True Blue

900 Blue Stem Drive, Pawleys Island, SC 29585

$$$$

This is not only one the best courses in the Myrtle Beach area but all of South Carolina and America, for that matter.

Both Golf Magazine and Golfweek rank True Blue among America’s top 100 public courses, so it may seem too odd to suggest True Blue sometimes has to fight for notoriety. But that’s the price you pay for being Caledonia’s next-door neighbor.

True Blue, which lives in the shadow of its highly acclaimed sister course, doesn’t need to take a back seat to any course. As a matter of fact, it’s not crazy to argue True Blue is as good as any layout along the Myrtle Beach golf scene.

Everything is big at True Blue, including the fairways, greens, waste bunkers and most importantly, the fun. While the layout has a reputation for being challenging, the width of the fairways allows mid- to high-handicappers the opportunity to score while enhancing the shot values for more skilled players.

Architect Mike Strantz, known as "The Maverick” in golf course architecture circles, is an iconoclast at heart and his willingness to challenge conventional wisdom is readily apparent at True Blue. For starters, the course is home to five par 3s and five par 5s.

The 5th hole, a horseshoe-shaped par 5, is representative of Strantz’s genius. The fairway is huge, giving less skilled golfers an opportunity, but for low-handicappers there is a risk-reward component on every shot on a hole that plays around a lake.

Players with the power, skill and courage have a chance to reach the green in two, but the risk of your golf ball finding a watery grave is omnipresent. It’s an exhilarating hole and representative of the True Blue experience.

This is a memorable course from beginning to end. True Blue is deserving of the top 100 rankings it has received and one that all Myrtle Beach golfers need to play.