Blackmoor Golf Club, Hole 14
Par 4, 390/362/335/315 yards
Balance is one of the most important aspects of golf course design. Naturally, Gary Player pretty much ignored this fact when he built Myrtle Beach’s Blackmoor. The course features seven holes with a 90-degree dogleg. This is far from ideal no matter what the breakdown is but the fact that six of those stupid right-angle dogleg holes at Blackmoor swerve to the right makes it even worse. Number 14 is the worst of the bunch, creating the illusion that there’s a point in trying to challenge the corner to gain a short wedge approach. But all it takes is one playing to see this is a dumb idea, as the landing area on such a line is so shallow that it’s nearly impossible to keep a drive in the fairway. Instead, it’s probably going to careen down a hill into a pond. So the best way to play the hole becomes a tee shot with a long iron and an approach with a middle iron. Infuriating, stupid and no fun at all.
Dye Club at Barefoot Resort, Hole 13
Par 4, 392/354/332/292 yards
Now, the Dye Club is one of the three best golf courses on the Grand Strand, and certainly the best at Barefoot Resort (anyone who disagrees with this pretty much shouts their ignorance of golf course architecture from rooftops). This is all true in spite of this hole which, while not actively bad, is so mediocre that it disturbs the course of a round at the Dye Club enough to warrant inclusion on this list. That mediocrity is directly tied to boringness—with the other 17 holes on the course being visually exciting and flashy with all their water, pot bunkers and railroad ties, number 13 is a letdown. Just a sandy waste area down the left and an extended collar of (sadly fairly featureless) fairway-length grass. The abrupt one-hole hiatus the course takes from classic Pete Dye glitter-and-doom makes one wonder if Barefoot Resort ran out of money before building this hole and had to do it on the cheap.
Long Bay Club, Hole 10
Par 4, 352/327/315/284/252 yards
Perhaps it’s a bit of a shock that one of the most-photographed holes in Myrtle Beach appears on a “worst holes in Myrtle Beach” list. But so be it. Once again, on an otherwise very solid golf course, the 10th at Long Bay is kind of a dud. But unlike the 13th at the Dye Club, it has all the cosmetic bells and whistles the rest of the course sports. In fact, it suffers from an excess of these. The massive waste bunker surrounding the fairway and separating said fairway from the green is gimmicky in the extreme and the narrow landing area turns the hole into a layup off the tee and a short iron. This length is a great one for par fours, as they can be made into great risk-reward chances by a deft architect. Unfortunately Jack Nicklaus just kind of mailed it in on this one.
Posted 6/19/13