Founders Club at Pawleys Island to Open February 1, 2008.
The Founders Club at Pawleys Island will, celebrate it's grand opening on February 1, 2008. The Founders Club is the first course to open on the south strand since the International Club debuted in 2000. One of five courses owned and operated The Classic Golf Group, The Founders Club sits upon on the site of the former Sea Gull Golf Club, which opened in 1965 as one of the first golf courses in Pawleys Island. The Founders Club is one of the original members of the Waccamaw Golf Trail.
Architect Thomas Walker, once with the Gary Player Design Group, directed The Founders Club project, with construction costs estimated
at more than $7 million.
Featuring Bermuda fairways and a mixture of Bermuda and Zoysia in the rough, The Founders Club joins TPC of Scottsdale as the only two golf courses in the United States with Emerald Bermuda greens. A new strand of grass just released from the Champion Turf Company. Emerald Bermuda should tolerates the hot South Carolina summer sun and requires less water.
Walker complemented the lowcountry backdrop of the Waccamaw Neck area by adding Love Grass and Bluestem native grasses, pine and centuries-old oak trees and other vegetation around the Founders Club course. The waste areas reflect the south strand’s terrain with a bright shade of orange sand.
“We started this project back in 2006 and it will be exciting to open our doors so golfers can enjoy the newest world-class facility on the Grand Strand,” said Wayne Welden, general manager and head golf professional at The Founders Club. “We worked closely with the architect to make sure that the course blends perfectly with the natural surroundings. Cart paths have been kept to a minimum and the new drainage and irrigation systems will ensure lush conditions and that the course sheds water quickly.”
The Founders Club measures 6910 yards from the back with a choice of five sets of tees available on each hole, with yardage to match any golfer’s skill level. All Founders Club golf carts are equipped with the newest GPS technology with accurate yardages and graphics available to the golfer for each hole. The pro shop will utilize the newest GPS software to keep track of all carts on the course to expedite pace of play.
The Founders Club will also unveil the new 5,000 square foot clubhouse with a wrap-around porch, pro shop, locker rooms, dining area, meeting facilities fireplace and bar.
About the Waccamaw Golf Trail
The Waccamaw Golf Trail is a marketing cooperative comprised of 12 south strand golf courses, and accommodations providers, Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort and Pawleys Plantation. The non-profit organization was created to provide more information on golf and vacation packages. The collection of golf courses that make up the Waccamaw Golf Trail includes Blackmoor, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, Heritage Club, Litchfield Country Club, Pawleys Plantation, River Club, TPC of Myrtle Beach, Tradition Club, True Blue Plantation, Wachesaw Plantation East, Willbrook Plantation and Founders Club at Pawleys Island, which will open in February of 2008. Most of the courses on the Trail were built upon the sites of 18th and 19th century rice and indigo plantations, set amid ancient moss-draped oaks and tidal rivers. The list of accolades for these courses includes GOLF Magazine’s “America’s Top 100”, Golf for Women’s “Top 25 in America”, six 4˝ -star courses and one of only three 5-star courses in the southeast as rated by Golf Digest.
The Founders Club on Pawleys Island: Myrtle Beach to get another upscale golf course
By Brandon Tucker,
Staff Writer,
Golf Publisher Syndications
PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. - When Myrtle Beach golf early birds come out to the grand opening of the new Founders Club in February, they'll be met with a golf course seemingly wise beyond its youth.
"It's ready to go right now," says General Manager Wayne Weldon of its conditions this fall. "We just wanted it to be perfect."
Owned by the Classic Golf Group, the Founders Club is the Grand Strand's first new course since Leopard's Chase opened at Ocean Ridge Plantation in Brunswick County this spring.
Officials were in limbo over whether to open the brand new golf course this fall as
originally intended. But, due to a severe drought this summer, some of the fairways were
still a little patchy, so they decided to let the course grow in over the winter
and debut in the spring, with its best foot forward.
The Founders Club sits on the land of a former local favorite course, Sea Gull, a Gene Hamm design from 1967 and the sixth-oldest course in Myrtle Beach. Rather than upgrade the existing course, the ownership hit on the idea of creating a brand new, upscale club that could match up with its modern, upper-tier neighbors such as Caledonia Golf and Fish Club, True Blue and Pawleys Plantation on the Waccamaw Golf Trail. They closed Sea Gull in 2005 and started the Founders Club project, estimated at $7 million, from scratch.
Thomas Walker, who had served as Gary Player's lead designer for many years before embarking on a solo career, was selected to design the Founders Club course. He has designed several acclaimed layouts on his own, including Canyon Springs in San Antonio, which has been named among Texas' "Ten Best" by Golf Digest.
Player's design firm has a worldwide reputation for creating visually dramatic - but not overly demanding - courses that give the higher handicapper a shot. The Founders Club is of a similar mold.
"It's very stunning visually," Weldon says. "It gives you the illusion that it's more difficult than it really is."
Walker's team took advantage of the natural gold-and-orange sands to serve as transition areas, and moved about 250,000 cubic yards of dirt - a good amount being on the flatter front side to make it resemble the more rolling back nine. The fairways are planted with 419 Bermuda grass and Emerald Bermuda is used for the greens.
When the Founders Club course is officially unveiled in February, players won't encounter the usual trimmings of a new course, such as rock-hard greens, an unfinished clubhouse and bare fairways. They'll find a mature golf course, not only in terms of conditioning but also in ambience. The already-high anticipation of the opening is surely to build over the winter months.
"The buzz is definitely loud and clear on the local level," Weldon says. "Everyone's eagerly waiting to see it." $136-$164. But, like with most Grand Strand golf courses, cheaper rates are available through golf packages
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