Myrtle Beach Goes Green: Mystical Golf Courses Overseed Wall-to-Wall

PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com’s Charlie Rymer catches up with Claude Pardue of DG Golf Management, whose three Myrtle Beach golf courses – , The Wizard and Man O'War – are among 19 designs in the area that boast “wall-to-wall” green playing conditions throughout the year. Hear why they do it, and what their golfers love about the experience!

Charlie Rymer:
So I’m with Claude Pardue, the CEO of the management company that owns and operates three golf courses here in Myrtle Beach – The Witch, The Wizard, and the one we’re at today, Man O’War, and Claude, when I came in the front gate of this property, the first thing I saw was green, green, green everywhere. I know that’s something you’ve got to be really proud of.

Claude Pardue:
Oh, yeah. In fact, it’s something that we do. We believe in overseeding wall-to-wall, so that when our customers play our golf course, they see green, as you said, everywhere. And we’re standing here in January and our golf course looks like this.

Charlie Rymer:
By the way, in January and it’s 72 degrees here in Myrtle Beach, I got to point that out and-

Claude Pardue:
Yeah, you and I should be playing!

Charlie Rymer:
We should. We might get out after this … but talk to me about the overseeding process. I think a lot of people don’t understand how you get this beautiful grass in here, when you do it. Will you educate our viewers on that topic?

Claude Pardue:
Yeah. Frankly, something I’m proud about because my staff does the best job of overseeding of any staff in the world, I believe, other than Augusta National. But the way they do it is they put 800 pounds per acre, and we don’t, but my staff does a great job.

Our normal grass here is Bermuda, and Bermuda is a warm-weather grass, mostly a warm night grass, and it grows like a weed all summer long and all early fall. But when you start getting frost and cold nights, Bermuda goes dormant, and the reason it goes dormant is to protect itself so it won’t die, like a bear hibernating in the middle of the winter. But it turns light brown and it’s not very pretty and it’s not a very good playing surface, and the ground becomes hard under dormant Bermuda. Now a pro like yourself likes to pinch that ball, but amateurs like me, I like it sitting up a little bit so that I got something to hit off of, and that’s why the golf course becomes so brown, so what we do is we overseed with rye.

Now a lot of people like to overseed their tees and their fairways. We don’t. We like green, and our tourist customer comes here from the middle of February till the middle of May. That’s the most important time of year, so that’s when we want it to be brilliantly green.

Charlie Rymer:
Now this is a significant investment that you make in your golf product.

Claude Pardue:
Absolutely.

Charlie Rymer:
And I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that the reaction you get from your customers when they come here, in particular during the high season (end of February, March, April and May), their reaction has to be very positive to this golf course. Am I correct?

Claude Pardue:
That is correct. We believe that what we need to do as a company, but also as an industry, we believe that we ought to give our customers a better experience. We’re in the middle of a major reconstruction on our three golf courses in areas that are going to enhance those areas too, like I discussed with you. We’re in the middle of getting all of our bunkers replenished and rebuilt where they need to be, and so when somebody comes the middle of February on, against this green grass they’re going to see beautiful white sand in the bunkers. Things like that, it just makes it special in a way that if you don’t do those kinds of things, I’d ask you what’s special about playing your golf course? Not to mention these are three beautiful golf courses to begin with.

Charlie Rymer:
Well, absolutely beautiful golf courses. Claude Pardue with The Wizard, The Witch, and Man O’War. Come see us here at these three golf courses. When you drive on this property, you’re going to see the green, you’re going to see that new white sand in the bunkers, and you’re going to say “I’ve got to get out on that golf course.” Come on, let’s head out there right now!

Claude Pardue:
Okay, thanks.