MyrtleBeachOnline.com: Myrtle Beach Golf

Weekly golf rule with Cory Armstrong

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:29 EST

RULES OF GOLF

QWhat should you do if you find what you think is a lateral water hazard well into the trees but it's not marked with stakes or paint?

Jennifer (North Myrtle Beach)

Two holes ruin day for Weston at Q-School

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:35 EST

John Morse shot a 2-over 74 on Thursday at TPC Eagle Trace to take a one-stroke lead over Robert Thompson after the third round of the Champions Tour qualifying tournament.

Morse had a 6-under 210 total at TPC Eagle Trace. Thompson shot a 69.

Pawleys Island resident Rich Weston struggled to a 75, dropping to 31st place. He had an eagle at the par-5 15th hole to go along with two birdies, but struggled to a double-bogey 6 on the 14th and had a disastrous 7 on the par-4 fourth.

Grande Dunes Resort Course wins award

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:32 EST

Golf course owners across the nation have reiterated the strength of the Myrtle Beach golf market.

The Grande Dunes Resort Course has been named the 2009 National Golf Course of the Year, and is the second Grand Strand course so honored by the National Golf Course Owners Association in the past six years. International World Tour Golf Links was the named the 2004 national course of the year.

"It proves we've got excellent products at the beach," said Bob Swezey, Executive Vice President of Golf and Resorts for Burroughs & Chapin Co., which owns and operates Grande Dunes. "We're only one of many here. It will help highlight the beach nationally and it's good for everybody. I think it's good for the beach, I think it's good for the community, I think it's good for the market."

Local Course spotlight | Brick Landing Plantation

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:36 EST

Opened | 1987

Architect | Mike Brazeal, Dan Maples 2007-08 renovation

Par | 71

Weekly golf tip with Brad Redding

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:34 EST

TIP OF THE WEEK

A ladies game
The golf ball has no idea who is standing above it, so the fundamentals of the swimg are basically the same for anyone. However, there are some tendencies that seem to affect women more than men. More women than men tend to bend their wrists side to side instead of up and down. This is in large part because they have the club too much in the palm of their left hand and not towards the fingers. Women also tend to keep the club face facing their target during the swing. Since a golfer is to the side of the golf ball, the club face needs to open in the backswing and close in the the downswing - relative to the target. Keeping the club in the fingers of your left hand allows your wrists to work properly which allows the club face to open and close.

BRAD REDDING is director of instruction at Grande Dunes Golf Academy and is a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher. He can be reached at 843-315-0332 or brad.redding@burroughs-chapin.com.

Golf: Area touring pros

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:36 EST

Katie Allison
Residence | Little River

Tour | Duramed Futures Tour

Last event | Oct. 17-19, tied for 31st at season-ending Georgia Invitational

Heyward golf column: Right techniques, exercise can help avoid lower back problems

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:36 EST

TOM HEYWARD

The most common debilitating injuries to golfers are those of the wrist, back, hand, shoulders and neck. Though they trend to be more chronic than traumatic, their effect on performance can be devastating. There are several examples of top money winners and major tournament champions completely disappearing from contention as a result of a seemingly minor but nagging injury. In one study conducted on PGA Tour players, it was found the average loss of time when a player left because of injury was three weeks. Of those who came back, 50% were still bothered by the injury.

A so-called occupational risk for the frequent golfer is the development of lower back pain. A score of tour players have not needed surgery, but all have needed therapy. Other studies have also shown a large percentage of the tour players have or have had lower back pain. And that's a fairly young age group.

Golf pushes today for spot in 2016 Olympics

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:22 EST

GENEVA | Leaders of several sports, including golf, will present their cases today to the International Olympic Committee, hoping for inclusion in the 2016 Summer Games.

Besides golf, officials from baseball, softball, karate, roller sports, rugby and squash also will meet the 16-member program commission, which will deliver an influential report to the IOC's top decision- making body before the vote by IOC members in October.

The IOC will field 28 sports at the 2016 Olympics, allowing two sports to be added.

Weekly golf rule with Cory Armstong

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:34 EST

RULES OF GOLF

QWhen using a ball drop, what rules apply? Does the ball have to come to rest within the painted circle? Can it land outside it and roll in? Can the ball roll nearer to the hole?

Taylor (Mount Pleasant)

Local Golf Course Spotlight

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:57 EST

Opened | 1988

Architect | Dan Maples

Par | 72

Area golf: Brown captures second consecutive event title

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:25 EST

There are only two names on the Carolyn Cudone Invitational trophy.

One is Cudone's, of course.

