Legend Parklands Course Detail
This writeup was done from the green tees (6460 yards). The gold tees play at 7170 yards. So call me a wimp, but there's plenty of trouble for the Bogey Golfer from the greens. The longest par 4 is 430 yards (#2). Otherwise, this course is about swamps, ponds, and massive bunkers.
You'll notice in the pictures that the roughs were all brown. Again, I played this course in early February, and it was kind of chilly. However, the fairways and greens were in great shape, evidence of the loving care that is lavished on this course. One nice feature of the brown-ness: The rough is a lot easier to hit out of than in the middle of the summer when the vegetation is lush.
The first hole is only about 335 yards, which gives you a chance to kind of ease yourself into the round. Just hit a nothin' special drive down the right hand side of the fairway, and get in position for your approach shot. The approach shot is important because there are some nasty bunkers around the green. Get used to it!
The second hole is a wake-up call. This brute plays 430 yards (460 from the tips). And just to make sure your heart is beating rapidly, you tee off over a swamp. Something about swamps increases my anxiety, even though there's no reason to for the swamp to even be in play... Still, I suppose they put them there for that very reason. There's a bunker on the left side about 293 yards out, which shouldn't be reachable for the average Bogey Golfer. You'll notice on your second shot that a huge bunker fronts the green on the right. So if you're going to miss, bail out short and left. Actually, that might be the smartest play anyway!
#3 is a short par 3, but it's all a forced carry over a swamp. Plus, there're bunkers. Take an extra club, and swing easy. Bail out right.
#4 is a 510 yard par 5. It has a slight dogleg to the right off the tee, and those of us who tend to hit fades want to stay the heck away from the trees on the right. That of course leaves you aiming at the bunkers on the left that are strategically placed to gobble up tee shots. So if you can hit your three wood any straighter than your driver, use it. Otherwise, hope for the best, I guess. By the way, there's a pond that stretches along the left side of the fairway for the last 135 yards coming into the green.
The fifth hole is a 150 yard par 3. It looks like there's trouble everywhere off the tee. Bunkers in front of the green, a swamp in front of the teebox, woods on both sides. So I took an extra club, accidentally hit the sweet spot, and airmailed the green completely. It wasn't until I got all the way back there that I realized to my chagrin that there is a pond behind the green. All I had to do was look at the little picture in the scorecard, or better yet, the one in the yardage book. It is clearly shown in both. Ah well.
#6 is a busy hole. There's a lot going on. There's a pond alongside the fairway on the right side as you tee off. Then there's a swamp you have to hit over on your approach shot. Then there are a whole bunch of those cavernous bunkers up around the green. If you can keep your tee shot on the left side of the fairway, it works out better for your second shot -- a tree on the right can kind of block out your shot into the green.
#7 is gorgeous, just gorgeous. There's a lake on the right hand side, and on the other side of the lake is #16, playing in parallel. So there's this wide open expanse of grass and water. Eventually though, the actual layout of the hole starts to pentrate the confusion of the visual beauty, and you begin to realize that this is pretty tough. There are a string of bunkers down the left hand side, trying to keep you out of all the backyards just behind the trees. Then, like I said, there's a lake on the right. This is one of those holes where you really, really need to hit your tee shot straight. The second shot is uphill, so be sure to use an extra club.
The eighth is a short par 5, just under 500 yards from the middle tees. If you can hit much further than 250, you might want to lay up, since there's a swamp across the middle of the fairway. Getting home in two means hitting a truly heroic second shot. Or you can hit two short irons, and get safely on in regulation.
Number nine is a short hole that is downright hilarious for the complete and total in-your-face look you get from the teebox. There are bunkers and burms everywhere, to the extent that you have a little bit of difficulty figuring out where exactly to try and place your tee shot. Just hit a 180 yard shot online with the bunker on the left side. And while I defintely recommend taking a good look at the bunker immediately in front of the right side of the green, STAY AWAY FROM IT!!! It's there to be laughed at, not to be played from!
Since you're already loosened up for hilarious bunkers, check out the fairway bunkers on #10. It's like the course designers decided that since Myrtle Beach didn't have any naturally occurring mountains, it was up to them to create a few. This is another short hole, so hit a mid iron anywhere in the fairway to the left of the buried hippopotami. Your approach shot is going to be ticklish, since the green has no depth, and there's no room to bump and run. You need a pretty high lob coming into this one.
The eleventh hole is another short par 5. This one is protected by a lovely little pond fronting the green. Be aware that it slants significantly, and the right side is a lot closer to you than the left side. If your plan is to fly it, aim well right. If you plan to lay up, aim left to give yourself a bit more room. If you plan to play this conservatively, hit a five iron off the tee, and stay in the right side of the fairway. If you're going to go for it, smite your driver directly over the left bunker, and go for all the distance you can cut off the dogleg.
Number 12 is the other long par 4 on the course (#2 being the first one). It's 430 yards, plus it lays a couple of big bunkers directly in the middle of the fairway. They're 273 yards out, so they probably won't be in play, and they make a pretty good target. The bailout on your approach shot is short and right, which should keep you out of the greenside bunker.
The thirteenth is a 175 yard par 3, which tees off over a swamp. The green is surrounded by a wasteland of bunkers. So you could either just hit a nine iron over the swamp, and try to get up and down from the landing area, or you can hit a perfect five (or six) iron to the middle of the green, letting no sand impinge on your awareness. Bogey is a good score here.
#14 is an interesting zig-zag hole. It's about as long as #12, plus it's kind of got a split fairway. If you're a manly man (is there such a thing as a manly woman?), you can aim over the junk down the right side with 264 yards on the fly, leaving you set up with a mid iron shot into an exposed green. The rest of us have to settle for hitting something down the middle of the fairway, and trying to reach the green with a three wood, or two shorter shots.
#15 is a par 5 with a swamp running across the middle of the fairway. It's 255 to reach the swamp to the right, and maybe twenty yards longer to reach it on the left. There's a hazard area just beyond the swamp to punish any brave souls who are actually long enough to fly over the swamp. Take what the course gives you -- lay up short of the swamp. Hit a mid iron the middle of the fairway on the other side, and a wedge to the green. Two-putt for par. Sounds easy doesn't it? It is, if you a) can hit a decent drive, b) stay in the middle of the fairway, avoiding all the traps, and c) can hit your wedges straight.
Yeah. I know. Me neither.
#16 is another gnarly par 3. This one is gnarly because of all the traps on the front left side of the green. Plus it's kind of long. The bail out is to the right if you don't feel like you can reach the pin. Pin placement is pretty important here, since the green is about 50 yards deep. By the way, this is the other half of that great view from #7.
#17 is kind of confusing to look at since, a) you have to tee off over a swamp, and b) it's not obvious where to hit it -- there are a ton of bunkers on this hole. You're on your own getting over the swamp -- it's not that far, but you do need a little altitude. As for where to land, aim at those giant huge blot-out-the-sun bunkers. They're about 285 yards off the tee, and if you can hit it that far, lay up, for pity's sake. The second shot is pretty straightforward, once you're in the fairway!
The home hole is a 400 yarder. The tee shot should favor the right side of the fairway, because a) the hole doglegs right, and b) that first bunker on the left is only 238 yards away. Mind you don't try to actually cut the corner -- if you get to the right side of that hill, you're in deep trouble. Have a last look at an hilarious bunker on the right side of the green. Same advice as on #9, look but don't touch. I have no idea how you'd go about getting out of one of these. Bogey is a good score on this hole, because of the length if nothing else.
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