Category Archives: Golf

The 20th annual Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am golf tournament raised an event record $461,000 for charity, event organizers announced. The money was donated to the Hootie Foundation and helped fulfill the band’s goal of funding an endowment that will provide educational and charitable opportunities for children in South Carolina for years to come.

“Raising $461,000 in our 20th year and fully funding our endowment are incredible accomplishments, and they wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our friends at Intel, our title sponsor, and Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday,” said Darius Rucker, Hootie’s lead singer and one of country music’s biggest stars. “Intel has been with us since 2008 and its unwavering commitment to K through 12 education, especially math and science, makes it an ideal partner for our foundation. Our goal from the time we teed off at the first Monday After the Masters in 1995 was to create an event that would positively impact children in South Carolina, and we are succeeding.”

The 2014 MAM, played April 14 at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Course, attracted another star-studded field. In addition to band members Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Jim “Soni” Sonefeld and Dean Felber, PGA Tour standouts Dustin Johnson and Jim Furyk, Pro Football Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson, Bruce Smith, Richard Dent and Marcus Allen, and Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson, among many others, participated in the event.

All proceeds from the event benefit the Hootie Foundation, a non-profit organization that was created so the band could support charities they have a passion for. The vast majority of the Hootie Foundation’s efforts benefit education in South Carolina and the South Carolina Junior Golf Association.

“The funding of the endowment is a milestone for the event, the band and each of us personally,” said Sonefeld, Hootie’s drummer. “The endowment will leave a legacy that helps benefit kids throughout the state for decades to come, and that is extraordinarily gratifying for each of us.”

The Monday After the Masters, the largest one-day fundraiser in South Carolina, has been played in Myrtle Beach the last 12 years.

The 2015 MAM will be held April 13 on Barefoot’s Dye Course, a layout that has been ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses.

For more information, go to www.HootieGolf.com.

The new year is off to a banner start for two of Myrtle Beach’s premier layouts. The Dunes Golf & Beach Club and Caledonia Golf & Fish Club are ranked among “America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses” in the February 2015 issue of Golf Digest.

A Robert Trent Jones, Sr, design, the Dunes Club is No. 50 in the biennial rankings while Caledonia, the late Mike Strantz’s first solo design, is No. 73.

“Congratulations to the Dunes Club and Caledonia for being ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses,” Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday President Bill Golden said. “Myrtle Beach has more outstanding golf courses than any destination in the country, and having two layouts ranked among America’s top 100 public courses is further affirmation of that quality.”

Dunes Club, which opened in 1948, is the Myrtle Beach’s area’s most famed layout. From the outset, the course attracted national attention and it raised the profile of the entire destination along with it.

Starting with a clubhouse that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, the Dunes Club delivers a special experience. The classically designed course plays over naturally rolling land and offers stunning visuals throughout. The layout’s most popular stretch is Alligator Alley – holes 11 through 13 – capped by the par 5 13th, a 90-degree dogleg right that plays around Lake Singleton.

The course has hosted some of professional golf’s most prominent events, including the U.S. Women’s Open, six Senior PGA Tour Championships, and, most recently, the PGA Professional National Championship.

Caledonia, which plays amidst centuries old live oak trees draped in Spanish moss, is a modern design carved from a piece of land that oozes history and Southern charm. From the moment players enter the property through a half-mile stretch of road lined on both sides by oak trees, the beauty of Caledonia is evident.

The course has enjoyed immense popular and critical acclaim. Strantz’s work is equal parts art and architecture as a he seamlessly crafted the layout on little more than 100 acres of property.

On a course full of memorable holes, the 18th stands above as one of the best finishing holes in all of golf. The multi-tiered green rests in the shadow of an antebellum style clubhouse and requires a forced carry over water.

Architecturally the hole is splendid, but what makes it special is the atmosphere. There are almost always golfers gathered on the clubhouse deck, enjoying a drink and providing a gallery for the final approach.

It’s an idyllic conclusion to a round at one of America’s greatest layouts.

Golf Digest’s team of raters evaluated golf courses on seven categories. Below are the criteria the magazine set for each category:

1. Shot Values: How well does the course pose risks and rewards and equally test length, accuracy and finesse?
2. Resistance to Scoring: How difficult, while still being fair, is the golf course for a scratch player from the back tees?
3. Design Variety: How varied are the golf course’s holes in differing lengths, configurations, hazard placements, green shapes and green contours?
4. Memorability: How well do the design features (tees, fairways, greens, hazards, vegetation and terrain) provide individuality to each hole, yet a collective continuity to the entire 18?
5. Aesthetics: How well do the scenic values of the golf course (including landscaping, vegetation, water features and backdrops) add to the pleasure of a round?
6. Conditioning: How firm, fast and rolling were the fairways, and how firm yet receptive were the greens on the day you played the course?
7. Ambience: How well does the overall feel and atmosphere of the course reflect or uphold the traditional values of the game?