The other is Lea Anne Brown of Mount Pleasant, who successfully defended her title by three shots with a 7-over 79 Tuesday in the second annual Cudone Invitational at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club.

Golf tip with Brad Redding

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:04 EST

Backswing look too long?

Some golfers believe they swing the club too far back in the backswing, so they try to make their backswings shorter. In reality, the grip is allowing the club to appear to be going too far back. The key word is appear. I look at it this way. If I have a bad backswing and I make it shorter, all I have now is a bad short backswing. The cure is to look at the right hand grip. What has happened many times in a backswing that looks too long is the club has slipped in between your thumb and forefinger.

It is not resting in the webbing between them. This not only gives the appearance of a long backswing, it also has the club off plane with little if any support. You can fix this by getting the first knuckle of your right forefinger on top of the shaft at address. This will move your forefinger away from your middle finger in a trigger-like position. Now join your right thumb, which is also on top of the grip, to the forefinger and the webbing between the two are together.

Area golf: Local touring pros

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:07 EST

Katie Allison
Residence | Little River

Tour | Duramed Futures Tour

Last event | Oct. 17-19, tied for 31st at season-ending Georgia Invitational

McPherson column: Travel takes a toll on body and game

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:29 EST

I am sitting writing this column from the lounge of JAL waiting for my flight to take me back to the good ole U.S. of A. I have been over in Asia for the past three weeks playing in my final events of the year. Unfortunately, I did not play great these three weeks and now my offseason has begun. But with a 36-hour day of flying ahead of me, I can't get too excited about my time off until my plane touches ground in Myrtle Beach.

The past three weeks I played in China, Korea, then Japan. Even with the bad golf, I learned a lot this past month about my game and my scheduling for next season. I have come to the conclusion that I just can't do three weeks out of the country and eight weeks straight on the road. It is a lot of traveling from country to country, but it is extremely difficult on my body and it physically beat me down.

I did my math and I was trying to play as much as possible so that I could finish in the top 40 on the money list and get two years exemption, rather than just the top 80 and get exempt status for next year. I tried to fight through these last two weeks with a neck injury and just couldn't make it happen. I am starting to realize that all of the veterans who told me how tough it is to play more than four events in a row, that they were right! As a second year player I wanted to play as much as I possibly could, but now I know that it is better to play three healthy events than to try to force six events in a row.

Weekly golf rule

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:39 EST

RULES OF GOLF

QWhen the PGA Tour uses the one ball rule, what exactly does that mean?

Jeremy (Loris)

Local golf course spotlight

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:15 EST

Opened | 1987

Architect | Dan Maples

Par | 72

Weekly golf tip with Brad Redding

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:50 EST

Club too open in backswing
Yes, you guessed it. This is all a grip problem, but maybe not in the way you think. The grip is not too weak, the club is simply in the improper place in your left hand. When you fold over the thumb of your left hand, your grip may actually look strong when, in reality, it is just wrong. When the thumb folds over and the grip is on the side of your heel pad, the pressure you apply to the club is with your thumb and bottom or middle of your forefinger. This pressure would promote your wrists to roll to the right and this opens the clubface. You want to apply pressure to the club with your heel pad with a cupped wrist. To fix this, get the club in your left hand properly, elbow in front of your body and pointing down to the ground, inside of forearm facing the sky. Left wrist cupped in. Heel pad on top of the club. No pressure in the thumb, which should be curved. Last three fingers wrap around the club and push the club into the heel pad, and in the takeaway keep the clubface facing the ball. To do this, the back of your left hand would not rotate, it would be facing toward the target. The clubface opens relative to the target as the body turns with a slight rotation of the left forearm very late in the backswing. Again, all of this is possible if the club is in your hand correctly.

Barksdale wins another Mayor's Cup

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:48 EST

Cecelia Barksdale has been a dominant women's amateur in Greenwood for more than a decade, having claimed the club championship at Greenwood Country Club about 15 times.

The Murrells Inlet resident is starting to build a similar resume in the Myrtle Beach area.

Barksdale, a resident of the Grand Strand for the past three years, won her second consecutive women's Mayor's Cup title on Sunday at Whispering Pines Golf Club.

Eastport officials push back reopening

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:46 EDT

Eastport Golf Club probably won't reopen before Thanksgiving.

James Jackson, a partner in the JMJ Management Company that will be operating the 6,200-yard layout, said the company is waiting for winter grasses to grow in sufficiently and no reopening date has been set.

Bermudagrass has been overseeded with ryegrass on the fairways and poa trivialis on the greens.

Local Course Spotlight

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:30 EDT

Opened | 2000

Architect | Pete Dye

Par | 72