Grand Stranded

I’ve been chomping at the bit reading this thread. After almost a month without being able to swing a club, my lower leg is finally feeling better. I caught a break with this, as the original prognosis (an issue with the my Achilles’ tendon) was incorrect. I’m going to take it slow though, and just practice the short game for a week or so, and take it from there. I’m hoping the leg will be good enough to make the 700 mile drive from NY to Myrtle Beach, as I’ve had about enough of this Long Island “Spring” weather. I’m looking forward to boring the hell out of you guys again with my exploits on the course again!

I’d love to pick up a very lightweight 14 way stand bag. I was thinking of the Sun Mountain 2.5 14 way, but the color options are very limited. I’ve always owned plain black bags, but now that I’m feeling adventurous it seems the options are limited. Any suggestions guys? BTW the less “branding” on the bag, the better.

When I first moved down, that was the course everyone talked about. A guy I know played there about 12 years ago and said he met retired General Oliver North in the pro shop. I’d love to get the chance to play there someday…

For my money, there isn’t a better deal dollar for dollar than going down the street and playing Heritage.

I’m visiting family up on Long Island right now, and some old friends invited me to play today at a course that was about $40 on a week day two years ago. I’m dealing with a calf injury so I was disappointed I couldn’t play, until they told me they paid $85. It’s not exactly Pine Valley either. Like you said though, they’re filling up the tee sheet, so why not?

It’s a new world with all the new golfers due to Covid, Rick. You’d be amazed at the prices they’re getting. I used to have a “travel day” once a week, now I do it once a month. I stay in Barefoot and just pay the cart fee.

I plan on holding on a lot longer than that Sonny boy.

It should ease up a bit by the time you get down the end of May. We’ll leave a light on for you, Tom. @BIG STUwill agree, I’m sure when I tell you the reason for all the course closings are twofold. First, a lot of the older, privately owned courses are in the hands of the second generation now, and those kids (adults now) have kids who either want nothing to do with the business, or there are too many mouths to feed to make it worth splitting the pie. Second is the building boom. Home prices are going through the roof. It’s almost foolish not to build on the courses now, especially those not making big profits. My condo has gone up over 150% in the last 18 months… which sounds great, but if I sell and want to stay in the area, home prices have almost doubled, so where do you go? The ideal scenario for these course owners is having let’s say 3 nines, closing one and building, or if they have more than one 18, closing one makes even more sense. The problem I see is eventually this bubble will burst and we’ll be back to where we were 11-12 years ago when the real estate market tanked and everywhere you looked there were foreclosures and short sales. I’m getting to the same point Stu and his wife are. It’s gotten really crowded down here and it’s getting worse. If I could think of a place I’d like to move to, I think I’m ready to go. The vibe down here is completely different now, it’s losing that small but edgy beach vibe it had. I loved the old steak houses, strip clubs and golf thing they used to have going on. Alas, those days are gone.

How crazy is it that they want to build off 707? They just finished that big road expansion project for the traffic they couldn’t handle before this boom.

With all the building they’re doing up by me, it’s only gonna get worse. They’re even putting up developments on Water Tower Road now behind Barefoot, and that was the area devastated by the wildfires 12 years ago.

In my Tuesday league, I used to tell them I was a +1 righty and the pro shop wouldn’t allow me to play from that side. Then I’d say once I sized up the group, I figured I could still take their money playing LH clubs. That would go over like the proverbial f**t in church with the guys who believed me.

Kenny, I don’t remember if you mentioned having the shaft shortened on your HW… I was under the impression the shaft was the same length as the one in a 3 wood?

That actually makes sense, as the vast majority of snowbird leases end the last day of February. I’d guess maybe 25%? stay through March, and the peak golf season begins in April.

Both you and @chisaghave spent more than a few years in the Myrtle Beach area, so you know we’re a little unique down here in the fact that there’s always one influx or another throughout the year. Spring and Fall it’s the golf package guys. Winter is the snowbirds, and summer is family on summer vacation. Maybe it’s because I’m in my mid 60’s now, but my preference is the winter crowd. They’re either Canadian or older folks looking for a milder winter than where they live. They’re an early to bed, early rising group, whereas the golfers and families bring the party from Spring through Fall. @BIG STUis a little bit south of me, and it’s a little more peaceful there come this time of year I think?

As @BIG STUor any of the Florida guys like @Rickpwill tell you, everyone living in a warm winter climate has an intense dislike for them, be it rational or not, we can’t wait for them to leave. My friend Frank came down to the Myrtle Beach area for about 4 winters before finally buying a home and moving down full time. He wasn’t “a local” 3 weeks when we’re in his car going over a swing bridge to leave our community. We’re stuck behind two old ladies in a golf cart loaded up for the beach, and they’re going about 10-15 mph. He starts ranting about “these damned snowbirds!!!” Thr guy hadn’t even made a mortgage payment yet and he already hated them.