In the Studio with Charlie Rymer: Prestwick’s Jay Smith

Prestwick Country Club General Manager Jay Smith swings by the studio to chat it up with “The Big Timer,” dishing on lots of great things to know about his Pete & P.B. Dye-designed gem – including the influence behind one of the course’s main design elements, and how the original Prestwick course across the pond inspired the creation of its Myrtle Beach namesake.

 

 

 

Charlie Rymer:

Hi, and welcome in to GTS Studios here in the Golf Capital of the World, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Thrilled to be joined today by Jay Smith, who’s the General Manager at Prestwick Country Club. And Jay, we got to talk about Pete Dye and PB Dye. They design your golf course and every time I go out there, I’m a huge Pete Dye fan and PB as well. And every time I go out there, I mean, it’s just a wonderful example of their architecture. And you’ve got to be really proud of Prestwick.

Jay Smith:

I am. It’s a wonderful layout, as you well know. It’s your typical Pete Dye and PB Dye golf course. It’s a little challenging, just a little bit. It’s not too hard. We do offer six sets of tees to try to help whoever’s playing, but you’re right, it’s got the normal pot bunkers. A lot of mounding on the sides of the fairways and the fairways are real rolling. It’s pretty generous off the tee.

Charlie Rymer:

One of the things I’ve noticed about a Pete Dye golf course is the first time you play it absolutely scares you to death because the fairways, they do look generous after you’ve played it a couple times, but that first time you stand up on tee and you’re like, “I got no place to hit this but in the water.”

Jay Smith:

You’re absolutely correct. Off the tee, they don’t look wide, but they actually are. It’s really the second shots or the shots into the green, second shot, third shot, whatever it might be. But you know, you can’t roll the ball up on the greens, you have to fly it. And they’re, most of them are domed a little bit, so the ball will roll off and you can get some pretty funky lies.

Charlie Rymer:

Well, every time I go to Prestwick as well, you take great pride in the speed of your greens. Tell me about the speed that you try to maintain.

Jay Smith:

So other than when we aerify, which is in the summer and really August, we try to maintain them at around an 11. Which is quick, but not so quick that you scare everybody. But we try to keep them 10 and a half to 11, and our superintendent does a wonderful job of that. And that’s one of the things that you’ve probably heard it as well, we’re probably known for around the Grand Strand as having the most consistent, true and fast greens at the same time. If you get it on line, it’ll go in, but if you hit it a little too hard, it’s not a lot of fun.

Charlie Rymer:

And everybody loves good, smooth, fast greens.

Jay Smith:

Yeah, they do. They do.

Charlie Rymer:

So a lot of times when people hear Pete Dye, they think railroad ties, and they seem to think that Pete Dye invented the railroad ties.

Jay Smith:

Sure.

Charlie Rymer:

What I think is really neat is the original Prestwick in Scotland was laid out by Old Tom Morris, and he was actually the first guy to use railroad ties on some of the holes there at Prestwick. And Pete Dye obviously saw that, liked it, has integrated into all of his golf courses, including our Prestwick here in Myrtle Beach. But those railroad ties, after a while, they need some maintenance. And I know you guys have just been through that with your bulk heads on the golf course.

Jay Smith:

They do. So I can tell you a good story about Prestwick and Scotland, the family that owns Prestwick, the Jackson family. When they were building Prestwick, they got on a plane with Pete and PB Dye and the main designer of the neighborhood out there, and they flew over and they met with Prestwick in Scotland to make sure it was okay if they named this one Prestwick.

Charlie Rymer:

Wow.

Jay Smith:

They actually asked them if it was okay, and they agreed. And for three or four years after, they would send their… I think it’s their secretary as the head of their golf course over there, they would send him over. He came over for the inaugural opening day they had. So it’s kind of neat. There was a nice little tie between the two. And there’s a few more Prestwicks in the US and apparently, I don’t know if they did that or not, but…

Charlie Rymer:

Yeah, I’m doubting. They probably didn’t.

Jay Smith:

They probably didn’t, but the Jackson’s wanted to. Mr. And Ms. Jackson, and they really enjoyed it and got the okay to name it Prestwick so it was good.

Charlie Rymer:

That’s great respect paying.

Jay Smith:

Yeah.

Charlie Rymer:

That they paid to one of the oldest golf courses around. Of course, Prestwick in Scotland hosted the first British Opens.

Jay Smith:

They hosted about close to 20, I believe. But they really appreciated the fact that they went over and asked. And so it was a good story.

Charlie Rymer:

Yeah, yeah. No, that’s really neat.

Jay Smith:

But you are right. We had a lot of bulk heads that were put in to hold up greens, hold up areas right around the greens. 16… Well, five had them at one point. We changed that. Nine and 18, we just changed this past summer. You saw it when you were out there a month or two ago. Looks really, really good.

Charlie Rymer:

Yeah, it does.

Jay Smith:

The two holes right behind the clubhouse looks really sharp. And actually we were able to add a little bit of land, so we made it a little bit easier to hit into 9’s green. And then we changed the one on 16, which is a par three where it’s an elevated tee and you hit down to it and it’s got a little creek. And we picked up land there because the railroad ties were slanted and the wall we built stands straight up, so we picked up some fair amount of ground. And on 16, we actually made a bunker that was never there. And so we’re trying to keep a few balls out of the water, make it a little easier.

Charlie Rymer:

Thank you.

Jay Smith:

It seems to work, but you’re in a bunker, but you don’t have to take a penalty shot, so it’s good.

Charlie Rymer:

Yeah. Well, one of the things I know that you take pride in as well is the fact that you have this feel like you’re a high end private club, but yet the public can have access to the golf.

Jay Smith:

Absolutely. When it first opened up, it was totally private. And then along the way started allowing some hotel play, package play. And then as it grew and grew, and membership unfortunately was declining as you know, years ago the family decided to dissolve the membership. And so now we’re completely public. So you can make a tee time by booking it online. You can book it through any golf packager down here, however you’d like to do it.

Charlie Rymer:

And not only is it a great Pete and PB Dye design, it’s always in very good condition.

Jay Smith:

Yes.

Charlie Rymer:

With the fast and smooth greens, it fits good on any itinerary.

Jay Smith:

Yes.

Charlie Rymer:

Because you guys are right in the middle of everything.

Jay Smith:

We’re on 544 in Surfside, and we’re 10 minutes from the airport, which is extremely important and we’re close to all the main hotels in Myrtle Beach.

Charlie Rymer:

Well, Jay Smith, he’s a general manager of Prestwick Country Club. Make sure you get it on your itinerary when you come down to visit us here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the Golf Capital of the World. Jay, thanks for spending time with us in the studio this morning.

Jay Smith:

Thanks for having me.