Two of Myrtle Beach's popular golf courses closing for much of the summer

Tim McDonald,
Contributor

Two of Myrtle Beach's more well-known golf courses are closing for much of the summer, hoping to spruce up their layouts with new grass and other renovations.

Long Bay Club and the Caledonia Golf and Fish Club are closing shop to replace their greens with ultra dwarf Champions Bermuda grass.

Long Bay, which closed June 5, is scheduled to re-open in August or September. The new grass will replace the Tifdwarf Bermuda the course has had since its opening.

"The grass is old," Long Bay Assistant Professional Dave Aston said. "It's been here for 17 years, so we're putting in Champion. It's a closer-growing grass. You can cut it a little shorter, so the greens are going to be faster. Golfers prefer the bent grass and it will be like that."

The change means the greens will be closer to their original size, which also means better pin placements for golfers, Aston said.

"The Bermuda from the fairways has crept in and made them a foot or two smaller all around the edges," Aston said. "They've already got them marked out. Some of them have grown three or four feet in places."

Course officials also plan to lower the lips of some bunkers, which have built up over the years from golfers hacking their way out.

"They're going to cut those down, some of them as much as a foot where the sand has piled up over the years," Aston said.

The course, a Jack Nicklaus design, is also doing some work on its irrigation system and other general maintenance. In the meantime, course officials will direct golfers to one of the other courses of parent company, Myrtle Beach National.

"We've got nine courses in the company so we can divert them to other sister courses, like Kings North," Aston said.

Caledonia is scheduled to be closed for two months, from June 16 through Aug. 16. The course is also moving to the Champions Bermuda strain.

Caledonia is older than Long Bay, opening in 1994, and immediately began garnering awards. Critics usually name it as one of the top courses on the Grand Strand and most of the major golf magazines have recognized it.

Golf Digest named it as one of the top 100 public courses in America, Golf Magazine named it on its top 100 you can play list and Golfweek said it was one of America's best modern courses.

The plantation-style course, with its antebellum clubhouse, was built on the site of an old rice plantation.

June 13, 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.