Why golfers visiting Myrtle Beach in the spring will be seeing a lot more green
Many golf course operators in the Myrtle Beach market are looking forward to seeing a lot more green this winter and spring.
It’s not that they’re necessarily expecting to see more profits, though they hope the measures they are taking will lead to more business and benefit them monetarily in the long run.
They’re making their golf courses a lot greener by getting back to overseeding tees, fairways and rough areas with bright green winter ryegrass to replace Bermudagrass that goes dormant and brown in cool and cold weather.
Most of the courses in the market are also overseeding their ultradwarf Bermuda greens with poa trivialis.
For decades, Grand Strand courses overseeded wall-to-wall to ensure visiting golfers in the crucial spring golf season would have green courses.
But the market got away from overseeding rough predominantly, and many courses also stopped overseeding fairways and greens and instead colored them with a green dye over the past 20 years for a number of reasons.
The number of courses that will be green wall-to-wall is increasing this winter to 20 from just a handful last year of the 77 public-access courses that are members of the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association.
“Now we’re transitioning back to more and more of our golf courses overseeding not just fairways but wall-to-wall,” said MBAGCOA executive director Tracy Conner. “I think that is in a spirit and effort to meet the expectations of our visiting golfers in our early spring golf season.”
Founders Group International, which owns and operates 22 Strand courses, is taking the lead by overseeding 11 of its courses wall-to-wall.
FGI overseeded tee boxes, fairways, rough and greens at TPC Myrtle Beach, Long Bay Club, International World Tour Golf Links, King’s North at Myrtle Beach National, Myrtlewood Golf Club’s Palmetto and PineHills courses, Wing Wing Avocet, Tradition Club, River Club, Willbrook Plantation and Pawleys Plantation.
“A lush, green course is part of the game’s appeal, particularly during the winter and spring months when golfers flock to Myrtle Beach to escape the dreary conditions in the Northeast and Midwest,” said Justin Binke, FGI’s director of sales and marketing. “Overseeding tees and fairways is common practice for all Myrtle Beach golf courses, but we wanted to take the next step and go wall-to-wall. We believe the decision will enhance the golfer experience, which is our primary goal.”
TPC Myrtle Beach has overseeded everything for the last four years to ensure the layout was in peak condition to host the Dustin Johnson World Junior Golf Championship in February-March, and FGI has received favorable feedback from golfers.
Other courses in the market that are overseeding entirely are Eagle Nest Golf Club, Blackmoor Golf Club, Arrowhead Country Club, Shaftesbury Glen Golf & Fish Club, Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf Links, the Maples Course at Sea Trail Resort, and the three Mystical Golf courses The Witch, Man O’War and The Wizard.
The Maples Course, Man O’War and The Wizard are among the few courses in the market that still feature the cool-weather bentgrass on greens, so everything but their greens are overseeded.
Courses saw the benefit of overseeding in the spring and summer of 2018 when the market was hit with an extreme case of winterkill – a term used to describe grass that is damaged or killed by harsh winter conditions.
The widespread damage on closely mown areas caused more than a dozen courses to close entirely or shut down at least nine holes last spring and summer for green renovations.
While courses were impacted whether they overseeded or not, the damage was evident to golfers during the spring season on courses that didn’t overseed, and those that did discovered the damage at the end of the season when rounds and revenue had already declined.
Courses have taken the additional preventive measure of purchasing green covers to insulate greens during particularly cold weather.
“I would say the biggest result from the winter injury, which was primarily focused on the greens, was we went from four of our clubs having winter covers to 48 of the clubs with winter covers going into this winter,” Conner said. “That is the best defense against winterkill.”
Conner said more than 50 courses will overseed greens this winter, which is a slight increase.
With the proliferation of ultradwarf Bermudagrasses beginning in the early 2000s that have finer grass blades than their predecessors, some courses opted not to overseed greens because they would retain a quality putting surface despite being dormant.
There are several perceived benefits of not overseeding.
