This Myrtle Beach golf course has been private since 2005, but is opening to public play
The Members Club at Grande Dunes has been private since it opened in 2005.
That will change in April, when the club becomes semi-private and begins accepting outside play through golf package providers.
“We are planning to bring package play to the Members Club and we’ll start seeing that as early as April of this year,” said Margaret LaCalle, Coastal North Division President of LStar Ventures, which owns the club.
The public will get an improved version of the course, as it is undergoing renovations this winter and will experience more this summer.
Public play could begin in late March if a bunker rebuilding project concludes on time, and it is currently on schedule, head pro Brian Vest said.
The Members Club, a 7,029-yard par-71 layout co-designed by Nick Price and Craig Schreiner, will be priced in the mid-high to high range in the market.
The club has begun working with select package providers, including two of the largest in the market – Brittain Resorts & Hotels and Founders Group International providers.
The public will not be able to call the pro shop for a tee time or book a time on the club’s website. The club is essentially following the model used for decades by The Dunes Golf and Beach Club.
Members are keeping their preferred tee time hours on specific days, though Vest said the course will differentiate itself in the market by starting off a single tee, which will open late morning and mid-to-late afternoon times that aren’t available at courses that send golfers off both the first and 10th tees.
LaCalle said LStar hopes to play approximately 35,000 rounds on the Members Club per year combining member and guest play.
LStar and McConnell Golf, which operates the golf course through a management contract, opted to open the course up to public play after a proposal to connect the Members Club and former Waterway Hills Golf Club property was narrowly voted down in July by Myrtle Beach City Council.
LStar’s goal was to build a private road from a planned development called Waterway Hills Village, which will consist of nearly 900 homes, to the Members Club at Terra Verde Drive. The connection would be blocked by a gate that could be opened by members of the club.
LStar was looking to increase membership at the Members Club by allowing future Waterway Hills residents the opportunity to join.
“To cover the shortfall coming from the residents we’re going to open it up to the public, so hopefully those additional rounds that we secure from the public will help offset the financial loss we’ve experienced year over year,” LaCalle said.
The more members the club gains, the fewer public rounds will likely be played, and vice versa. “If we can get it all from the members then we won’t have that many people coming in from the public,” LaCalle said.
Private areas of the clubhouse for members-only will remain, and only members will be able to use the club amenities after golfing hours, including the restaurant.
McConnell Golf of Raleigh, N.C., which operates a collection of 14 private courses – 13 in the Carolinas including The Reserve Club in Pawleys Island – began operating the Members Club in the summer of 2014 when the course was struggling with low membership.
McConnell chief operating officer Christian Anastasiadis said in July that The Members Club was losing money with 415 members in various categories, including approximately 200 golf members. He said only 29 percent of homeowners in Golf Village – the community around the club – were members, 16 percent of them golf members.
Some residents supported connecting the properties and others opposed it, including 300 who signed a petition against it.
McConnell’s management agreement with LStar includes the Grande Dunes Members Club, social Ocean Club, Anchor Café and Grande Dunes Marina. The public will see an improved course. LaCalle said renovations this year will approach $1 million.
“That was one thing we wanted to do to make sure everybody who is golfing at the Members Club will have a great experience and also to attract the higher-end clientele,” LaCalle said.
The layout is undergoing bunker renovations this winter and will close for three months or more this summer to replace its original bentgrass greens with TifEagle Bermudagrass.
Schreiner, an area resident, is overseeing the reshaping of the bunkers and plans to spend about 40 hours per week at the course over a couple months. Bunker work is expected to take three months and be completed by mid-March. The back nine has been completed and the front nine is now closed for the work.
The rebuilding of the bunkers includes improving drainage and replacing sand, while also eliminating 11 bunkers entirely and decreasing the course’s total bunkering by about 40 percent.
“When you step up to the tee you’ll notice there’s really not much difference,” said Schreiner, who added a forward tee to all 18 holes three years ago to give women and seniors more options. “What we’ve done is just shrink the bunkers, but the portions of the bunkers close to the strategic angles, it’s still intact in its entirety. We’ve just eliminated more of the aesthetic.”
Vest said the course is expected to close on May 26, a day after Labor Day, and reopen around Labor Day weekend, which is Sept. 4-7.
The greens will be expanded back to their original size, regaining space that will create more pin placement options, and some fairways will be reshaped and/or narrowed with added drainage.
“The sustained heat in July and August with the humidity just becomes so difficult,” Schreiner said of the change from bent to Bermuda greens. “If you look at the greens today they’re beautiful, but it comes at a price and it comes at a lot of labor in the summer months. The fact that they’re opening up play now, they want it to be good all year round so they’ve made a good decision I think to go with a Bermuda.”
Only a handful of Grand Strand courses still feature bentgrass, which was prevalent prior to the 2000s, particularly on high-end layouts. Courses with bent include Man O’War Golf Club, The Wizard, Crow Creek and Sea Trail’s Maples Course.
Vest said the Members Club will likely be more willing to host summer state and regional amateur events and Carolina PGA Section events with the new Bermuda greens.
Gainey reemerges
Bishopville native and underdog fan favorite Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey overcame health issues, a long stretch of poor play and a recent arrest to win the Korn Ferry Tour’s Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay on Jan. 15.
Gainey, 44, turned in a final-round 69 and was emotional while dedicating the season-opening win to his family on the 18th green following the win.
“This means everything,” said Gainey afterwards, holding back tears. “My wife, I love her to death. Her and the boys mean everything.”
Gainey was one of 124 people arrested in a six-day, undercover sting in early December targeting prostitution, human trafficking and child predators in central Florida. The married father of two is facing a misdemeanor solicitation charge, according to Polk County (Fla.) records.
The win is Gainey’s third on the Korn Ferry Tour (formerly Web.com Tour) and he has a PGA Tour win at the 2012 RSM Classic.
Gainey lost his PGA Tour card in 2014 and has not held full PGA status since, with injuries taking a toll on his game. Gainey doesn’t have a top 10 in the past four years on the PGA or Korn Ferry tours.
“Of course I lost belief,” Gainey said when asked if he thought he’d ever win again.
Gainey played the week of his arrest in the final stage of the Korn Ferry qualifying tournament. Though he was among the first round leaders, a 74 and 71 on the weekend dropped him into a tie for 75th.
With his win, he’s in a good position to make another run at the PGA Tour.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 10:17 PM.
