The Dunes Golf and Beach Club

The Dunes Golf and Beach Club Getting A Summer Makeover

Courtesy of Alan Blondin
The Sun News

When the Dunes Golf and Beach Club reopens sometime around Labor Day the course will have new greens, several new tee boxes and an enlarged practice facility.

The course's A1 bentgrass greens are being changed to Champion Bermudagrass, and the club's 10-member board of directors has voted to fund additional changes that are part of a master plan drawn up in 2003 by heralded course designer Rees Jones, the son of Dunes Club architect Robert Trent Jones.

Tee additions on the iconic Myrtle Beach course that opened in 1948 will add 170 yards to the 7,195-yard layout to allow it to stretch to 7,365, with all but 30 yards being added to the front nine.

Rees Jones was in Myrtle Beach to revisit his master plan in January, and he and/or Steve Weisser, the vice president and senior designer of Rees Jones Inc. Golf Course Design, are expected to make one or more site visits over the next three months. Jones was born in 1941 and spent time in Myrtle Beach while his father was building The Dunes Club.

"He's got such a bond with this property," Dunes Club superintendent Steve Hamilton said. "It's not like an architect who wants to leave his stamp on a golf course. He doesn't want to make major changes and thinks through the changes he wants to make."

The changes:

No. 1, 425-yard par-4: A left fairway bunker will be added deep down the landing area off the tee, beyond the bunker on the right side. "It won't affect 85 percent of our golfing membership or the general public," Hamilton said. "We're just trying to make it a little bit more challenging for the big hitters."

No. 2, 425-yard par-4: Another men's tee will be added to the right of the existing tees, adding 20 yards and opening the sharp dogleg left up a bit to players wanting to hit driver. As trees on the inside of the dogleg have grown drivers have become obsolete on the hole.

No. 3, 435-yard par-4: The championship tee is being extended 20 yards to make more drives land in an upslope in the fairway and a new forward tee is being added.

No. 4, 505-yard par-5: The championship tee is being moved back 30 yards and the secondary blue tee is also being extended on the dogleg left around bunkers with water fronting the green near U.S. 17 Business. "We're trying to make it a legitimate par-5 where those bunkers come into play," Hamilton said.

No. 5, 205-yard par-3: The tee is shifting left closer to the fourth green and 10 yards will be added.

No. 7, 400-yard par-4: The tee will be moved back and slightly right to add 20 yards. A front greenside bunker will be rebuilt to lessen the steepness of the bunker face. "We'll shave it down and make it a little more golfer friendly," Hamilton said. "It's a very challenging bunker."

No. 8, 525-yard par-5: A new two-tiered tee box will be shared by the second hole and will add 15 yards to the straightforward par-5.

No. 9, 200-yard par-3: The tee will be extended 25 yards.

No. 13, 590-yard par-5: The championship tee on the famous Waterloo hole will be extended approximately 30 yards to bring the driver more into play off the tee before a second shot over Lake Singleton. A new forward tee will provide an option to take much of the water out of play.

In addition, tees will be enlarged on holes 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

The new Champion greens will relieve the worry of stressed bentgrass in the late summer heat. "We wouldn't make the change if it couldn't be as good or better than what we now have," Hamilton said.

All tee boxes that aren't being built or enlarged will be laser-leveled. Some areas in front of bunkers will be shaved down to make it easier to enter and exit them.

Drainage will be improved in the 10th fairway and possibly 13th fairway, and a pond on the 10th hole will have a natural grass slope into the water built on all sides from the fairway.

The hitting area on the driving range will be expanded from 30,000 square feet to 45,000 square feet and will be made one level from its current two tiers. The practice bunker and chipping green on the left will be eliminated, and a bunker will be built around a chipping green on the right side of the range.

The Dunes Club is hosting the 2014 PGA Professional National Championship, also known as. the PGA national club pro, next June and the added length may make the course more attractive to host another significant PGA of America or United States Golf Association tournament. But Hamilton said the changes were going to be made regardless. "We were well on our way to making changes before that [PGA PNC] came to fruition," he said.

The Dunes Club has previously hosted the 1962 U.S. Women's Open, final stage of the 1973 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament that yielded Ben Crenshaw, Gil Morgan and Gary McCord, and Champions Tour Championship for six years from 1994-99.