Myrtle Beach Golf News & Updates

Caledonia Golf & Fish Club is neither the longest nor the toughest golf course on the Grand Strand.

But it’s been regarded as one of the best since opening as acclaimed architect Mike Strantz’ first solo project in 1994.

Great shotmaking requirements, stunning beauty and remarkable playability for golfers of all skills make Caledonia a consensus choice as one of Myrtle BeachI sub golf’s top destinations.
At only 6,526 yards from the black tees (6,121 from blue and 5,710 from white), the par-70 Caledonia layout offers proof that brute length is not a requirement for a great golf course.
With that in mind, here’s a trio of memorable short holes, featuring remarkable challenge and beauty at the Pawleys Island course.

No. 7, par-4 399 (323 white) yards:
The tee shot is a modest carry over water, which then extends down the entire left side of the hole. The right side offers a bailout with an approach blocked by trees.

Though the sand-lined water hazard is striking, the dominating feature of the hole is a spectacular live oak that must be carried on approaches from the right side of the fairway.

No bunkers are needed to protect a large, undulating green that runs from front left to back right. Most lengthy putts must navigate tricky slopes that make two-putting a difficult challenge.

No. 11, par-3, 167 (150 white) yards:
A twisting stream cutting across the fairway and continuing to the green, and a diagonally shaped green defined by the stream make No. 11 a beautiful and memorable hole requiring a well-struck tee shot, especially if the pin is tucked in the back-left portion of the green, which is at least two clubs further from the tee than front placements.

The ability to work the ball from either side is a huge advantage. Shots to the more distant left portion of the green are much easier with a draw. But too much draw finds a lake fed by the stream. A fade, cut over the stream, is the shot of the choice to the front right placements, which are guarded by a pair of bunkers.

The menacing stream and the unusual front-right to back-left shape of the green make the target small and elusive. Tricky depth perception issues and failure to pay attention to pin placements often provide problems for first-time guests.

No. 18, par-4, 383 (362 white) yards:
This signature hole requires focus and accuracy rather than length on both the drive and the approach. But don’t forget to take in the beauty of the scenic lake that dissects the fairway on a dangerous carry to the long, narrow green.

A fairway wood is plenty from the tee, with the main requirement hitting the fairway and avoiding the water on the right and the grabbing rough to the left. Though the left side of the landing area is safer, shots hit closer to the water leave a shorter approach to a putting surface beautifully framed by the antebellum-style clubhouse and patio.

Breezes off the water make approaches from the relatively open landing area more difficult than they might seem. Shots must be hit long enough to carry the water, but not as far as to scatter patrons enjoying a beverage on the patio only a few paces off the putting surface, which is less than 10 yards in depth on the extreme right finger.

Strantz’ finishing hole requires two accurate shots of modest length hit boldly through breezes to small targets set against breathtaking scenery. It’s a hole that makes you thirsty for the 19th hole on the patio, where you can watch others take the same challenge.

John Brasier covered Grand Strand golf as golf writer and sports editor of The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. He also has written about Grand Strand golf for several national publications, including Golf Magazine, Golfweek and GolfWorld. A mid-handicapper with a history of luck on short holes, he’s made four holes-in-one, though much to his regret, none on the Grand Strand.

From PGA and LPGA Tour pros to regular hacks, millions of golfers have played countless rounds in Myrtle Beach, but we can safely say no one has ever had a golf trip like the one Dom Debonis recently completed.

The 81-year-old Debonis (pictured in the orange shirt, third from left) did the seemingly impossible on a recent Myrtle Beach golf trip, making a hole-in-one on three consecutive days, defying 1 in 1.953 trillion odds!

Debonis began his magical run by acing the 112-yard, par 3 17th hole at Farmstead, a singular accomplishment that would’ve made his trip memorable. But he was just getting started.

The following day he made a hole-in-one on the 6th at hole at Thistle, a 129-yard par 3. That night while his group was relaxing in the whirl pool at Long Bay Resort, one of Debonis’ friends told him not to worry about the water because “you won’t sink, just walk across the water.”

Little did they know Debonis’ miraculous run wasn’t over.

The following day he aced the 118-yard fourth hole at Blackmoor, completing what might be the greatest run of holes in one in golf history.

“I was flabbergasted,” Debonis said. “I couldn’t believe it was happening. (The excitement of) it never gets old.”

His run ended at TPC Myrtle Beach, where a fourth consecutive day with a hole in one wasn’t in the offing.

