Two of the best tee box views in all of Myrtle Beach golf come in back-to-back holes at Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf Links.
With a full-on introduction to the Intracoastal Waterway continuing high atop the Par 3 No. 17 and then a full-on get-to-know-you on No. 18, Glen Dornoch and the thoroughfare are meshed together unlike most local tracks.
But if you want to achieve real glory on Clyde Johnson’s 1996 layout, you’ve got to navigate three holes that pack a serious punch. An early Par 5, the Par 4 No. 9 and the Par 4 16th can easily equate to a nine-hole swing in your score all by their lonesome.
Get your A-game ready.
TWEAKS AND VALLEYS
Here’s the good news about the wonderfully designed 532-yard, Par 5 No. 5: During multiple portions of the year, what could be a stream on the back quarter of the hole dries up considerably and prevents the need to dig a new ball out of your bag.
Here’s the bad news: It’s still rarely playable (even when the course doesn’t have it marked as such) and it’s not as if hitting out of that on-again, off-again valley is good for your game either way. You don’t want to find out, especially since there’s a solid chance you only find that left-to-right diagonal crevice (wet or not) on your third shot.
It helps create a second forced carry, chasing the always unplayable natural grass area you have to fly on your second shot. (5th hole top photo)
FRONT NINE FINALE
Like the aforementioned 18th hole, No. 9 also plays parallel to the Intracoastal Waterway. But three major differences make this Par 4 harder than what is considered the course’s signature hole, despite a lack of the multiple forced carries.
For starters, the water from the Intracoastal is flowing toward you, meaning any striations off to the right are going to mess with your eye even more. Read: Depth perception problems in waiting.
Next up is six pot bunkers surrounding the primary portion of the fairway landing area or the six more spotting the portion of the shared green (not ironically, with No. 18). All those tiny pockets of sand add some serious edge to the 406-yard hole, as they’re spaced out in such a way where missing them all means a player hit two really strong shots back-to-back.
STRONG-ARMED BEAUTY
The 17-18 finish is everything you’re going to want out of the final stretches of Glen Dornoch. But you’ve got to get through No. 16 first.
The 371-yard Par 4 is an absolute beauty to look at, but it tends to end more than its share of friendly 18-hole bets right then and there. Natural marsh land cuts the fairway in half and then runs up to and around the green. And if it wasn’t for a perpendicular bunker, even more players who get a decent roll off the tee would find it before hitting a second shot.
After the carry into the back 140 or so yards, an unforgiving tree line, a downward slope on the left and right of the green and an elongated putting surface keeps the pressure on right until your ball hits the bottom of the cup.
