Rash of course closures hitting Grand Strand

ALAN BLONDIN

A pair of Grand Strand courses closed Aug. 14, two others are set to close in November, and at least two of three courses at Bay Tree Plantation will close next May.

Both Raccoon Run Golf Club and Ocean Isle Beach Golf Club closed Aug. 14. The sale of Raccoon Run, a Gene Hamm design that opened on S.C. 707 in 1977, to Beazer Homes was expected by the end of August.

Raccoon Run's closing also brings about the retirement of head pro Jerry Blalock, a stalwart among Strand golf professionals. Blalock began working on the Strand as Jimmy D'Angelo's assistant at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in 1962. He's been at Raccoon Run for the past 24 years and is one year shy of celebrating 50 years in the golf industry.

The Ocean Isle Beach club, a Russell Breeden design that opened in 1986, also is expected to be redeveloped.

Belle Terre Golf Course, a Rees Jones design that opened in 1995, and Calabash Golf Links, a Willard Byrd design that opened in '96, are both scheduled to close in November. Belle Terre has stopped taking tee times past Nov. 11, while Calabash owner Kemp Causey said his course is under contract to be sold to a national home builder as early as November.

Bay Tree will remain in operation through May 15, 2006, and developer Centex Homes is considering leaving one of the facility's three 18-hole courses open for several more years.

Horry County Council voted to allow Centex to build a 1,775-unit development on the Bay Tree site.

Centex Myrtle Beach Division president Mike Wyatt said the property's Green and Gold courses will close May 16, but there's a possibility the Silver Course will remain open until development reaches that area in 2010 or beyond. He expected to make a decision by November.

Owners reinvesting

Sea Gull Golf Club, Deer Track's Toski Links and Island Green Golf Club are or will be undergoing major renovations.

Sea Gull, the sixth 18-hole course on the Grand Strand when it opened in 1967, will be reinvented as Pawleys Island Golf Club next year.

"We're not going to rebuild anything. We're not going to renovate anything. We're going to blow it up and start over again," said Rowland Thomas, a managing partner of GGG of Myrtle Beach, which owns Sea Gull.

GGG has hired a construction company and architect Thomas Walker, a former lead designer on several projects with Gary Player Design, including Blackmoor in Murrells Inlet.

Sea Gull is scheduled to close Oct. 29 and course owners hope to open the new layout in October 2006 following an estimated $7 million in expenditures.

Deer Track Golf Resort's Toski Links is closed for improvements that include the reshaping of all bunkers, remodeling of tee boxes and addition of tees for seniors, women and juniors.

Work will be done nine holes at a time on Toski Links, and golfers will be able to play nine holes of that course and the front nine of Deer Track's South Course until work is completed, hopefully by October.

Island Green, a short 25-year-old Bill Mooney layout, is in the midst of an estimated $750,000 renovation project on the course and clubhouse that includes a transformation of the greens from bentgrass to Champions Bermudagrass.

The greens are being done nine holes at a time on the 27-hole layout, leaving at least 18 holes open continuously. New tee boxes are being built to add approximately 250 yards to a layout that is 6,170 at its longest, about 500 yards are being added to the white tees so they stretch to more than 6,000 yards, and senior tees are being added.

Cart paths will be redone and the clubhouse will receive a major overhaul.

Long Bay Club and Caledonia Golf & Fish Club reopened in August with new Champions greens and other improvements.

TPC is course of year

The TPC of Myrtle Beach has been named the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association Course of the Year for 2005, beating out finalists Burning Ridge Golf Club and the Love Course at Barefoot Resort.

The TPC moved onto competition at the state level against courses from Hilton Head, Charleston, the Midlands and Upstate, and is eligible for national consideration as well.

TPC representatives gave a video presentation to MBAGCOA members. Each course was judged on the quality of its layout, maintenance and management, and its contributions to both the community and the game of golf.

The TPC does as much as any area course to promote the game and benefit the community.

It participated in the Play Golf America initiative and Women's Golf Week in May with free clinics and discounted golf, and is the second Horry County course to be designated a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary by the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System.

It's the home course for the St. James High golf teams and the Coastal Carolina General Jim Hackler Invitational.

Each year the TPC sponsors a free exhibition by the inspirational Dennis Walters that averages more than 200 children receiving T-shirts and lunch. It also has hosted a variety of charitable events and run specials offering discounted golf in exchange for donations to Toys for Tots, Horry County Disabilities and Special needs, the Tsunami Relief effort in conjunction with the American Red Cross, and a Food Drive.

Tour future in doubt

The Myrtle Beach Golf Tour is on hold for at least a year. Tour founder Lowell Counce, a starter and official with the Grey Goose Gateway Tour Beach Series, planned to begin the tour this summer.

But he said he had just 50 players register and sponsors wanted at least 60, so he'll wait until 2006 and see if many Gateway Tour players would prefer to play in Myrtle Beach as opposed to Florida.

Signature Golf expanding

Signature Golf Group, a management company with offices in Surfside Beach and Charlotte, N.C., will handle marketing for the 27-hole Carolina National Golf Club in Bolivia, N.C., for at least the next two years.