The Dye Club at Barefoot Resort & Golf Review

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is the Golf Capital of the USA with over 90 courses to choose from along the Grand Strand. One of the places to experience the 'Best of the Beach' is Barefoot Resort & Golf in North Myrtle Beach that was fashioned as a true golf resort with top-shelf amenities. There are four exceptionally designed courses at Barefoot by Greg Norman, David Love III, Tom Fazio and Pete Dye.

On a recent visit, I had the opportunity to play the toughest of the quartet, The Dye Club, at 7343 'Dyebolical' yards of treacherous, yet aesthetically challenging golf. The award-winning Dye Club has been home to the Monday after the Masters 'Hootie and the Blowfish Celebrity Pro-Am,' which celebrated its 25th year of raising money for junior golf and educational programs in South Carolina. The handcrafted Dye Club, Pete's only contribution to the array of great golf in Myrtle Beach, was also the site for the 36th Annual World Amateur Handicap Championship final round the last week of August.

Bordering the natural white sands of the Carolina Bay, the golf course will test your senses and your patience. Offering five sets of tees to allow mere mortals the opportunity to play a full blend of Pete's pitfalls, moguls, pot bunkers and railroad ties on a course with 5 different grasses growing in the design. Pete, who passed away in January 2020, once said, "Life is not fair, so why should I make a course that is fair."

After visiting with the starter who strongly suggested to play it forward given the 76/143 rating and slope. Hole #1 starts out with a 425-yard par 4 with a fairway that narrows with waste bunkers on both sides. The smart play is to use a fairway wood to safely find the short grass with a little longer iron to reach the green avoiding bunker right. The second, a 380-yard par 4, ditto with the fairway club to land in the wider part of the fairway, which teases you to go after a green protected by a dogleg right around a heavy tree line.

Two of the most visually stunning holes are the 195-yard, par 3, sixth which has water along the right side and a line of moguls on the left; and the par 4, ninth, a dogleg left 493-yard beast playing over a marsh, sand and bunkers with a ridge running down the right side to keep balls in play. The narrow entrance approach to a deep, but skinny green bordered by Pete's infamous railroad ties along the water to the right and sand back and left will test golfers' iron-game skills.

When you make the turn, the ties border the water all along the fairway on the short but provocative par 4 10th. Visually arresting, the layout has enough pitfalls to snare a fox. If Salvador Dali had been an architect of golf courses, this one has enough uncommon strokes to be called a wild masterpiece. Ever since it opened in 2001 writers have been pouring praise and accolades on it, but I wonder, sitting in a pot bunker if they actually played the darn thing. This is target golf at its finest. If you can stand on the tee-box and decipher the appropriate place to land your shot, and do the same time and again, you might be able to have a decent score.

The 461 yard, par 4, 11th is hard enough because of its length, then Pete puts a high-mounded pot bunker smack dab in front of the green, totally nullifying a bump and run approach. The finish- #s14-18 is especially daunting while also visually stimulating. The 14th, a par 4, 475-yard phenom
plays between a ridge right and a massive waste area the length of the left side. The par 3,15th is my favorite, demanding a right to left tee shot to a postage stamp size green guarded by deep bunkers on the left. Sand comes into play once again on the par 5 16th, covering both sides and seemingly everywhere, while making it a tough layup shot. Another par 3, the 17th plays over deep gnarly rough and has a particularly nasty pot bunker from Pete the pot maker guarding the left side.

Finally, the par 4 finishing hole is reminiscent of the 18th at TPC Sawgrass with a lake guarding the entire left side with a gauntlet of moguls and bunkers to the right. The green wraps right to left around the water with another pot bunker in the front right corner having the beautiful Dye Clubhouse in the background. Thank God- I needed a drink after this round. I will never forget this Pete Dye design that has garnered best by every golf writer and magazine that has stepped foot on this marvel. To make a tee time go to BarefootGolf.com.

For more information on the 2020 World Amateur Handicap Championship please visit MyrtleBeachWorldAmateur.com.