Just as it’s new for most of the players this week, The Dunes Golf and Beach Club is new to the PGA Tour rules officials who will set up the course for competition each day.
Tour rules officials Mike Stiller and Mike Peterson will set the pins and tee markers each day for the $4 million Myrtle Beach Classic that tees off at 6:50 a.m. Thursday morning – Stiller has the front nine and Peterson has the back nine each round.
The Dunes Club will play to a par of 71 with the changing of the par-5 eighth hole into a 475-yard par-4, and has a listed yardage of 7,347 yards.
“I think it will show really well this week,” Peterson said of his early impressions of the venerable Robert Trent Jones design that opened in 1948.
What is the tour’s objective in setting up the course?
“I think generally speaking we’re trying to make it as challenging as possible while maintaining fairness and creating as much excitement as we can for fans,” said Stiller, who said he believes The Dunes Club allows them to achieve those objectives. “I think it’s challenging as it is. I don’t think the golf course really requires a lot of things on our end to try to do things to it to make it more challenging. We’ll just let Mother Nature do what she wants to do [with wind] and see what we get out of that.”
Dunes Club superintendent Steve Hamilton said the course can be set up to play as long as about 7,450 yards, though the varying of distances on holes by Stiller and Peterson throughout the week will likely keep the course from playing that long.
“We’ve gotten some really good comments during the practice rounds from the players,” Stiller said. “They’ve really liked the architecture of this golf course and obviously it’s in great condition. I think it’s a very interesting golf course. . . . There are a lot of nuances around here. It’s a pretty neat place.”
PGA Tour tournament official Pete Lis has been working with Hamilton for several months on the course conditions. They cut the rough at 2 inches on Tuesday and probably won’t cut it for the remainder of the week – which is fairly standard for a PGA Tour event and will give players an opportunity to make shots – and they plan to get green speeds at a quick 12.5 on the Stimpmeter for Thursday’s opening round.
The green speeds may increase slightly into Sunday through maintenance procedures such as rolling, but they’re set at that speed based on the undulations of The Dunes Club’s greens.
“We want to be as fast as we can, but once you get too fast you start losing some hole locations and you have to put them all on the very flat spots instead of having a little more slope to it,” Peterson said, “and we also have to be aware of what the wind is going to be, because if we have some gusty winds we don’t want to not be playing golf because we have balls rolling off the greens.”
Peterson said he believes The Dunes Club’s greens offer ample pin placement options – both difficult and accessible.
“I would say this has a decent amount of movement in the greens. I think this provides a lot more gentle rolling slopes,” Peterson said. “. . . To have five or six tournament hole locations I can pick and choose from is pretty good. I do like this golf course on that. It provides flexibility on what I want to do. It’s not just like those are the four spots and every time you go to the same ones.”
Stiller said the placement and difficulty of greenside bunkering, and existence of runoff areas off portions of greens will contribute to challenging pin positions.
“With the slopes it has you’ve got a lot of different options to choose from, which is actually pretty cool,” Stiller said. “There’s definitely a lot of really nice runoff areas around these green complexes, and the bunkering is great, it provides challenges where they need to be and you can get creative with hole locations, especially with what’s around the green complexes. It provides really good variety for an overall setup.”
Stiller and Peterson will intentionally vary the length of holes as well as the difficulty of pin placements.
“We move the par-3s around a lot based on providing variety, a different look, making sure they’re hitting different clubs throughout the flow of the par-3s,” Stiller said.
Peterson said there are discussions about making the 375-yard par-4 10th hole a drivable distance by moving the tees up on one of the weekend days. The hole has a pond that stretches across deep in the fairway and a very elevated green.
Altering the course
Changes to The Dunes Club in preparation of the tournament include:
_ Elevation of the first tee box with a brick wall backing.
_ Moving of the par-4 second hole’s tee box to the left and back 30 yards (onto one of the eighth hole’s tee boxes) to create more of a true dogleg left and a 485-yard hole.
_ Extension of the par-4 sixth hole’s tee box 15 yards to extend the hole to 450 yards.
