SUNSET BEACH, N.C.| Three of the five courses heralded golf course architect Rees Jones designed on the Grand Strand have been plowed under in favor of redevelopment.

One of the two remaining courses is the 6,761-yard Jones Course at Sea Trail Resort, and Jones built enough unique holes to leave a lasting impression.

``I think three or four memorable holes is pretty good,'' said Shane Cribbs, the owner of Cribbs Well Company and Crete-a-vision Decorative Concrete who participated in a review of the course in early April. ``It's a very good course. I enjoyed the scenery.''

Cribbs played the back tees and was joined by me, Cockinos Real Estate Appraisal Service owner Milt Devers, and Myrtle Beach National Golf Club snack bar attendant Mei Lu.

We found the 19-year-old layout - one of three at Sea Trail - provided a pleasurable round. Water comes into play on about half of the holes, while hardwoods, often backed by housing, lined most fairways. But it's largely stress-free golf.

``The course layout was fun,'' Milt said. ``I enjoy the entire layout. It's not too difficult but not too easy, and it has great water holes. I would definitely grab some people and come back and play again.''

The Jones Course has a good balance of doglegs and straight holes, and mounding is featured on the outskirts of many fairways and around some greens.

Bunkers are present on every hole, though there are usually only a few, and Jones designed bunkers to be dramatic and stand out, especially in fairways.

The course's greens have an older strain of A1 bentgrass that didn't have a consistent color and had problem areas in a few instances, but the greens generally putted consistently. ``The greens had some spots on them and weren't the prettiest, but I thought they rolled well,'' Shane said.

Though many holes are surrounded by lots and housing, and there are a few short par-4s, a driver could be used on most holes. ``I felt comfortable with driver on every hole,'' Milt said. ``Off the tee it wasn't wide open but it wasn't too constricting.''

Likes

Shane liked the way the greens rolled and made a ton of putts, and both Shane and Milt appreciated the condition of the fairways. ``The fairways were in great shape and open,'' Milt said.

Mei thought the course was very friendly to women at 4,912 yards, and also liked the fact she had the option of moving to the 5,716-yard gold tees if she wanted more of a challenge.

Dislikes

Shane thought some of the back tee boxes were uneven, and Milt thought many of the white tee boxes could have used some work. ``Some of the tee boxes were not in great shape,'' Milt said.

We played after a couple days of rain, contributing to some of the group's discontent. Shane and Mei were disappointed with puddles in some bunkers and how heavy and packed the sand was, and Mei also thought the greens were slow.

Par-3s

The 198-yard second hole, which measures 178 from the white, is the longest par-3 on the course. Two of the par-3s were less than 160 yards.``They were a little short but they were nice,'' Shane said.

Mei believes the par-3s were fairly easy from the red tees, with just the 140-yard second hole longer than 117 yards. ``I did not have too much trouble with them,'' she said.

The 178-yard fifth hole is the most memorable par-3, running along the right side of a road and featuring a downhill tee shot over a bulkheaded water hazard to a green that has a high plateau to the back left, three bunkers behind it at the base of high mounding, and a bunker to the right. The right and left sides of the green run away from the tees, requiring longer shots to carry the water. Alligators were on both sides of the hole the day we played.

The green on the 144-yard 13th hole was behind a waste bunker that featured a pair of palm trees, and the 157-yard 17th hole had a series of tee boxes that lessened the angle of a shot over water as they moved from left to right. The 17th green was protected by a long bunker left and a pair of bunkers right.

``The par-3s were nice,'' Milt said. ``They were the most attractive holes on the course. There were good holes over water and I liked the palm tree on the 13th hole.''

Par-4s

Half of the 10 par-4s were 400 yards or less. ``I thought the par-4s were nice, there were just too many that were too short,'' Shane said. ``Even though I played the back tees, I had too many wedges into greens. It was 6,800 yards and it was wet, but it didn't play like 6,800 yards.''

With three par-4s between 420 and 445, however, Shane hit everything from wedge to 4-iron into the greens. Mei believes the par-4s comprise the most challenging group of holes from the red tees.

The course begins with the longest par-4 on the course - the 445-yard first hole that also measures 405 from the white tee and is well bunkered down the right side. ``It's a good hole,'' Shane said.

The 407-yard fourth hole has a wooden bridge to a right side tee box, requiring a drive back over water to a fairway that turns to the left with water running along the right side. The green is completely fronted by a wide bunker.

The 400-yard sixth hole has a drive to the right over water, a cluster of five bunkers in the landing area on the left side of the fairway, and a green protected by three bunkers.

The 345-yard 10th hole turns sharply right around a lake and has bunkers along the edge of the water hazard, including one that takes up the entire right side of the green and faces the tees. It takes a drive of 275 from the back tees to run through the fairway, and the green seems inviting from the tee despite being about 300 yards from the tips and 220 from the red.

``It's a very nice looking hole from the tee boxes,'' Mei said. ``You want to go for the green looking at it, but it's 220 over the water so forget about it. It's not that easy.''

The 340-yard 14th hole had water down the entire right side as well as a 75-yard long fairway bunker, and a quick shower through sunshine provided a rainbow that arched over the fairway as we hit our drives.

Par-5s

The Jones Course has the oddity of back-to-back par-5s to close out the front nine. The 500-yard eighth hole is a dogleg right with a pair of fairway bunkers at the bend and a narrow body of water that cuts off a downhill fairway 50 yards from an elevated green. A pin behind a deep left front bunker makes it difficult to get even a wedge close.

The 530-yard ninth is a slight dogleg left with a pair of fairway bunkers on the right side and both water and a bunker to the left of the green.

The 555-yard 15th hole turns slightly to the left and has 11 bunkers of varying size down the right side, and the 510-yard 18th is a dogleg right with a single tall tree and water on the right at the bend to deter attempting to cut the corner. The green has bunkers front right and front left, but leaves enough of an opening to provide an eagle opportunity, which Shane had with a 3-wood to 20 feet. ``Good shot selection gave rewards,'' Shane said.

``I loved the par-5s,'' Milt said. ``They have good length and there are risk-reward scenarios.''

Favorite holes

Milt liked the 18th hole. ``It's a dogleg right so I cut my drive over the corner for a better shot into the green,'' he said.

Shane thought the two most memorable holes on the course were the 18th and 10th. ``I thought the 10th was a beautiful hole because of the lake on the right side,'' said Shane, who also liked the 418-yard, dogleg-right, par-4 11th, which he hit a 6-iron into.

Mei also enjoyed the 10th hole, which measured 220 yards from her tee. ``From the ladies tee it was short ... but I had to stop and think about how to play that hole.''

Least favorite holes

Milt wasn't all that enamored with the 13th hole because it measured just 127 yards from the white tee. ``It's too short,'' he said. ``I just don't like short par-3s. It was a pretty hole, but I think the minimum should be 150.''

Shane thought the course had at least one too many short par-4s, so either the third, 10th or 14th - measuring between 340 and 365 yards from the back tees - should have been longer. He thought the third had the least amount of character of the three.

Mei didn't like the fact that she had just 60 yards to the center of the par-3 fifth green from the tee.