When it opens, the Founders Club hopes its finishing hole will be compared favorably to the par 4 18th at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, where the approach shot is all carry to a huge but narrow green.
The recently formed Waccamaw Golf Trail south of Myrtle Beach will have to wait another few months for its latest member, The Founders Club. Located directly on Highway 17 just down the street from Pawleys Plantation, The Founders Club was set to open last month until a drought this past summer retarded some grass growth in fairways and rough. According to local reports, the greens are in great shape.
When we stopped by to check out the design this past summer, we were struck by the narrow fairways and severe bunkering around some of the greens. The finishing hole along the highway puts a premium on accuracy off the tee and on the approach to the elevated green, with water running down most of the left side. It is one of those finishing holes that will probably rank high on local lists.
The new course, which will be accessible to the public, is on the site of one of the Myrtle Beach area's first 20 courses, Sea Gull, which opened in the 1960s and closed in 2006. Other courses on the Waccamaw Trail, named for the former local Indian population, include the well regarded Caledonia, True Blue and Pawleys Plantation.