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King's North Named One of SC's Top 25 Courses
11/26/2007
South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel Names Arnold Palmer-Design as One of State’s Best
November 26, 2007, Myrtle Beach, S.C. – King’s North at Myrtle Beach National was named to the “25 Best Courses You Can Play” rankings just announced by the South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel. The biennial list recognizes the state’s top resort, public access and daily-fee courses during odd-numbers years. King’s North was also selected for the panel’s inaugural “25 Best Courses You Can Play” ranking in 2005.
“It is an honor to be named one of the top 25 golf courses in the state of South Carolina,” said Jim Woodring, vice president of golf operations at Myrtle Beach National. “Our Arnold Palmer signature course is unique and memorable because of its surroundings, conditioning and playability. To be recognized by this panel of enthusiastic golfers who play the best courses around the state makes it even more gratifying.”
Opened in 1971 and redesigned in 1996 by Palmer’s design firm, King’s North features bent grass fairways, greens and memorable holes that challenge golfers year after year. The par 5, 6th hole was christened “The Gambler” due to its “risk-reward” island fairway. Golfers can take the safe route by avoiding the lake and playing the dogleg left fairway or “gamble” for an eagle by taking the shortcut through the island fairway. The famed par 3, 12th hole island green was redesigned with the addition of a wooden bulkhead. Considered one of the state’s best island greens, the distinctive sandtraps are shaped in the letters “SC.” The par 4, 18th hole is nicknamed “The Bullseye” with 42 sand traps that golfers must try to avoid.
The Panel’s 2007 list was again dominated by the Grand Strand, the home of more than half of the honored premier public access facilities. Charleston was second with five courses, Hilton Head came in third place with four courses and the Midlands and Upstate finished just behind with two and one courses, respectively. Other Myrtle Beach courses honored included Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, Grande Dunes Resort Course, The Heritage Club, Legends Resort–Heathland Course, Pawleys Plantation, Prestwick Country Club, The Dye Club at Barefoot Resort, The Fazio Course at Barefoot Resort, The Love Course at Barefoot Resort, Tidewater Golf Club and True Blue Plantation.
About the South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel
The South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel membership is comprised of golf industry, former golfers and coaches, media and business and industry members that are charged with the identifying the best South Carolina golf courses. The Panel considers criteria such as course routing, course design balance, course management strategy, course equity to reward good shots while penalizing bad ones, course memorability, aesthetics of the course and surrounding area and the overall experience by the golfer from the pro shop to the course. The Ratings Panel releases three different ratings: The annual “New Course of the Year” list; the bi-annual “South Carolina’s 50 Best Courses” that identifies the best public or private courses during even-numbered years; and the “25 Best Courses that You Can Play” that lists the best non-private courses in the state in odd-numbered years.
About The Myrtle Beach National Company
The Myrtle Beach National Company has evolved into one of the leading golf course ownership and management operations in the Southeast, featuring many of the most well-respected signature courses along the Grand Strand. The company formed in 1971 with the construction of the Arnold Palmer-designed original 54-hole golf complex, which includes the West Course, Southcreek (both designed by Francis Duane and Arnold Palmer) and King’s North, also an Arnold Palmer design that has achieved national notoriety. The Myrtle Beach National Company has grown to include the Robert Trent Jones-designed Waterway Hills, Jack Nicklaus’ Long Bay, Tom Jackson’s River Club and Aberdeen Country Club, Dan Maple’s Willbrook Plantation and Willard Byrd’s Litchfield Country Club, all premier Myrtle Beach area signature courses.
Myrtle Beach National has hosted tournaments for men, women, senior or junior golfers for more than 35 years to help grow the game of golf. Every November, Myrtle Beach National-sponsored George Holliday Memorial Tournament, recently named one of the top-ranked junior tournaments by the Heritage Classic Foundation, draws more than 500 prep golfers to the Grand Strand. During the spring, Myrtle Beach National welcomes more than 500 junior golfers to the area during Easter weekend for the Myrtle Beach Junior Golf Tournament. In the fall, Myrtle Beach National welcomes women golfers and couples to the Grand Strand for the Girls Love to Golf Clinic and The Carolina Couples Classic. For more information, visit MBN.com or call 1-800-882-2614.