But it was a remarkable streak, made even more so when one considers that Debonis had another hole in one in early September playing at home in The Villages. A former collegiate golfer at Duquesne, Debonis has played the game for 65 years, and he hadn’t recorded an ace in 45 years before having four in just over a month.

His Grand Strand exploits earned him national attention. After the local newspaper in The Villages ran a story on his feat, Gerry Dulac, the longtime golf writer for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette penned a story on the Pennsylvania native and his story went viral.

Debonis has since been featured on Golf Channel, ESPN.com, PBS and numerous other outlets.

His new found fame hasn’t changed life at home – his wife still makes him take the trash out every night – but it has reconnected him with old acquaintances. He has heard from old fraternity brothers and a friend from his childhood that he hadn’t communicated with in more than 40 years.

Debonis was invited to join a group of 11 other guys for the trip to Myrtle Beach.

“After being down here (in The Villages), you want a break every once in a while,” he said. “We went to Myrtle Beach and had such a good time.”

The members of his group, several of whom were with him for all four aces, surely had a good time collecting the free drinks, totaling nearly $500, that Debonis purchased.

In the third episode of Big Break Myrtle Beach, the flop wall and elimination challenge drama were the stars of the show.

The flop wall is a Big Break institution and it made its debut in the opening round of Episode 3’s immunity challenge.

Big Break Myrtle Beach is heating up and the show’s iconic flop wall will take center stage in episode 3, which airs Tuesday night at 9 p.m. on Golf Channel.

Based on a sneak peek of the upcoming episode (see below), Anthony will again be a focal point The 19-year-old is brash and hasn’t made endearing himself to his fellow players a priority, but he didn’t come to Myrtle Beach to make friends.

Eagle Nest has been an institution on the north end of the Myrtle Beach golf scene for decades. The Gene Hamm design opened in 1972 and has been delivering quality and value to golfers since day one.

Here are a few great pointers from Ted Frick of the Classic Swing Golf School on controlling your distance around the greens!

These Myrtle Beach golf schools can turn your
golf vacation into a game-changer!

SEE MORE VIDEO TIPS!
Lower your handicap, fine-tune your advanced skills, or build a solid foundation for a golf game that will serve you for a lifetime. Wouldn’t that just be the perfect Myrtle Beach souvenir? Check it out! And, don’t forget, you can get these tips by email too!

One of the premier golf courses in Myrtle Beach has been closed for a few months – it's great to have them back! 

It was fall of 1970 and Ron Bingeman, Larry Spangler, Everett Cassel and Bob Hayes had just concluded their first Myrtle Beach golf trip. The group stayed at the Caravelle, played the Dunes Club, Pine Lakes and Litchfield Country Club, but when the trip ended, disappointment was the prevailing emotion.

“We came for four days the first time, and when we went home, we were sick,” Bingeman said. “We said we were never going to (come for only four days) again. We were going to have to get (our stay) up to a week.”

Forty-five years later, Bingeman and his buddies, minus Hayes who had to stop coming after the 1989 trip for health reasons and was replaced by Craig Aiken, have made good on their word, staying for at least a week every year since 1971.

That first trip launched a 4 1/2-decade love affair with Myrtle Beach golf and the dedicated duffers are in the midst of their 45th Myrtle Beach golf trip, an outing highlighted by playing their 10,000th hole in Myrtle Beach Thursday at Tidewater Golf Club. At the conclusion of this year's trip, they will have enjoyed 388 golf package days in Myrtle Beach – only three of which were lost to rain.

It's a good life when you've spent more than a year of it on vacation in Myrtle Beach playing golf.

When the group began their annual pilgrimage, Richard Nixon was president, the average NFL player salary was $23,000, and there were barely enough Myrtle Beach golf courses to fill their itinerary. Much has obviously changed, but the same experience they enjoyed in 1970 is what brings them back today.

“It’s is absolutely the highlight of the year,” Spangler said. “It’s like being back in college with the boys. Good food, good golf and we get along really well.”

The trip has grown to nine days, but nature and fate have at various times attempted to keep them from coming. The closest the group came to missing the trip was 1989 when Hurricane Hugo slammed the South Carolina coast just days before their arrival.

The hotel they were slated to stay in had its first floor washed out and the area suffered extensive damage, but the suburban Philadelphia residents weren’t deterred. They called every hotel on the beach looking for a place to stay, eventually finding a condo at Oyster Bay in Brunswick County, N.C. The North Strand was spared the worst of the storm and the group forged on.

