Ocean Ridge Plantation
To Open Fourth Golf Course

By Shane Sharp,
Contributing Writer

Upscale Practice Facility Is Also On The Drawing Board

SUNSET BEACH, N.C. (SEPT. 20, 2001) – The gloom and doom predictions for the future of golf in the Grand Strand don’t appear to be affecting Ocean Ridge Plantation. The three course facility located just over the border in Brunswick County announced Wednesday that it would move forward with the construction of a fourth course.

Construction of the new course is expected to begin in early 2002, and Tim Cate has been commissioned with the design. An upscale practice facility and a golf school designed to rival any along the Southeast coast will accompany the course.

"We are very excited about the plans for a fourth course and the upscale practice facility," said Plankers. "These additions will continue to enhance Ocean Ridge's growing reputation as one of the best golf facilities along the Grand Strand and throughout the southeast region."

• Feature: Charlotte's Best Courses

Since opening, Ocean Ridge Plantation has emerged as one of the most successful and popular multi-course facilities in the Grand Strand. The 2,000-acre residential community features three championship golf courses: Lion’s Paw, Panther’s Run, and Tiger’s Eye.

Tiger’s Eye, also designed by Cate, is one of the most heralded new courses to hit Myrtle Beach in recent years. The fourth course at Ocean Ridge will be Cate’s seventh solo project, and his third layout at the North Strand facility

One of the nation's fast rising young architects, Cate also designed the Players Club at St. James Plantation in Southport, N.C., and The Thistle Golf Club in Calabash, N.C.

With the Grand Strand golf course total pushing 120, and in light of the tragic events of September 11, opening a new course in Myrtle Beach might sound like a risky proposition. A number of key Myrtle Beach golf officials, however, say that securing rounds at Ocean Ridge has never been a problem.

“So much depends on factors that don’t depend on the total rounds of golfers,” says Bill Golden, Director of Marketing at Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday. “We feel like we will generate the number of rounds that will support a new course. The numbers are back up this summer and we feel confident that it will be a successful course. They have done a great job up there and I don’t think hesitated even once about opening a new course.”

Plankers says that Ocean Ridge is coming off of one of its most successful spring seasons, and that even the oppressive summer months provided above average levels of play.

“We have been very successful,” Plankers says. “What people don’t realize is that we are in the customer service business, like restaurants. We are fortunate to have a great product here, but customer service is the top priority with us. Players get treated right and they come back here.”

As for the progress of the fourth course, Plankers says its still on the drawing board. Construction is slated to begin in either January of February of 2002, but no completion date has been set. Plankers says that similar to Tigers Eye, Ocean Ridge will not open the new course until the new clubhouse is complete and the greens, fairways and rough mature.

“It is going to be something very unique, probably as unique as Tiger’s Eye,” Plankers says. “The topography of the land is more hilly, and the wetlands are made of up streams and bluff that over look the bluffs.”

The new course will be yet another no-expenses-sparred offering from Ocean Ridge. Tiger’s Eye carried a $10 million price tag, and Plankers says he expects the new layout to approach or exceed that dollar figure. The planned practice facility will be modeled after the country’s best, Plankers says, and could include an indoor practice area.

In keeping with the Big Cat theme, the course will be name after some formidable feline.

Shane Sharp is a Contributing Writer with TravelGolf.com. Contact him at sharp@travelgolf.com

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