Heathland Course at Legends Resort

The Heathland Course at Legends Resort is promoted as a links style layout in the mold of British Isles courses, and that portrayal was put to the test by a review foursome in December that included two Irishmen.

For the most part, Heathland passed.

Tom Doak's 6,785-yard par-71 design, which opened in 1990, features rolling terrain, deep pot bunkers, huge undulating greens and open fairways that make the course susceptible to wind. There are also no homes or areas marked out of bounds.

Playing in the review group with me and J.J. Costello, a sergeant with the Horry County Police Dept., were Anton Fero and Chris Mitchell, who were born in Ireland and Northern Ireland, respectively, and were on the Grand Strand performing as part of the singing group The Twelve Irish Tenors.

``Other than a few things it reminds me a lot of courses in England,'' said Chris, who has played extensively in Scotland and England. ``It's wide open and you can see all the holes, and there's no out of bounds. ... And the wind is a factor.''

There are a few differences, however. ``It is quite flat and level compared to English and Scottish courses,'' Chris said. ``The rough in Scotland is bad, and it's not here. If you go in the rough in Scotland, you're a bit buggered.''

Heathland has native grasses on the outskirts of fairways and atop some bunker faces, but not the high fields prevalent overseas. The course, named one of the top 10 new resort courses in 1990 by Golf Magazine, features trees on only a few holes, several areas of wetlands, and a creek that runs through most holes on the back nine.

The open terrain and lack of high rough made the course forgiving. ``You can hit it left or right off the tee and still hit it,'' Chris said. ``The other courses we've played, it's either in your fairway or out of bounds or in trouble.''

Though there are a number of long par-4s and just three par-5s, the course's length isn't excessive and the course's openness decreases difficulty. ``The back tees are not extremely challenging,'' Anton said. ``The distance is easy even from the back, but the greens are difficult.''

The greens are extremely large - as deep as 150 feet and as wide as 162 feet - and all have movement that is sometimes dramatic. ``The greens are so big. Your approach shot is so important because you can be 70 feet from the pin and will three-putt,'' Anton said.

Heathland had Champions Bermudagrass installed on its greens in place of old bentgrass last summer, and because of the newness the greens weren't overseeded this winter, leaving a smooth and fast surface. ``I like the greens,'' J.J. said. ``It's the first time I've played Bermuda this smooth and quick. It's a great replacement for bent.''

Also penalizing are deep and dramatic pot bunkers. ``The bunkers are quite amazing,'' Anton said. ``They're probably the coolest bunkers I've seen, and most penalizing. I was in one bunker near the green and couldn't even see the top of the flagstick. That was pretty cool. You can't reach the green from most fairway bunkers. ... It's a very distinct style of course.''

Course conditioning was good with the exception of a few leaking sprinkler heads on tee boxes.

Likes

Chris enjoyed the size of the greens and precision iron game needed to get near flags. Anton liked the openness of the course off the tee. ``It was grip it and rip it from almost every tee box and I like that,'' Anton said.

J.J. liked pot bunkers and mounding protecting greens, though he wasn't as fond of pot bunkers in fairways, and thought the greens were excessive. ``The large undulating greens can cause you to three-putt a lot, causing a good tee-to-green combo to be wasted,'' he said.

Anton also liked the large and lighted driving range, and J.J. appreciated the layout and Legends Group's overall offering. ``Any time [owners] Larry or Danny Young put their name on a golf course it's going to be a well-conditioned track and a good product,'' J.J. said.

Dislikes

The course plans to add senior tees in early spring, but for now it has just three tees, and J.J., though 70, didn't play the forward tees because they are red and measure only 5,115 yards. ``It's macho,'' J.J. said. ``You don't want to play from the red tees.''

J.J. first played it in the early 1990s and believes it has matured too much. ``The trees have grown up a lot since the course opened, so it has lost some of its Scottish character,'' he said.

Chris believes the course was too wide open. ``It's too forgiving, so bad shots could be played off another fairway,'' he said.

Anton, like Chris, would have liked more individuality to holes. He also thought the course could have used some more water hazards - other than the creek - and the par-3s were somewhat bland.

Par-3s

The third hole is 210 from the back and 195 from the green (traditionally white) tees, and the 150-yard eighth hole is 130 from the green tee and has three distinctly separated tee boxes swinging from left to right. Its 40-yard-deep green has a false front.

A creek crosses in front of the tee on the 165-yard 12th hole, and the 220-yard 17th is 185 from the green tee, a bit uphill with bunkers that aren't very close to the green.

``The par-3s could have been more challenging accuracy-wise,'' Chris said. ``You could hit short of the green and not be punished.''

Par-4s

There are six par-4s measuring 425 yards or more, and three 350 or less. ``The par-4s are very good due to the yardage difference,'' J.J. said.

The 345-yard second hole is 310 from the green tee and turns to the right around an area of wetlands about 90 yards from the green, the 350-yard fourth hole is a dogleg left with little trouble, and the 345-yard 15th features bunkers of varying size. ``There's good risk-reward here with drivable par-4s,'' Anton said. ``On some par-4s I hit driver, sand wedge.''

The sixth and 16th holes are both 460 yards. The sixth shortens to 385 yards from the green tee but has a decent carry from the back tee and the green is protected by a bunker to the left and mound in front.

The 16th is 430 from the green tee and a creek splits the fairway. Off the tee you can either bail out to the left fairway, which catches up to the creek 290 yards from the back tee, or challenge the creek on the right with a drive that carries 210 from the back. ``The hardest holes on the course by far are Nos. 6 and 16,'' Anton said.

Par-5s

The 560-yard dogleg-left fifth hole has a drive over wetlands and a creek to a fairway with a bunker in the center, and the hole plays downhill through a narrow fairway between trees from there.

The seventh hole is wide open and short at just 460 yards from the back and 425 from the green tee. The elevated green is large and two-tiered, with a huge hump separating a front tier and relatively flat back tier. ``It's really like two different greens,'' Anton said.

On the 535-yard 13th, the creek crosses the fairway at an angle from right to left, beginning about 190 from the green on the right and ending 115 yards out on the left, and the hole turns to the left on the other side of the water, where bunkers await on both sides of the fairway. ``That is the only [par-5] that really challenged you,'' J.J. said.

``The par-5s are the best and most memorable holes on the course,'' Anton said. ``There are lots of choices how to play them and from the back tee you usually had to clear something to get to the fairway.''

Favorite holes

J.J. liked the short par-3 eighth hole with wetlands in front of the tee. ``It's almost a blind shot to the elevated tee and foliage if the pin is tucked in the right front,'' he said.

Anton enjoyed the par-5 13th because of the decision-making and difficulty, and the 430-yard, par-4 18th hole that is 375 from the green tee and sets up nicely from an elevated tee with a trio of bunkers on either side of the fairway. ``It's a nice finishing hole and was framed nicely from the tee box with lots of fairway bunkers,'' he said.

Chris liked the par-5 fifth, as well as the 13th and 18th holes.

Least favorite holes

J.J.'s least-favorite hole was the long 16th. ``You bail left and and leave yourself a 200-yard shot or more, or gamble and go for it and be at least 150 yards out,'' he said.

Anton thought the first hole, a 450-yard, par-4 that doglegged slightly to the right, could have been more exciting. ``I like an opening hole that grabs you or challenges you,'' he said.

Chris believed the third hole, measuring 195, played too long uphill and into the wind.