“There were enough courses open and they had dragged off the trees,” Spangler said. “We just owned the beach. It was so strange to see almost nobody down here. “

In the mid-1970s it was Cassel’s Volkswagen Van that attempted to throw a monkey wrench into their plans, but a mechanical problem stood no chance against the aspiring MacGyvers. The van’s accelerator cable snapped at night on I-95, leaving the foursome scrambling.

While Cassel was inspecting the situation, Bingeman found a blown out truck tire on the side of the road and wondered if the steel in the tire could be used to replace the cable. Cassel removed a knife from his toolbox, cut out the steel belting, spliced it together and ran it to the engine in the back. The van didn’t exceed 50 miles per hour the rest of the trip but it survived the journey (as a matter of fact, the rigged cable stayed on the van until December of that year).

“Instead of losing days, we lost about 30 minutes,” Bingeman said.

Other than those two incidents, the group hasn’t faced any substantial threats to its longevity. They’ve always traveled between mid-September and October, and never had to worry about getting any grief from their spouses.

When Christmas time comes, all they request is a trip to Myrtle Beach.

Just as amazing as the length of time the group has been coming to Myrtle Beach is their continuity. Spangler, Cassel and Bingeman have made the jaunt every year. After Hayes, who has since passed away, was forced to quit coming, Aiken blended in seamlessly with the group.

Bingeman worked with him and the two often played and talked about golf.

“He was always telling me about Myrtle Beach,” Aiken said. “Then one of the guys couldn’t go anymore and Ron suggested I might want to give it a try. Here I am 25 years later.”

They have played practically every course – they have the logoed golf balls to prove it – and have made friends along the Grand Strand, starting with local golf pro Gene Weldon. As they look towards their fifth decade of Myrtle Beach golf, they have the knowledge of locals.

Each year they pick a different region of the Strand and concentrate on courses in that particular area. There is no bickering about course selection, restaurants or anything else, despite the fact they spend as much time lobbing verbal grenades as they do hitting the ball.

The Myrtle Beach golf community has changed considerably since 1970, but group’s passion for the game and the Grand Strand have been constants.

On this, their 45th trip, the group enjoyed something of dream intinerary, playing The Witch, Rivers Edge, Grande Dunes, Barefoot, Dunes Club, Bald Head, Tidewater and Arcadian Shores.

After 45 years, why does the groupd keep coming back?
 

“It’s a great week, a tradition for us,” Aiken said. “What’s not to like about Myrtle Beach? Wonderful courses, wonderful restaurants, it’s just a great place.”

If you missed the second episode of Big Break Myrtle Beach, we are here for you! Enjoy the drama (commercial free) and find out who will be the first contestant to get sent home this season.

Week two of Big Break Myrtle Beach is in the books, and a show that began at breakfast with talk of the players being more relaxed ended with tears as our first contestant was sent home.

Breakfast was served at 5:24 a.m. and producers wasted little time getting things started. Charlie, who won super immunity last week, giving him the opportunity to opt out of an elimination challenge, had a letter awaiting him on the table.

The “love letter” congratulated Charlie on winning the challenge and let him know that if he advances to the final four of the competition without using the super immunity, he will pocket what’s in the Macanudo box.

Charlie opened the box, his eyes grew wide and his verbal reaction is, “Whoa!”

The site of $10,000 in cash will do that to a young man (or an old one in my case!).

“There is 10 grand with his name on it,” said Dave, seemingly daring Charlie to tempt fate down the line in an attempt to keep the $10,000.

Toph said people were going to be gunning for Charlie. Buyer beware, Charlie birdied both holes of last week’s challenge and looks like one of the show’s best players.

After some happy talk on the range, we jump right into the next immunity challenge on the 13th hole of the Fazio Course at Barefoot, which has two greens.

The challenge utilizes both greens and requires players to decide which one they want to play to. The task is magnified because players have to make their decision without knowing how close their fellow competitors hit the ball to the hole.

The two shots closest to the pin on each hole earn immunity, meaning four players will be guaranteed a spot on next week’s show. The player closest to the pin wins $2,500.

“The competition becomes very real for these contestants because somebody will be going home at the end of the show,” host Tom Abbott said.

Hole location No. 1 was 115 yards and required a carry over a waste area. The No. 2 location was 110 yards straightaway.

Only five contestants played to the first hole location. Dave’s ball was 5’ 9” from the cup and Tessa’s was 6’3” outside the hole, good enough to earn both immunity.

