Developer Larry Young wanted to build a links-style course for the Myrtle Beach golf market, and asked the Scottish golf photographer, Brian Morgan, to recommend a young British designer for the job. Instead, Brian recommended the young American who had recently spent a year overseas.
The key to the design was digging two drainage ditches styled as “burns” into the middle of the site, lowering the water table enough that we could cut and fill to create artificial dunes between the holes. Also, insisting on a “core” routing for the first course in a three-course project meant we could utilize the created features for holes on either side, instead of just at the margins, so the course looks like we moved much more earth than we did. From day one, it’s been hugely popular, with more than 60,000 rounds a year being played there in the salad days of Myrtle Beach golf.
