My home course in Pawleys Island, SC, was recently re-rated by the USGA. In the last few years, a few changes made the course marginally easier to play. And yet, from virtually all tee boxes, the course rating and slope ratings have remained substantially the same, or actually increased. 
        The significant tweaks in recent years at Pawleys Plantation were designed to reduce the time per round on the challenging layout. For example, two large live oak trees that shielded the right half of the green on the par 5 11th green about 80 yards in front are now gone, making a lay-up placement less of a daunting task and a shot at birdie more frequent. The acres of bunkers that line many of the fairways on the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course are now designated waste bunkers almost all the way to the green, making it possible to ground your club behind the ball before your take a whack at it. For those uncomfortable with hovering the club above the sand before full swings -- count me as one -– that is a consequential change.
First-time players at Pawleys Plantation ignore advice at their own peril.
        From the tips at Pawleys Plantation, the Golden Bear tees -- named for designer Nicklaus -- the layout plays to a total of 7,031 yards. The latest course rating is a whopping 75.2 with a slope of an equally robust 150, down from a rating of 75.7, but with an increase of slope from 148. At Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey, acknowledged as one of the toughest courses in the nation, the course rating is precisely the same as at Pawleys, 75.2 on a layout that is only a few yards longer, although the slope at Pine Valley is 155. At the relentlessly difficult Shinnecock Hills, the rating and slope are 74.4 and 140, respectively. Pine Valley and Shinnecock are very much private clubs; anyone looking for a stern challenge can play Pawleys Plantation. (Note:  Those who want to play the back tees are asked to seek permission in the pro shop.)
        The course and slope ratings for the other popular men’s tees at Pawleys have not changed significantly, although they are uncharacteristically high for a publicly accessible golf course. The Blue Heron tees, typically appropriate for those with handicaps of 6 and less, rate about the same as before, at 73.2 and 145, respectively, compared with a previous 73.7 and 144 (total yardage is 6,549). The White Egret tees, which I played for a few years before I turned 70, have gone from 72.0 and 138 to 71.6 and 140 (6,184 yards); they are suggested for those with handicaps of 6 to 18. I have been playing the Yellow Finch tees this year because I am not hitting the ball much beyond 210 yards off the tee, and their ratings did not move much; the old ratings of 69.2 and 132 are now 69.1 and 130 at 5,560 yards.
The 11th hole, a par 4 at Pawleys Plantation, is one of a number with sand that runs almost from tee to green.
        However, women who play the Yellow Finch tees from 5,560 yards really saw a jump in their ratings, from 72.7/130 to a whopping 74.3/142. The women’s Redtail Hawk tees at 4,932 yards have also jumped significantly, from an already challenging 70.1 and 122 to 71.4 and 130. By the numbers, Pawleys Plantation is not particularly women “friendly,” although women's league members do not seem to mind.
        During a recent visit to celebrate the club’s 30th Anniversary, Jack Nicklaus told members and others at dinner that the course he designed in 1988 would benefit from some changes. For example, as happens with most golf courses over time, greenside bunkers have pulled away from the putting surfaces as the greens themselves have shrunk. He suggested restoring the greens to their original size, something many observers believe will make hitting greens in regulation considerably easier. He also recommended that much of the sand in the huge fairway bunkers be replaced with grass; that would speed up play and also make the game easier for double-digit handicappers.
        These are ideas that most of us who play the golf course regularly certainly endorse. But given many of the forced carries to greens, surrounding marshland that is very much in play, and long greens that afford some nasty pin positions, the challenges at Pawleys Plantation will always rival some of the toughest courses in the land.
The 13th green is smaller than the famed 17th green at TPC Sawgrass and is buffeted by the fickle winds coming off the Atlantic. (The homes beyond the green face the ocean.) Members refer to the 120-yard hole as "the shortest par 4 in the Myrtle Beach area."

        Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear, spent the afternoon and early evening this past Monday at Pawleys Plantation Golf Club, one of his signature designs of the late 1980s, about the time his golf architecture business began to take off. He has been one of the world’s most successful course designers since.
        Mr. Nicklaus, as most referred to him during the day, had lunch with the golf club’s owners, Founders International Inc, drove the course he hasn’t seen for 30 years and then spent more than an hour with about 40 children enrolled in the Myrtle Beach area’s First Tee program. Their parents made up a sizable and enthusiastic audience.
Jack Nicklaus spoke with a crowd of onlookers at Pawleys Plantation before he worked with children from the local chapter of First Tee.
        The visit was in celebration of our club’s 30th anniversary. One of the most popular golfing destinations on the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach since its opening in 1988, Pawleys Plantation’s layout has stood the test of time in terms of entertainment and challenge. Early Nicklaus designs like Pawleys put a premium on forced carries over wide expanses of sand and water or, in our club’s case, marshland. The signature par 3 13th, virtually surrounded by marsh with a green smaller than the famous island green at TPC Sawgrass, is the most iconic of the hundreds of holes in the Myrtle Beach area. My fellow members like to refer to it as “the shortest par 5 in Myrtle Beach.” From the regular tees, it plays about 120 yards.
        As good and challenging as Pawleys Plantation is, Father Time and Mother Nature have had their way with the course. Greens, which were designed medium small originally by Nicklaus, are now officially “small” after years of aggressive mowing. This is not unusual for golf courses of a certain age. The effect is to pull the greenside bunkers away from the edges of the greens, sometimes by a couple of yards or more. From the fairway, it can appear to a first-time visitor that the Bermuda fringe and rough is actually the green. The illusion forces improperly under-clubbed shots from the fairway. When the course was first opened and in succeeding years, a shot over the bunker would have led to a putt, not a chip.
        At a fund-raising dinner at Pawleys Plantation the night of Nicklaus’ visit, he was asked his reaction to his layout 30 years after completion. He validated criticism of the reduced size of the greens, encouraging that the bunkers be pulled closer to the putting surfaces. He also said, rather emphatically, “Get rid of a lot of the sand out there.” Some holes he designed include waste bunkers that are almost 200 yards long and, unlike the greens, they certainly haven’t gotten any smaller. Back in the day, they served as framing for some of the longer holes, but they have always been especially penal for higher handicap players. Pawleys Plantation attracts many buddy golf trips, and it is often painful – and slow -- to play behind such high handicappers, especially after they ignore warnings posted at the 1st and 10th tee boxes about which tees are appropriate for which handicaps.
        Nicklaus’ most amusing critique of the course he built was also the most surprising. If he had a specific signature when he first started laying out golf courses, it was to leave small trees in the middle of fairways as directional markers, more than obstructions. At Pawleys Plantation, such trees are in play at the par 4 5th hole, the par 4 9th fairway and the par 5 14th – and they certainly have become larger. Of the tree on #14, Nicklaus said, “Take it down. It shouldn’t be there.”
        At age 78, the man who always obsessed about his golf swing has the same mania to improve his course designs. Here’s hoping my golf club’s owners take him up on his offer to bring a very good golf course back to its original outstanding status.
Jack Nicklaus (left) and Gary Schaal, former PGA Presidenbt and tour player, took questions from an enthusiastic audience at Pawleys Plantation. Nicklaus recommended the club's owners consider eliminating much of the sand in the course's huge waste bunkers, pulling green side bunkers closer to the putting surfaces, and taking down a tree in the middle of one fairway, a signature feature of the Golden Bear's early designs.