Toph and Carolin, both of whom look strong in the early going, advanced from the second hole location, but what would a challenge be without Anthony trolling his cast mates? As Carolin’s anxiety level rose as Christian’s shot was measured (it was 3 inches outside her ball), Anthony said, “She annoys me. First chance I get, I’m going to give her the boot.”

Based on his performance…

The second episode of Big Break Myrtle Beach airs Tuesday night at 9 p.m. on Golf Channel. The debut show seemed to foreshadow ample drama in the coming weeks as 12 contestants – six men, six women – vie for the opportunity to earn their big break in the world of professional golf.

The first episode set up 19-year-old Anthony Quezada as one of the show’s polarizing personalities and episode two will likely continue that narrative. In a show preview, Quezada says, “I told her I’d kick her butt.”

Golf Channel’s Matt Ginella, one of the world’s leading authorities on golf travel, ranked his five favorite Myrtle Beach courses on the popular Morning Drive program. Find out which courses Ginella likes best and see how it compares your list. Spoiler Alert: Matt couldn’t contain his list to just five courses!

Well another Ryder Cup has come and gone and as the dust settles there’s really only one question that emerges out of it all, Why does Europe keep winning?  

With wins in 8 out of the last 10 Ryder Cups European dominance seems to be unassailable. But why is this? Everybody seems to have a theory but as a person who has caddied on the world tours for the last 35 years, more then half of that on the European Tour, I might have a unique insight into this phenomena.

On the surface of things it would be hard to believe that the American team should ever lose this event. Even though both the United States and Western Europe have a similar population base of about 300 million people, everyone knows that there are countless more golf courses in the states and therefore countless more golfers. This fact alone should give them a tremendous advantage.

Yet the European teams seem to buck the trend. Of course, in this equation holds part of the reason why things have gone the way they have. If you want to know a large part of why the team from the other side of the pond has become so competitive it’s because the American side gave them that opportunity.

Prior to 1979 the Ryder Cup was an event played just between America and Great Britain and Ireland but due, to a great extent, to the lopsided population base available to the two combatants the results were a foregone conclusion. To give the Great Britain and Ireland team a life-line, the American team suggested that they could bolster their side with players originating from Continental Europe. Hindsight is 20/20 but this turned out to more then just a life-line. Almost immediately new golf superstars like Ballesteros, Olazábal and Langer where playing along side the likes of Faldo, Lyle and Torrance. The tide had turned.

But for me this doesn’t explain everything. How could a part of the world where golf is nearly unheard of in bits of it keep beating a country where nearly every person has picked up a golf club at some point in their life?

Well I’m going to tell you.

Contestant Emily Tubert, lead producer Scott Lee, and challenge producer Chris Graham offer insight and opinion on the first episode of Big Break Myrtle Beach.

We’ve been anxiously awaiting the debut of Big Break Myrtle Beach and where better to start in a coastal destination than a boat?

The premier episode opens with all 12 players cruising down the Intracoastal Waterway with no idea what is in store when the boat docks at Anchor Café, an onsite bar at Marina Inn, the show’s host accommodations property.

After being greeted with a frozen drink and making quick toast while overlooking the Intracoastal, our fearless participants are startled by a television turning on. Everyone’s favorite Travelocity Roaming Gnome appears on the screen to explain the format and leaves the contestants wondering what 12 golf balls of various colors sitting in shot glasses means for their future.

The gnome, still sporting his poker face, reveals only that contestants will be playing as individuals, not teams, and instructs everyone to pick a golf ball. What it means will be revealed tomorrow.

It will be a restless nights sleep for the players wondering what to expect.

As they walk down the dock away from Anchor Café, they find their Big Break professional bags. Uber confident Anthony Quezada, the show’s youngest participant at 19, says, “I’m finally going to be carrying my own bag, but not for long. I’m going to have people carrying it for me on tour.”

Uh, ok. In the interim, he can focus on winning Big Break Myrtle Beach.

At 6:01 a.m. the next morning the breakfast bell rings and our nervous contestants find out their fate for the day. Toph Peterson reads a letter that informs players that anyone who has the same color ball will be their opponent in the first challenge.

After a session on the range, the famed glass break, which is synonymous with the show, is revealed as the first obstacle.

Hosts Tom Abbott and Paige Mackenzie make their first appearance and tell the players they are competing for more than $180,000 in cash and prizes and an exemption into the 2015 Valspar Championship (men) or the 2015 Portland Classic (women) for the winner.

Abbott reveals the first challenge victor will win Super Immunity, which allows them…