Bermudagrasses bounce back faster with the warmer weather and are generally healthier because they don’t have to compete with rye for nutrients or grow through additional thatch created by dying rye during the spring and summer transition period.
It’s also a conservation issue, requiring less watering and maintenance, particularly in the fall when the planting of overseed takes place and forces courses to keep cart paths off playing areas.
The United States Golf Association endorsed not overseeding with its conservation initiative called “brown is the new green” that encouraged less water use and less maintenance on golf courses and more natural, firm conditions.
It exemplified its push by allowing Pinehurst No. 2 to get brown and dusty during the men’s and women’s U.S. Opens in consecutive weeks in 2014.
The primary benefit of overseeding is the year-round consistency of green, lush and durable playing conditions, and that is beginning to take precedence again on the Strand.
“I think this is the way we’re trending and it is likely we will have more than 20 golf courses in the spring of 2021 that will overseed wall-to-wall,” Conner said.
FGI upgrades F&B
Founders Group International plans to enhance the dining options and experiences at its 22 courses after hiring Paul Zito as Director of Food and Beverage.
The company says Zito spent more than 17 years with Carrabba’s Italian Grill, overseeing 12 restaurants and more than 1,000 employees that generated $39 million in annual revenue. FGI expects him to invigorate FGI’s restaurant operations while bringing a new level of service and creativity to the company’s banquet and event operations.
He’ll work closely with FGI’s membership and club committees to enhance menu options at the company’s courses, which include Pine Lakes Country Club, the Grande Dunes Resort Course, Pawleys Plantation and TPC Myrtle Beach.
Golfing Patriots
The Myrtle Beach PGA Patriots, a group of 21 golf industry professionals, met an ambitious goal by donating $131,066 to Folds of Honor on Veterans Day.
The group, which has grown over the past few years, launched Patriot Golf Day on Labor Day in 2014 and the event has grown into a three-day weekend, culminating with a 100-hole golf marathon that is one of the top five Folds of Honor fundraisers of its kind in America.
The event is held over Labor Day weekend and this year included a banquet on Aug. 30 at Barefoot Resort, the “Battle for Glory” public match-play event on Aug. 31 at Thistle Golf Club, and the 100-hole marathon at Long Bay Golf Club on Sept. 1.
The Folds of Honor foundation provides scholarships in $5,000 increments to children of fallen or disabled service members, and more than 20 families will receive scholarships as a result of the Myrtle Beach effort.
“I’m a golf pro. I have the best job in the world, and I can do that based on the sacrifice members of the military have made,” said Jimmy Biggs, the general manager at Pine Lakes Country Club and a founding member of the Myrtle Beach PGA Patriots. “Patriot Golf Day is our way of saying thanks to the men and women willing to sacrifice everything to protect our freedom.”
Nineteen Patriots competed in the 100-hole marathon, making a total of 408 birdies and 15 eagles and raising $26,265 via performance-based pledges. The Patriots received 822 donations, with Matt Biddington of Legends Resort ($25,233) and Biggs ($21,275) leading the way. The six Patriot Golf Day events have now raised $400,000.
Myrtle Beach PGA Patriots are: Biddington, Biggs, Michael Benson (Crow Creek), Matt Daly (Founders Group International), Brad Crumling (World Tour), Jeff Davis (Crow Creek), Casey Cook (Founders Group International), Corey Bowers (Aberdeen/Long Bay), Jason Corneau (Prestwick), Dustin Powers (Myrtlewood), Jeff Diehl (Myrtle Beach Golf Trek), Joe Dipre (Grande Dunes), Doug Donner (International Club/Thistle), Jarrin Josue (Compass Cove Resort), Jennifer Lundberg (Blackmoor), Eric Morgan (Lockwood Folly), Ted Panaretos II (Pine Lakes), Brian Stefan (iNet Golf), Scott Thrailkill (Brunswick Plantation), Mike Binder (Ahead/2UNDR) and Mike Buccerone (East Coast Golf).
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 7:35 PM.
