Home Stretch Adventure at Azalea Sands: “Breaking Par with Charlie Rymer” Episode 53
Charlie might have his hands full here: the par-4 finishing hole at Azalea Sands Golf Club in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. It’s a straightforward challenge, but “The Big Timer” might have to overcome some twists and turns to card a red number here!
Charlie:
Cancer knocked me down, but not out. Now, I’m cancer free. The recovery? It’s been tough. I’ll need patience, a lot of humor …
(I don’t even have a writer!)
… And support from friends and family. Over the last two years, I haven’t played much golf, but there’s no better place to get back in the game than on 66 courses in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We’re keeping score, but just teeing it up means I’ve already won!
(I’m gonna show you all the best par you’ve ever seen after that one!)
Join me on my journey to break par!
Pretty straightforward way to end the day at the finishing hole here at Azalea Sands, they’ve added some nice-looking native grass and waste areas throughout the course, and those certainly come into play here so you know which way you have to steer your tee shot. Your approach is to a long green with bunkers front right and back left.
I’m in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, actually the heart of North Myrtle Beach. We got Highway 17 just right over here, and this enclave that is Azalea Sands Golf Club. Really special place for me, I’m going down Memory Lane. When I vacationed here as a kid, going back to probably 5, 6, 7 years old, we would stay over at the beach at Cherry Grove, and this is one of the golf courses that I played. Probably one of the first golf courses I ever played in my life. Absolutely super.
Now, recently, there’s been a lot of money put into this golf course, and when you look at it, it’s an interior golf course, you’re not playing through housing quarters, it really has a links feel because of the landscaping, the sand has been added, the bunker lips have been raised up a little bit, the landscaping above those bunker lips make it really feel like you’re playing a true links golf course.
All right, this is the 18th hole, fairly short par four, or at least it used to be for me, there’s not many of them that are short these days. But like so many of the golf courses here, you see the black and white striped pole. That’s 150 yards in to the middle of the green, always in the middle of the fairway, so it’s never bad to be close to one of those black and white stripe poles.
All right. I’m really close to a black and white stripe pole. Unfortunately, it’s on another hole. But the good news is we’ll find it and play from there.
So I used to get on the beach in the morning over here at Cherry Grove, and we always had these little inflatable rafts. You’d go out there, it seemed like you’re two miles in the ocean, it was probably a hundred feet. We would surf in the morning. I’d always be sunburned and my belly would be all scratched up from that inflatable that we would use to surf the waves. But I’d come over here, all crispy, put on a golf shirt, come out and play until the sun came down. Man, those were special days right there. A lot of it involves sunburn. Yeah, they’re pointing out, they hit my drive a little right?
This is what they make lasers for. I’m close to this fairway. Our fairway’s that one over there. But I got a good lie, not the best of angles. 142, that’s not bad. Guys that hit it crooked, the lasers really help. It’s a tiny little green, I better be pretty accurate here. All right. Should be a pretty good number for a nine iron. Turn over baby. Ooh, that’s going to be one of upside down bunkers. I love an upside down bunker. Come on, I’ll show you what that means.
All right, so this ball plugged a little bit. The sand’s a little bit soft. I’ll get a little steep here. It’ll come out probably pretty hot. All right. It is what it is. I shouldn’t have hit it in this upside down bunker. Got to work to try and save my par. That’s what I get for hitting it two fairways over the tee. I love how small this green is. Get in there for an ugly par.
Well, I played my first golf here when I was five, six years old. Probably made bogey here then too. What a neat golf experience. Love it.
They’re not all birdies and pars, that’s for sure. But no worries, because we’ve got plenty of room to make up ground, starting with the Big Cats at each of our next four stops!
