Thistle provides relaxing departure from typical Grand Strand outings

By Tim McDonald,
Contributor

SUNSET BEACH, N.C. (March 9, 2005) - A leisurely 18 holes on the Grand Strand? Isn't that an oxymoron? Isn't this the hurry-up-and-hit-the-damn-thing capital of the Western hemisphere?

The Grand Strand is all about maximizing profit, where golf courses shuttle paying customers through the courses like herding cattle through the chute on the way to the slaughterhouse. If you don't cram through 50,000 rounds a year here, you don't make money. They use everything but cattle prods.

Not at Thistle Golf Club, located on the northern tip of the Strand, just over the border into North Carolina. At Thistle, they start you 12 minutes apart - an eternity in golf time. You have time to think, to look around and enjoy the course and the fog moving through the swamp. Nobody pushing you from behind, nobody holding you up in front.

"We lose money on it, but it keeps people coming back," Thistle head pro Shawn Hicken said.

There are better courses along the Strand, certainly more challenging ones, but none more relaxed. That's one reason some long-time Strand golfers swear by Thistle. Another one is the conditioning, which is usually immaculate.

"From my perspective, it's the best-conditioned course on the Grand Strand," said Ralph Waters, a home-owner at Thistle. "And I get to play most of them."

His playing partner of 20 years, Tom Vandeventer, agreed: "I like this course the best of all of them," he said.

Thistle was designed by well-known architect Tim Cate, who was told to "create a course that is ferocious to the eye, yet fair to the average golfer," according to the course's PR brochure.

"Ferocious," is the wrong word, considering that Thistle was meant to be reminiscent of the gentle Scottish countryside, with its rolling mounds, heather and wildflowers. There aren't any pot bunkers or windswept ocean rollers, but it's obvious Cate was going for a links-like feel.

The West course's nine holes move through some typical coastal Carolina forest, including swamp - sorry, "environmentally sensitive areas" - and dense trees, but many holes are open to the elements. The North course is more consistently open.

And it's true that the course is more than fair to the average golfer. In fact, it is a favorite of women golfers, who like the fact the 27 holes have five sets of tee boxes.

Still, there are challenges. Especially from the back tees, which give the course enough bite. "When the wind's up out here, it's a bearcat," Walters said.

The 555-yard, par-5 seventh hole, a dogleg left, is a bearcat, even when the wind is a whisper. There's a carry over a swamp to start, with thick forest fronted by fairway bunkers right. If you have the chutzpah to go for the green in two, you're hitting over a creek onto a well-guarded green.

"I've never seen anybody get there in two," said Hicken, himself a long hitter who laid up.

There are other holes that will test your nerve as well, like the West's 558-yard par-5 dogleg, where your second shot is over water to a green guarded in front by a huge bunker. Most players lay up, but you have some room to work with in back, if you have the muscle.

The greens are large, for the most part, and contoured, but not to the point of severity. Still, you can find a putt sliding by 10 to 12 feet past the hole if you're not careful. In February, the North course greens were the only ones not affected by aeration, and they were rolling about a 10 on the stimpmeter.

"I'd say they're subtle," Hicken said. "You definitely have to play here a couple of times to know where to place it. The greens average about 35 yards deep, so you can be on the green and have a very long putt. There's a lot of three-putts out here, but I think they're fair."

The verdict

Thistle is a very enjoyable day on the links, for the relaxed pace of play, the playability and the sense of relative isolation. Whereas on some Grand Strand courses, you can hear the buzz and drone of modern life, Thistle has a pastoral feel.

It's quiet enough for alligators to feel comfortable enough to sun themselves beside ponds - one resident gator is said to be about 12 feet long - and bald eagles and owls can be spotted.

Few holes have homes alongside, although plans call for homes to be built on 135 sites. Those homes will be located mostly on cul de sacs on the interior of the course, course officials said.

Green fees are $65 in the mornings and $55 in the afternoon in the offseason, and $135 and $115 in peak times.

Places to eat

The Isles Restaurant has a host of seafood from catfish fingers and oysters on the half shell to panko crusted fried calamari served with Siracha cream sauce. Start with a poached pear salad with pecans and gorgonzola and move on, for a more traditional meal, to the roast pork tenderloin with apple raisin chutney.

Places to stay

The Islander Resort is a planned beach community that spans the width of Ocean Isle Beach, over the causeway from Sunset. The community has large, oceanfront lots, a beach club and restaurant, as well as villas and lots overlooking the Intracoastal.

Also, the town of Calabash - home of "Calabash-style seafood" - is about a 10-minute drive away, and has a number of restaurants specializing in seafood. In the offseason, be sure to check to see if your restaurant is open.

Fast fact

Thistle borrows its name from an old Scottish golf society of the same name; the original Thistle Golf Club was organized in Scotland in 1815.

March 9, 2005

Veteran golf writer Tim McDonald keeps one eye on the PGA Tour and another watching golf vacation hotspots and letting travelers in on the best place to vacation.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.