Coastal champs: South Carolina’s top five public-access courses

The best of South Carolina’s Low Country and Grand Strand is all about long marsh views, moss dripping from oaks and beachside living. Think shrimp boils, pickup trucks and Southern accents. And golf courses. From Myrtle Beach at the north end of …

Caledonia Golf and Fish Club (Photos courtesy of the courses)

5. Caledonia Golf and Fish Club

Pawleys Island

Carved through a coastal forest with a routing that crosses the Waccamaw River marsh on No. 18, Caledonia (No. 163 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern courses) opened in 1994 as the first solo effort by Mike Strantz. The somewhat polarizing designer, who died in 2005, was known for extreme designs and moving a lot of earth to create previously unimagined landforms that pushed the bounds of classic golf architecture. In 2000 he was named one of the greatest 10 course designers of all time by Golfweek. 

The relatively tight tract of land was once part of a rice plantation, and the 150 or so acres didn’t offer a lot of room. The course isn’t long at 6,526 yards off the back tees, and there was no space for a driving range (players can warm up across the street at sister property True Blue, another Strantz design that ranks No. 6 in the state). 

Despite those tight quarters, Caledonia never feels squeezed. Old-growth oaks and pines divide the holes, and playing corridors are more than ample. Unlike most coastal courses, there are no houses or condos. And as with all great courses, it’s the approach angles, the greens and their surrounds that make or break greatness. 

For the most part, Caledonia lacks the extremities of other Strantz courses. A wayward approach or careless chip to several greens can leave the ball perched precariously above the hole, but it’s nothing that can’t be handled.

Then there’s No. 8. 

The downhill, 528-yard par 5 has a pond short of the green, which might be the most forgiving or the most challenging on the course, depending on where the hole is cut. The front of the green is set low near the water, and the extreme slope up to the back tier serves as a backstop. But that slope of some four feet switches from friend to foe when the pin is in the rear portion of the green. Good luck to the big-hitters trying to stop a long approach shot back there – the task is daunting even to most golfers who lay up short of the pond and have a wedge in their hands. Caledonia proves that fun isn’t measured by yardage.

Rater’s comments: The shaping work is (in my opinion) some of the best by Strantz. On a tight parcel, features too bold would stick out and be too much. There is the perfect amount of quirk and variety on this charming course. Greens are superb, in line with feature shaping – plenty of Strantz flavor without going over the top. – Brian Finn, Charlotte, N.C.