By Mike May
While Davis Love III will always be remembered for winning the 1996 PGA Championship, a winning Ryder Cup Captain, and for being the second oldest person to win a PGA Tour event, he deserves as many accolades for the work he has done as a golf course architect at The Love Course at the Barefoot Resort & Golf Club. This Love design deserves to be ranked among the best courses along the Grand Strand.
According to Mike Ross, the director of golf at The Love Course at Barefoot,
“This was Love’s first ‘big-budget’ design and he was intent on making a statement showcasing his ability in golf course design.”
Davis Love III succeeded in that quest and the characteristics bear a reflection of what he likes as a player; generous fairways and landing areas.
Ross added,
“It is a solid course from start to finish. Every hole is well thought out, combining playability and challenge. The fairways are generous, but many of the green complexes are crowned with collection areas that catch wayward shots creating difficult up-and-down opportunities.”
The course is inviting and not visually intimidating. It has a nice flow through the holes and golfers enjoy the unique Low Country farmhouse ruins that are the centerpiece between holes 4, 5, 6 and 7.
The Love Course tips the scales at just over 7,000 yards. The Black tees offer you a big discount on the distance at 6,500 yards, but the more prudent for most average golfers are the White tees playing 6,100 yards, the Green at a manageable 5,600 yards, or Gold tees 5,300 yards.
While designing this course, Love used split fairways to forced golfers to make a decision as to how to attack the hole with the tee shot. Despite Myrtle Beach being just a few feet above sea level, there are several elevation changes.
In golf, it’s one thing to have a great course, designed by a great architect, but it’s vital that the course be properly maintained so that it can remain a great golfing outlet throughout the year.
Ross explained,
“We over seed the courses each fall, guests are playing on green grass year around. We use rye grass on the tees, fairways and approaches and poa trivialis on our putting surfaces. Each spring, we transition from the winter grasses to our typical Bermuda grass. We changed our greens from bent grass to Champion Bermuda in 2012 and we’ve been very happy with the performance and durability of the Champion in the summer months.”
Media critics have been big fans of The Love Course. In 2005, Golf Digest ranked it the No. 1 course in Myrtle Beach. In 2010, it was ranked by Golf.com the No. 6 public golf course in South Carolina. In 2012, Golfweek ranked The Love Course ninth on the list of “Top 15 Best You Can Play in South Carolina.” Last year Golf Magazine ranked The Love Course No. 85 among the “Top 100 Public Courses You Can Play.”
