Members Club in MB first to open in area since 2001
By Alan Blondin
The Sun News
At a time when the owners of at least 10 Grand Strand golf courses are receiving sales offers from developers to exit a saturated market, Burroughs & Chapin Golf Management on Friday opened the first course on the Strand in four years.
The Members Club at Grande Dunes opened as the fifth fully private course in the area, joining DeBordieu Colony, the Reserve Club and Wachesaw Plantation on the South Strand and The Surf Golf and Beach Club on the North Strand.
The building of the course was partially fueled by Grande Dunes' burgeoning upscale housing sales.
"We did a lot of studies, and we looked at different performances based on if it was semiprivate and what the real estate value would do compared to being all private," Members Club General Manager Mike Buccerone said. "This golf course and the real estate both drove each other. With over 800 property owners already, Grande Dunes is so busy, members and property owners were looking for the private experience, and we had an opportunity to do something special."
The Members Club development will feature about 200 lots near the front nine, averaging $350,000 to $400,000 for lots on the course and $750,000 to $800,000 for lots bordering the Intracoastal Waterway. There already are about 50 sold, said Martin Bellamy, Grande Dunes' broker in charge. There are no lots on the back nine.
The club already is approaching 100 nonequity members at a cost of up to $50,000 and annual dues of $4,750. The initial membership fee is partially refundable.
Grande Dunes Golf Course, to the south of The Members Club, was one of five courses that opened in 2001. A course hasn't opened since, following a stretch of at least one opening for 19 consecutive years, when a total of 85 layouts were built to flood the Strand with 120 courses.
Five courses have closed since 1999, and several others are contracted to close.
At Friday's opening, Price conducted a clinic and played a round with several members in front of a gallery of about 200. The three-time major championship winner shot a 66 and hit all 18 greens in regulation from the 7,048-yard back tees.
The par-71 course, which cost $5.1 million to build, according to Schreiner, features five par-3s, L93 bentgrass greens, TifSport Bermudagrass on tees and fairways, 419 Bermuda in the rough, Zoysia grass surrounding bunkers filled with white Felspar Quartz sand, and green fronts bolstered by six inches of firm greens mix.
Caddie Services Inc. of Pinehurst provides full-service caddies for up to two players or forecaddies for up to four. Caddies are required for unaccompanied guests.
Schreiner said The Members Club is the best of the more than 25 courses he's designed, and Price said the finished product is better than he expected.
"This is a five-star effort on everyone's part," said Price of his 13th co-design. "I think when you pay attention to all the little things and they're all put together, it gives you a little bit of a surprise at the end. The detail that we put in on each hole certainly came to fruition."
The course is expansive off the tees, and the fairways are designed to play fast. Greens are large and not severe, but there are few flat spots. "The greens are where all the strategy lies," Schreiner said. "There's a lot of recoverability, a lot of creativity around the greens. ... Every single green is complex and different, and it's interesting. The thing I like most about this place is the beauty in its subtlety, especially on the putting surfaces."
Two of the course's par-5s can be reached in two shots, and two can't. The par-3s measure between 160 and 225 yards from the back tees, and Price hit long irons into some par-4 greens and wedges into others.
"You try and make sure you have that blend, and you're a little more generous on the longer shots, where you have long irons or fairway woods into the greens, and a little tighter on the shorter shots, and I think we accomplished that here," Price said
