Part 2
The East Course there just reopened after a major renovation, including the restructuring of the greens.

The Pearl East

The West Course wanders through the pines and out to the marshes, with bent grass greens that putt smooth as glass. The West has three par 5s on the back nine, each more beautiful and memorable than the one before, and the thirteenth hole is a picturesque par-3 reminiscent of some of MacKenzie's best work at Royal Melbourne in Australia.


The Pearl West

There are two more memorable courses at Angel's Trace. The North Course boasts a tremendously diverse topography and hole design, with two signature par-4s over water to great green settings.
The South Course has two tremendous holes that are separated by a large lake inhabited by an alligator whose belly might be full of hooked balls.
These two holes are truly sensational, but bring your anti-hook thoughts because you don't want to shut the face of the club.

Ocean Isle Golf Course is a shot maker's delight, designed by Russell Breeden, an excellent architect who loved working near the sea. It features small elevated greens that challenge short iron shots or the second shots on par-5s for the long hitters wanting to try to putt for eagle. These five courses are all within six or seven minutes of your oceanfront accomodations at the Islander Inn on Ocean Isle Beach.

At the other end of the county, you can take a ferry to Bald Head Island, where there are no cars and everybody gets around on foot, bicycle or in a golf cart. The golf course is a George Cobb design that fits into the spectacular landscape and you'll survey the ocean from atop massive dunes. Right in the city of Shallotte, yet at the edge of a magnificent salt marsh, is the new River's Edge. The ninth hole green site is a small spit of land sticking eighty yards out into the marsh. The width of the piece of land is the width of the green, in other words, miss the green and it's bye-bye ball. This is a short par-5, and the long hitters are faced with a challenge of about 215 yards of carry to a green that might be forty feet wide if they decide to go for it. It is one of the more beautiful and frightening shots on the planet. For another type of course, you can try the Thistle Golf Club in Sunset Beach, the southern end of the county. The Thistle is a true links-style layout that might not have a tree on it. It looks wild and Scottish, and the windy days are (more) (less) fun. At the South Carolina border lie two more breathtaking gems of design, Ocean Harbour Club and Marsh Harbour. Ocean Harbor gives you panoramic views of the ocean, the Intracoastal, the marshes and Calabash Cove with its gorgeous and rustic fishing and sailing boats. The scenery is so good, you almost forget the golf. Marsh Harbour pioneered the upscale course business in Brunswick County when it opened it 1980. The seventeenth hole is so beautiful that it makes the whole round special. Sea Trail, which boasts a brand new Convention Center that can seat 1,000 for dinner, has three courses designed by Dan Maples (who's done many of the courses in the area), Rees Jones and Willard Byrd, a lesser-known but excellent architect, whose best work can be seen here and at Lion's Paw, another Brunswick County layout. There are many other wonderful courses to play, with new ones being added all the time. The newest is Crow Creek, just opened in February, and it plays through some lovely hardwood forest areas.

Wherever you decide to play or stay, there is a golf packaging agency that specializes in Brunswick County that I can recommend because they truly know the area and offer the best deals on the Grand Strand. Called Fore-Travel, they can be found at the website of that name on the Internet, as well as by calling 1-800-800-1103. They can also book golf games and stays for you down south in the Myrtle Beach area, but I strongly suggest you try Ocean Isle Beach as a place to dwell and Brunswick County as the place(s) to play. If you need pottery or the outlet mall, or nightlife in the Myrtle Beach style, you're a very short drive away or you hire a cab (actually a van) to take you there, pick you up and bring you home to your peace and quiet at a very reasonable rate (about $32 total roundtrip - $8 apiece for four people). If you're a family or a husband/wife combination or group, you'll find the uncrowded beauty of Brunswick County a wonderful experience. And the sun will rise and set in the same sea.

Parker Smith
Former Senior Editor GOLF Magazine
(Reprint of article about Golf in Brunswick County)