Wild Wing Plantation is getting a comprehensive overhaul this summer.
The property’s Avocet Course is closing May 18 and is expected to reopen in mid-September after both the course and clubhouse get a makeover.
The course project is being overseen by Jeff Brauer, who designed the layout along with three-time major champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member Larry Nelson, with whom he frequently collaborated.
The 7,127-yard par-72 opened in 1993 as one of Golf Digest’s 10 Best New Courses in America, and was one of four 18-hole courses on the property that has been reduced to 27 holes with nine holes of the former Hummingbird Course also remaining.
“He was super excited that we called him back,” said Max Morgan, Founders Group International (FGI) vice president and director of agronomy. “He feels like the Avocet was his favorite course that he designed and he’s thrilled to be back working with us to help us do our renovations.”
Course owner and operator FGI has regularly brought back original designers of courses to oversee renovations in recent years as a way of maintaining the integrity of the designs.
“We usually reach out to the original architect team,” Morgan said. “That’s usually our first phone call. [The Avocet] is a very good golf course and we want it to remain like that so that’s one of the main reasons we’re bringing Jeff in there.”
The greens are being redone and expanded back to their original size, with some alterations being made to a couple severe putting surfaces, including softening the slopes on the third and fourth holes.
A depressed hollow to the front-left of the ninth hole that was once called the “Valley of Sin” is being reestablished, and a front-left pin position will be on the low portion of the two-tiered green.
TifEagle ultradwarf Bermudagrass is being installed on greens, as it has been installed over the past few years at other FGI courses including Pawleys Plantation, the King’s North Course at Myrtle Beach National, the Grande Dunes Resort Course, Long Bay Club and River Hills Golf & Country Club.
All of the bunkers are being redone with a capillary concrete base that helps them avoid being washed out, reduces maintenance, and suppresses grass and weeds from contaminating them.
Morgan said the overall cumulative size of the bunkers is being reduced from about 160,000 square feet to approximately 90,000 square feet, primarily to make them less difficult.
A large and deep bunker featuring a couple grass islands to the right of the par-3 12th green, for instance, is being reduced and softened, as is a large front greenside bunker on the par-5 seventh hole.
An overgrown area in front of the long par-4 third hole’s green will be converted into a pond. “Putting a water feature in there I think is going to look attractive and be a lot more player-friendly,” Morgan said.
The routing of the holes isn’t changing, but a new forward tee box is being built into them that will be shorter than the current 4,300-yard front red tees. It will give Wild Wing seven sets of tee boxes.
“The theory is you can always play behind you, you can always move back,” Morgan said.
Bridges and cart paths have already been recently repaired on the course off U.S. 501 in Conway.
Vegetation in the large parking lot is being cut down and manicured during the closure.
The Hummingbird nine will remain open throughout the renovation. A food truck that has been stationed on the Avocet Course will be brought to the clubhouse area to service Hummingbird players. A banquet hall in the back of the clubhouse that was renovated in 2023 is also expected to remain open throughout the summer.
Clubhouse renovation
The interior of the clubhouse is being remodeled as well and will feature a pair of golf simulators.
Both the pro shop and restaurant are being redone and the renovations are being sponsored by retail vendor Ahead, a headwear, apparel, and accessories company that also sponsored a clubhouse remodel at Long Bay Club a few years ago.
Carpet is being replaced in the pro shop and hallway that separates it from the pub & grill. New furniture, fixtures and paint are being added that will give the areas a modern look, and offices are being added.
“The word they are going with is ‘upscale casual’, so I think it will be really nice,” said Wild Wing head pro Mark Andrews.
The pro shop will be reorganized with a new counter that will be moved, large hat rack, and a seating area with lounge chairs in the shoe rack section that will feature a pair of TVs on the wall. Bathrooms are being fully redone.
The pub & grill, which will have new laminate floors, will have more of a sports bar theme and atmosphere. The bar will be rebuilt with new equipment, increase from four to six beer taps, and have new furniture and overhead lighting.
There will be three TVs behind the bar, another handful of TVs on the walls in the dining area, and two near the golf simulators in the back of the room, an area that Andrews believes will be regularly used by members and residents. Golf simulator leagues and instruction are being considered.
“We have the space and it’s going to be something awesome for the community,” Andrews said. “To break into that market is exciting. I can’t wait to see what kind of reaction we get from that.”
Andrews said it is the first major renovation of the clubhouse since the property first opened in 1990.
“It’s a complete reimagining of Wild Wing and I think it’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait,” Andrews said.
The clubhouse will close June 1, and the restaurant will remain open at times between May 18 and June 1.
The renovations at Wild Wing are the latest in the market by Founders Group International, which owns and operates 21 courses on the Grand Strand.
FGI is essentially renovating a property per year. In the past seven years, it has funded greens and bunker renovations – that often include clubhouse renovations – at the Grande Dunes Resort Course, Pawleys Plantation, King’s North Course, River Hills, Long Bay Club, Pine Lakes Country Club and Myrtlewood’s Palmetto Course, and a major bunker renovation on Myrtlewood’s PineHills Course.
Nine-hole improvements
A pair of 27-hole courses in Brunswick County, N.C., are each closing nine holes this summer for green renovations.
The Stewart nine at Thistle Golf Club in Sunset Beach is scheduled to close June 1 to complete a three-year renovation project that has included the replacing of all greens and other improvements on each nine, one at a time over three summers. The Stewart nine is expected to reopen as early as mid-September.
The Cameron nine temporarily closed in 2024 and Mackay nine closed in 2025.
The Egret nine at the 27-hole Carolina National Golf Club in Bolivia, N.C., closed on Monday, April 27 for a comprehensive bunker renovation and green reconstruction project.
The project is designed to improve drainage, overall course conditions and playability, and the Egret nine is scheduled to reopen on Aug. 31.
