By Chris King
Some golf courses ask players to think their way through a round. Others ask them to survive.
True Blue Golf Club on Pawleys Island, S.C., simply asks golfers to have fun.
Since opening in 1998, True Blue has stood apart from nearly every course on the Grand Strand, providing a distinctive experience.
Big, bold and unmistakably Mike Strantz, True Blue has become one of South Carolina’s more celebrated layouts, earning a place among various Top 100 Resort Courses lists while consistently ranking among the Palmetto State’s top public golf experiences.
The first thing players notice is the scale.
Everything at True Blue is big. Fairways stretch wide across the landscape. Greens are large and undulating. Bunkers are expansive. The course occupies a former indigo plantation, and Strantz used the property’s natural scale to create a layout that feels both sprawling and surprisingly intimate.
The course opened the same year as Tobacco Road, another Strantz design that became one of the more talked-about courses in America. By that point, True Blue was the architect’s fifth design, and it showcased many of the characteristics that would come to define Strantz’s legacy: imagination, strategic options and a willingness to challenge conventional golf architecture wisdom.
While Strantz earned his iconoclastic reputation, True Blue is far more playable than many first-time visitors expect.
The generous fairways provide plenty of room off the tee, rewarding aggressive swings without demanding perfection. The massive greens offer a variety of pin positions and strategic angles, but they also make it easier for high handicappers to find the putting surface. The result is a course that can challenge accomplished players while remaining enjoyable for everyday golfers.
That balance is part of True Blue’s enduring appeal.
The routing is unique, featuring five par 3s and five par 5s. That variety keeps players engaged throughout the round, particularly during the memorable turn where back-to-back par 5s at Nos. 9 and 10 create consecutive scoring opportunities. Birdies are always within reach at True Blue, but so is the possibility of a costly mistake.
As the round progresses, the challenge subtly shifts. While sprawling waste bunkers are the primary hazard for much of the day, water is the course’s primary defense over the final three holes, providing a dramatic finish to a top 100 round of golf.
True Blue’s significance to the Myrtle Beach golf scene extends beyond its rankings. Alongside its sister course, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, it helped establish Pawleys Island – aka the Hammock Coast – as a destination within the game’s most popular travel market.
More than a quarter century after its debut, True Blue remains exactly what Strantz intended it to be: a golf course where everything is big – the fairways, the greens, the bunkers and, most importantly, the fun.
Photo Courtesy of True Blue Golf Club