Friday, Jan. 27, 2012

Par 3’s offer easy exercise in chillier months

Golfers enjoy speed of play, lower cost and casual feel of smaller courses

jblackmon@TheSunNews.com

Sean O'Hair and John Garner (right) plays Tupelo Bay Golf in Garden City Beach on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. Photo by Janet Blackmon Morgan / jblackmon@thesunnews.com

Par 3 options

•  Harbour View Par 3 & Driving Range | 901 U.S. 17, between Little River and Myrtle Beach. 18 holes. 7 a.m.-8 p.m. (until 11 p.m. in season). Walking rates: 18 holes cost $18 in morning, $15 afternoon/evening, or for juniors ages 15 and younger $13; nine holes cost $13, or $9 for juniors. Including a cart, 18 holes are $19.95, nine holes, $19; and for juniors, $19 and $18, respectively. Seasonal specials also available. 249-9117 or www.harbourviewgolf.com.

•  Midway Par 3 Golf | 3101 S. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach. 27 holes – two or three (depending on season) nine-hole courses. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (until 10 p.m. during Can-Am Days and 11 p.m. in summer). Nine holes $15, 18 holes $20, and specials such as a $125 punch card, good for 15 nine-hole rounds. 913-5335 or www.myrtle beachfamilygolf.com/midway .aspx.

•  Cane Patch Cane Patch Par 3 & Driving Range | 72nd Avenue North and Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. Two nine-hole courses. 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (until 10 p.m. during Can-Am Days and 11 p.m. in summer). Nine holes $15, 18 holes $20, and specials such as a $125 punch card, good for 15 nine-hole rounds or 15 large baskets of driving range balls. 315-0301 or www.myrtle beachfamilygolf.com/cane patch.aspx.

•  Tupelo Bay Golf Center | 1800 U.S. 17 Business S., Garden City Beach, 18 holes, along with a driving range, disc golf, and an 18-hole executive course. 7 a.m.-9 p.m. (until 11 p.m. in season). Walking rates: nine holes $13, 18 holes $18, and add $6 and $10 respectively for riding carts; junior golf rates for ages 12 and younger: nine holes $10, 18 holes $12. Seasonal specials also available. 215-7888 or www.tupelobay.com.

Arden and Linda Downey finished sinking their balls last Friday in the third hole of the east course at Midway Par 3 Golf in Myrtle Beach.

Going on 51 years of marriage with a honeymoon that started in this city, the couple from Sherman, N.Y., play par-3 golf once or twice a week, depending on weather, whenever they spend winter vacations on the Grand Strand.

The opportunities to golf do not freeze during the winter months in the Myrtle Beach area, and many people use this offseason time to enjoy a leisurely day on the links, even more than once a week.

“I like getting out and walking,” Linda Downey said, having plucked both of their balls out of the hole, undeterred by the breeze and overcast sky threatening a few raindrops.

Her husband said golfing for an hour or two not only yields quality time, but aids in his long-term recovery from a heart attack, while she reaps extra exercise after coping with a back problem.

“I love it here,” Arden Downey said. “It’s a perfect way to spend an afternoon.”

He said the course also affords him the opportunity to work on “little short stuff” with chips and putts after driving his ball down the fairway.

“This is why I do it,” Arden Downey said.

At Midway Par 3, belted kingfishers darting over the ponds with their rattling calls, and squirrels scurrying on the grounds and in trees provide regular sidelight sights. Linda Downey said she also looks for great blue herons and common egrets in a pond along South Ocean Boulevard, much as diving brown pelicans entertain her husband.

“They kind of skim the water, then go crash and poof!” he said, welcoming the wildlife show on every golf outing. “It’s part of the experience.”

Sherry Johnson is general manager for Burroughs & Chapin Company Inc.’s entertainment golf properties, which includes Midway Par 3, and further north in Myrtle Beach, Cane Patch Par 3 & Driving Range. They boast 27 and 18 holes, all in nine-hole courses, respectively.

Just 90 minutes to play

Johnson said par-3 golf is for people who want a quick outlet for an easy round of golf. Such a course lets people who have not pursued golf heavily or acquired much golf equipment, let alone any clubs, a way to play without pressure and high costs.

Whereas an outing on a championship course requires more skills and time commitments, 18 holes on a par 3 might take only 11/2 hours in a casual fashion.

“You feel like you’ve walked the course and swung the club,” Johnson said, noting that many senior citizens, for example, no longer have enough energy for a full, regulation course, but find a new home on par 3s.

“Eighty percent of your game is 80 yards,” she said, referring to an average length of the fairways, “which is 80 percent of the fun.”

Midway Par 3 also sits by the runway approach/takeoff path for Myrtle Beach International Airport, on a former U.S. Air Force base, so planes and helicopters blend with the background for golfers there.

“Where else can bomber planes fly over you and not get bombed?” Johnson quipped. “And this is Myrtle Beach.”

She said par-3 golf gives families a way to enjoy themselves in 11/2 to 2 hours.

Johnson said even in winter, “you can hit 50 to 55 yards, and the wind is the only thing that is really bad.”

Winter also brings its own clientele.

“For me, winter golf is about snowbirds, the more traditional golfers, and more families,” Johnson said. “Winter is a good time to grow your game.”

‘Get some exercise’

Rita Kreutter, manager of Harbour View Par 3 & Driving Range between Little River and Myrtle Beach, finds families turn out more in winter as well.

“It’s very family oriented,” she said. “Grandparents playing with their kids, and young adults or middle-age adults playing with their partners who are older, who don’t have the stamina for 18 long holes of golf.

“It’s something for groups of people when they’re here for the weekend or weddings. They get out and get some exercise.”

Kreutter said at Harbor View, which also includes Tribal Island Tiki Adventure Golf, she sees people who want to play par 3 after the miniature golf and that couples embrace par 3, too, especially because “the lady doesn’t feel intimidated” on such courses.

Golfing season heats up come April, Kreutter said, but winter vacationers frequent Harbour View from January through March.

“During snowbird season, we have couples come year after year,” she said. “A lot of them are like family and we know where they’re from.”

Kreutter also enjoys par-3 rounds herself.

“It’s great for your short game,” Kreutter said. “I play because I can see what’s on the players’ point of view. It’s good, too, when you’re hitting the ball on the green, and it gives you a good perception. … It’s fresh air and exercise.”

‘Speed of play’

Joe Green, manager of Tupelo Bay Golf Center in Garden City Beach, said par 3 melds convenience and fitness.

He said “the speed of play” keeps the game popular for people year round.

“You can play nine holes in an hour,” Green said, “and you walk it.”

Echoing other golf course officials’ read on their audience at this time of year, Green said amid fewer crowds and the fluctuating weather, families represent the bulk of par-3 golfers at Tupelo Bay, which includes a driving range, 18-hole executive course, and on the par-3 course, cages for disc golf, played with flying discs such as Frisbees.

“We have a lot of fathers and sons,” Green said, “and because they don’t get held up, they can get out and take the time and have fun.”

Par 3 golf isn’t limited to the more casual golfer, either, for it can turn into a proving ground for more serious golfers who want extra practice.

“We try to open it up to everybody,” Green said. “We have guys come out here and are very good. They’re just kind of working their irons.”

Contact STEVE PALISIN at 444-1764.

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