In the Studio with Charlie Rymer: Shaftesbury Glen GM’s 3 Favorite Holes

Shaftesbury Glen Golf & Fish Club General Manager Ryan McCarty joins PlayGolfMyrtleBeach.com’s Charlie Rymer in studio to discuss the popular Clyde Johnston design, the upgrades made to the course in recent years, and Ryan’s choices for its top three holes.

Charlie Rymer:

Joined now by Ryan McCarty, he’s the general manager at Shaftesbury Glen, that’s a Clyde Johnston-designed golf course located in Conway, South Carolina, which is central to all of Myrtle Beach. And I know that you guys talk about being a traditional English-style golf course. What does that mean when I say traditional English-style golf course?

Ryan McCarty:

Well, it means there’s wide open fairways.

Charlie Rymer:

I’m a big fan.

Ryan McCarty:

Oh yeah, me too. Me too. Kind of a grip it, rip it kind of feel to it, heavily bunkered around the greens, some water out there but not much, waste bunkers, sand, natural look to it. Not too much manmade objects out there to kind of make you pick different clubs and stuff like that.

Charlie Rymer:

Sort of has a nice feel of being in the countryside a little bit.

Ryan McCarty:

Exactly, nice flow to it. It’s nothing that’s gimmicky or anything like that, it’s straightforward right in front of you so you know how to kind of play the hole when you’re on the tee.

Charlie Rymer:

Exactly. So when you get out there and you play bad you can’t blame it on anything else.

Ryan McCarty:

No, you’ve got to find something, right?

Charlie Rymer:

That’s why I always had a caddy for when I played professional golf, it’s always his fault.

Ryan McCarty:

Exactly.

Charlie Rymer:

So I know you guys are very proud of the fact that you’ve invested in the golf course over the last couple of years and sort of polishing things up a little bit. Talk to me a little bit about the improvements you’ve made to the golf course.

Ryan McCarty:

Well they started in 2016 kind of right after the historical rainfalls that we were getting. The golf course wasn’t draining like we wanted it to, plus cart path only kind of hurt play.

Charlie Rymer:

Oh, don’t even say cart path only.

Ryan McCarty:

Exactly, exactly. The kiss of death for the day of golf. So we figured out a way to, instead of just putting cement cart paths, we wanted to keep a natural look to the golf course. So we brought in a couple architects to kind of look at the area, and then actually me and the superintendent, what we did was with paint guns, we walked out to the golf course holes that were the wettest at that time in 2016, and pretty much just started walking areas that we thought that the waste bunkers would look good. And we put almost 10 miles of drainage through all those waste bunkers. So what it does is actually helps drain the holes themselves, but also gives the golfer an alternate route instead of just staying on the cart path, they can actually pick and choose which side they want to go down.

Charlie Rymer:

Now you’re in my area. I love it when number one, I love when folks invest in golf courses because golf courses are like fine automobiles. You get to 100,000 miles, you got to change the belts and hoses.

Ryan McCarty:

Exactly.

Charlie Rymer:

Same thing with a golf course. But when you can improve the turf, improve the drainage, not only do you get better conditions to play off of, but that dreaded cart path only doesn’t happen very often.

Ryan McCarty:

Doesn’t happen very often. And we’re actually finding now for the first time, we’re actually getting people playing us for the purpose that they can use those waste bunkers. So it’s been a fantastic renovation.

Charlie Rymer:

Wonderful. I’ve had a few folks, I’ve actually posted some pictures over the years on golf courses where I’m in a cart in the waste bunker, folks are like, you think you run the place, you’re driving through a bunker. It’s okay. In Myrtle Beach, a lot of our golf courses, we in fact expect you to drive that cart in the waste bunker. So let’s dig into the golf course a little bit. I’m going to ask you to talk about three of your favorite holes, starting with No. 2.

Ryan McCarty:

Number 2 is a par five, pretty lengthy par five if you play it from the back tees. We also in 2016, that was one of our first holes that we put the waste bunkers in. It’s got water to the left. What I love about it off the tee, hit everything you possibly can. Second shot, everything you possibly can. When you get towards the green, they’re all elevated out there. Every single green at Shaftesbury is elevated and heavily bunkered. The owner of the golf course originally was a caddy back in the day at Winged Foot and just grew up and loved that feel of that golf course. So when they originally built it, all the greens were elevated and they had finger bunkers around them.

Charlie Rymer:

That’s a pretty good one to copy, Winged Foot.

Ryan McCarty:

Yes, it is. It is. And that’s where you kind of have to kind of pay attention to where the pin is because the greens are extremely large, fast and heavily bunkered. So off the tee, grip it, rip it, fairway wood hit as hard as you can. Around the green, you’ve got to be a little bit more particular with your shot.

Charlie Rymer:

Talk to me about No. 9.

Ryan McCarty:

Number 9 is kind of a cool hole because it has a natural creek that goes through it. That’s the one hole on the whole golf course where the longer hitters actually have to lay up because that creek kind of comes into play and it kind of meanders through the hole. So it’s kind of a thinker hole. You have to hit a 3 wood usually. The longer hitters hit a 3 wood, and then it’s a longer shot, about 165, 170 yards to the green.

Charlie Rymer:

Okay. And let’s get to the finishing hole, the 18th.

Ryan McCarty:

The 18th is one of our signature holes. And the green itself is about 65 yards long. And in the middle of the green, it has a swale. So that’s the green that you really have to pay attention to where the pin location is. If it’s in the back, you’re putting from the beginning of the green and actually going up and down a swale to get it to the back flag.

Charlie Rymer:

It’s absolutely a beautiful hole. I love all of the movement that you have in your greens. Well, Ryan McCarty from Shaftesbury Glen, the general manager, thanks for stopping by, walking us through your golf course!

And folks, along with being a beautiful golf course, it’s one that you’re not very likely to have to go cart path only on. Nobody likes cart path only. And if you do like cart path only, there’s something wrong with you!