In recent years, hundreds of golf clubs across the nation have felled thousands of trees mostly in the name of better air circulation and turf growth, but occasionally for aesthetics and golf course playability. At my home course of Pawleys Plantation, south of Myrtle Beach, you can imagine the handwringing when National Golf Management, which bought the course a couple of years ago, decided to eliminate two impressive live oaks just 80 yards in front of the par 5 11th green. Count me as one of those who hated the idea on paper…and one who was converted when I played the hole a couple of days after the work was done in mid January.
Pawleys Plantation is a challenging layout that Jack Nicklaus completed in 1988, a time when his designs substantially favored those players who hit high, fading shots. From the white tees at just over 6,100 yards, the course rating is 72.0 and the slope a robust 139. Virtually every hole has some element that can easily ruin a round, the par 5s included.
Immediately, at #1, a par five of modest length that fades to the right off the tee and continues in that direction down a fairway protected on the right side by an almost 200-yard-long waste bunker, the Golden Bear’s predisposition is clear...and it only becomes clearer the rest of the round. Although the par 5 4th hole favors a draw off the tee, the opening to the narrow green is along the far left edge, a yawning bunker protecting 90% of the putting surface on the right. A cut-shot short iron is about the only good option for the third shot there. Later in the round, at #14, the shape of the hole mimics #1, with marsh instead of the first hole’s trees, down the entire right side from 250 yards out to the green. The end of the marsh and a fairly deep bunker protect the right side of the green. The player who can move the ball left to right has a decided advantage on the 14th.
The par 11th at Pawleys Plantation, before two trees were removed from the waste bunker 80 yards in front of the green. For the "after" photo, please click "Read More" below.
