While trying to think of a topic for this space today, I stared out the back window of our condo in Pawleys Plantation. The window faces the rear tee on the 15th hole, the toughest driving hole on a tough, South Carolina Low Country course (see photo below). The fairway is the narrowest on the Jack Nicklaus layout, a gentle dogleg left with dense trees and out of bounds guarding the entire left side and a few live oaks and out of bounds encroaching down the right. They are there to protect the string of condominiums that runs from the tee box almost to the green. The only good drive on the 15th is a controlled draw of about 220 yards on the fly from the tips, and how many of us can do that on command. The 15th, at 391 yards from the back tees, is one of the shortest par 4s on the course but, nevertheless, has ruined many a good round.
I have noticed that many times a day, a foursome from out of town, down in the Myrtle Beach area to
As they stepped to the tee, golf shirts hanging out, I thought "This should be good."
"enjoy" themselves, will step up to the slightly elevated back tee on #15 and rip away. Today, half the group had their golf shirts hanging well below their beltlines. I muttered a "This should be good" to myself and watched them swing as if they were in a long drive contest at the local range, then slump their shoulders and walk off the tee box muttering their way to the cart. You just know that routine had been repeated multiple times earlier in the round. I would not want to be in the group behind them on a busy day, although the course was not crowded today.
There are good reasons why courses make multiple tee boxes available (and even better reasons why some clubs suggest players play from certain tees). Over nearly 20 years, I have never played the back tees at Pawleys Plantation, even when I had my brief flirtation with a single-digit handicap. The course plays to over 7,000 yards from there, and a round of nothing but fairway wood and utility club approach shots is not my idea of fun. The blue tees at 6,700 yards, a course rating of 72.5 and slope of 137 is plenty of challenge, thank you very much.
I understand the thinking of a decent player on vacation who only gets one shot at a tough course like Pawleys Plantation. "Let me play it the way Nicklaus set it up to be played," the thinking might go. Breaking 90 from the tips for a 10 handicap would be a moral victory, for sure. But breaking 80 from the blue tees would be within the realm of possibility, and certainly more memorable. Trust me, it does not happen that often.
The 15th tee at Pawleys Plantation. The green is beyond the trees on the far left.
