Course Spotlight: The “New” Pawleys Plantation, Hole by Hole

Pawleys Plantation General Manager Riley Kinlaw offers his thoughts on the biggest differences visiting golfers will now experience when they play the newly renovated Jack Nicklaus design, shared over a hole-by-hole comparison of “before” and “after” imagery.

Riley Kinlaw:

All the greens were redone. They were replaced with TifEagle (Bermudagrass), which was what we had before, which Mr. Nicklaus recommended putting back in. But the smoothness of them, the care of them, gaining 40,000 yards of square feet throughout the course, you have so many more pinnable areas.

Coming out and riding the course since we reopened on Sunday, how much cleaner the golf course looks! The tree removal was very smartly done. It really makes a lot of the live oaks that were already on the course and areas look to stand out so much more. The removal of the large expansive bunkers on the course, which when Mr. Nicklaus visited in 2018, said this would be one of the things he would definitely recommend moving. And then when Troy Vincent came back in from Nicklaus Design Group to start the process, getting those out, replace them with the new sandy waste areas that we have, you still have that visual impact.

And the bunkering that was put into place, it’s just very smart throughout the course. So holes like number 12, for example, where we had a large 200-yard bunker before, it’s now been replaced with three fairway bunkers up the right-hand side, and a greenside bunker. So you still have the visual look of it.

It is a little bit more playable for the masses, but still a great test for the scratch handicap. You didn’t really lose anything from the hardness of the course for the low handicapper, but you’ve increased the playability for the higher handicapper, and it’s just eye candy everywhere. It’s just visually stunning when you go out and ride through the golf course, and that’s what I’ve been very excited to see.

We get a lot of repeat customers out here. From people that have played it for many years as well, just to come back and they’re like, “Wow, this is the same Pawleys Plantation, but it’s just amazing the changes that were done, how beautiful it is!” The greens obviously is a big comment. The bunkering was all redone throughout the golf course, so every bunker was either renovated or replaced. It was all done with capillary concrete, new sand … so much more playable than it was before. So they did comment on the playability being that much better, the conditions being so much improved, but just the look of it all.

They said it doesn’t even look like the same place, even though it is, it’s just the beauty of it just is like, “Wow.” Yeah. “Wow” I think would be the great way to describe it!