Wild Wing, once home to four courses, was one of Myrtle Beach’s most prominent properties but when the Woodstork and Falcon layouts closed in 2006, many people mistakenly thought the entire complex went with them.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Wild Wing’s Avocet Course continues to deliver one of the area’s most enjoyable rounds of golf. Devoid of housing, Avocet is renowned for the year-round quality of its conditions and it mostly allows players to swing away with the driver, a popular combination.

If the Jeff Brauer-Larry Nelson design hosts the championship round of your trip, here are the three holes that can swing a match.

— Players arrive on the sixth tee at Wild Wing poised to finish the day’s most difficult stretch – holes 3 through 6. Make par or even bogey on No. 6 (top photo) and you have an opportunity to post a good score, but escaping the 406-yard (all distances from white tees) par 4 unscathed isn’t easy. Water runs along the left side of the hole and trees line the starboard side of the fairway. In the primary landing area, there is 70 yards from the tree-line to the water, which is tighter than it sounds. Throw in a multi-tiered green and you have a hole that has broken more than one golfer early in the round. Don’t let that happen to you.

— On the other end of the spectrum, the drivable, par 4 14th (pictured right) is only 265 yards, allowing players of all skill levels to dream of driving the green. Unless you blow your drive WAY right, there is little trouble on No. 14, though there is mounding in front of the putting surface. The green is reachable for a lot of players, introducing the possibility of a late round birdie or even eagle that can propel a player to a strong finish. This is Avocet’s most fun hole to play.

— Two holes later, the biggest challenge on the back nine awaits. The 430-yard, par 4 16th (pictured right) demands power and precision. The hole isn’t particularly tight but the landing area narrows approximately 240 yards from the white tees, thanks to a fairway bunker on the right. Layup short of the bunker and reaching the green will require a perfectly struck long iron. Otherwise, your choice is to find the 50 yards between the bunkers and the trees. Making par here will win the hole 85 percent of the time and bogey sometimes will too. Your goal at No. 16: don’t make a big number.