the brave boomer, meanwhile, that neck of fairway leading into the green looks even narrower when you study a photo of the hole but a fine risk-reward challenge nonetheless and further evidence for my belief that small features exerting a disproportionately large influence on a hole's strategy make for pleasing architecture.
The 17th at Tom Doak's BeechtreeGC. The course itself is worth a look just for the delightfully sparing use of sand but I like the simplicity of this par 4. Either take on the left-hand bunkers to open up the green or play safe to the right and take your chances with a cramped-looking approach over the greenside trap.
There's a similar theme to the 16th at Arthur Hills' Maryland National GC, which I have to say looks the best course of the bunch. Forget the approach shot here, though, the drive is everything. You're taking on overhanging branches, sand and a brook if you aim for the green, yet at a distance of 268-308 yards from the mere mortals' tees, look at that photo and tell me you don't know people who'd go for it every time...
Lighthouse Sound GCwins the 'Scenic' category and I love the par 5 7th on what is another Arthur Hills course. Nothing like a bunker or two slap bang on the line to the green to transform a beautiful hole into an engaging one.
I owe architect Paul Albanese an apology. When I started reading his philosophy behind his new Sweetgrass Golf Club in Michigan, I had genuine doubts as to whether I'd finish it.
Many of us in Britain are a little weary of liberal-speak these days. We've seen 'celebrating diversity' and 'embracing differences' become such entrenched, knee-jerk mantras that too many people in important positions appear to have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to running the country with any semblance of common sense.
So when Albanese starts banging on thus...
"Because this golf course and the neighboring Island Resort & Casino are both owned and operated by the Hannahville Indian Community - a band of the Potawatomi Nation - we've also incorporated aspects of their proud culture and tribal legends."
...I have to be honest, I felt my toes start to curl. Just as they would were I a member of the Potawatomi Nation and was told some guy called Tillinghast wanted to coach my lacrosse team.
Sticking with it, however, I realised that I was unfair to judge Paul on the basis of what happens this side of the Pond. So let's put PC to one side and just focus on the golf.
To get you up to speed, here's a good taster of the course, and don't let the tense trio at the start of the broadcast put you off: I'm pleased to confirm that the man called Tony manfully ignores what looks like every nerve-ending in his body screaming at him to run away...
Sweetgrass isn't the most inspiring piece of land but I like the fact that Albanese hasn't tried to over- compensate with gimmicks. Ironically, a man whom I originally feared might be trying too hard, has tried just hard enough and stayed true to land he was given, subtly steeling the gentle terrain with bunkers in the middle of the fairway and others that gently nibble at the short grass, tempting the bigger hitters to take them on (see holes 5, 10, 11 and 13). You'll find redan and Biarritz greens at the 4th and 12th respectively and the course guide in full is here (with a collection of pictures here).
For all this, I can easily forgive the designer his occasionally funky bunker shapes, which are meant as abstract representations of deer and rabbits found in Potawatomi legend and history. I also like the fact that another part of the tribe's culture to which the course pays tribute is its dislike of waste. Abandoned old bridges in the area have been pressed into use, along with rocks and timbers from an old fort. At the other end of the timeline, meanwhile, you have to love a course irrigation system that can be operated by the superintendent's cell phone...
Ultimately, I can pick Albanese up on just one point:
"We took an idea, and through the process of iteration, we developed shapes derived from these stories. Many of the bunker personalities (in essence, 'bunkeralities') and forms on the golf course have been created through this process."
I'm always on the lookout for something different where golf holes are concerned and from this list of the 5 toughest golf courses in Myrtle Beach, it's the third hole at River's Edge GC in Shallotte, North Carolina that caught my eye.