_ Building of a new tee box for the eighth hole to the right behind the seventh green and away from the back of the driving range to convert the par-5 hole to a 475-yard par-4.
_ Extension of the par-4 14th hole 50 yards to extend the hole to 500 yards with a new elevated back tee box. It will be tougher for players to reach a downhill ridge in the fairway and the wind is predominantly in the face of players.
_ Planting of zoysia grass to replace Bermudagrass on all tee boxes largely to assist the health of teeing grounds in heavily shaded areas
_ Enlarging and enhancing of the practice putting green and short game practice area, addition of a new practice bunker, and extension of a net at the back of the driving range
_ Moving of the 10th tee box to the right due to the expansion of the practice putting green in front of the clubhouse.
“With this being a new site for the PGA Tour, we’re basically working with what the golf course gives us, the design itself,” Stiller said. “We have no ShotLink data to work off of, so where we’re setting tees, where we’re putting holes is using our judgment.”
Tournament particulars
_ Field: The tournament will host 132 players. The top 60 scorers and ties after the second round will make the cut to the weekend rounds.
_ Purse: The payout is $4 million and includes $720,000 to the winner.
_ FedExCup Points: The Myrtle Beach Classic is one of 36 events offering FedExCup points in the 2024 PGA Tour season and offers 300 to its winner, compared to 500 for winning a regular tour event and 700 for winning a Signature Event, such as the Wells Fargo Championship.
_ Yardage: The Dunes Club is playing as a 7,347-yard par-71 and can be stretched longer with tee marker and pin placements
_ Tee times: Begin at 6:50 a.m. Thursday and Friday and should begin about 7 a.m. on the weekend, and play should conclude between 5-6 p.m. daily.
_ Tickets: Are digital only and available through the MyrtleBeachClassic.com website. General admission grounds tickets are $35 Wednesday, $55 Thursday and Sunday, and $65 Friday and Saturday. Organizers said Tuesday that Saturday was within about 500 tickets of selling out. A weekly grounds ticket is $240. Digital tickets can also be purchased at the gate. A Club 17 shared hospitality venue ticket is $325 per day and includes beer, wine, food and non-alcoholic beverages, and a cash bar. A few private and shared hospitality tickets on 17 are available. Email Travis Galowski at travis.galowski@sportfive.com with inquiries. Up to four children ages 15 and under are admitted with a ticketed adult. Military and first responders receive free tickets Wednesday and a 25% discount on up to two daily grounds tickets Thursday-Sunday. The course is closed to the public Monday and Tuesday.
_ Public parking: Is at the site of the former Myrtle Beach Mall at 2400 Oak Street and is $15 per day, purchased in advance, or cash or credit card on site. The price is $20 without a digital ticket. That is also the location for ride sharing pick up and drop off.
_ TV: Golf Channel and Peacock will broadcast live from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Thursday and Friday, and 3-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Golf Channel says it is available in 82 million homes in the U.S. and 120 million homes worldwide.
_ Concerts: Will be held at approximately 6 p.m. Thursday and Saturday at the Ocean Lawn behind the clubhouse. The Swingin’ Medallions beach rock band will play Thursday and the husband-wife country duo Thompson Square will play Saturday. Tournament tickets get you into the shows.
_ Volunteers: Nearly all approximately 1,500 volunteer opportunities sold out within six hours with 20 states represented. The trash removal ecology committee is still accepting volunteer positions that offer several perks including food and drinks in a tent throughout a shift. Register at KeepMyrtleBeachBeautiful.com.
_ Merchandise: Tournament and Dunes Club logoed items will be sold in the clubhouse pro shop and a tent in the Fan Zone.
_ Etiquette: Cell phones should be off or on vibrate at all times, and prohibited items include non-clear bags larger than 6×6 inches, clear bags larger than 12x6x12 inches, and items such as umbrella sleeves, folding chair bags and binocular cases, though the umbrellas, chairs and binoculars are allowed. See a list of allowed and prohibited items here.
