After my visit to Myrtle Beach, I've decided to review a real course at Myrtle Beach. I have played this course before, but it was about 2000 or 2001.
Tidewater GC and Plantation was released by Chuck Gunsaullus (Chuck G) on November 16, 2003. The course is a par 72 and plays around 7,270 yards. Here are the course notes:
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Tidewater Golf Club and Plantation
A golf course designed by Ken Tomlinson
Faithfully recreated for PGA2000 by Chuck Gunsaullus
“Tidewater Golf Club is one of the finest and most spectacular courses on the East Coast.” Hale Irwin
In March of 2001, I went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with 11 other gentlemen to play golf and do other mostly-legal things. We played 6 ½ rounds of golf in 4 days with the last round starting at 7:02 am on the tenth tee of Tidewater Golf Club and Plantation. To be perfectly honest, I actually did not even want to play that day. I had played very poorly all week, and was up until 3am the night before doing mostly-legal things with my compatriots. When I awoke at 5am to pack and leave for the golf course (a 45 minute ride from the beach hous,e we rented) I was not exactly in a “let’s have a good round of golf” state of mind. Needless to say the tenth hole did not change much.
I hit a 4 iron off the tee into the middle of the fairway (with a 14 handicap, I was not playing from the tips), then proceeded to do my best Tin Cup imitation by hitting three consecutive balls with a pitching wedge into the water. The fourth (this time with a 9 iron) came to rest 8 inches from the cup and I dutifully tapped in for a 9. I then double bogeyed the 11th hole and got a spectacular quadruple-bogey 7 on the 12th (2 balls into the marsh helped). All along however, I could not help but notice what a beautiful golf course this was. After carding a heartbreaking 52 on the front nine, I buckled down (after taking about 7 Advil and 4 cups of coffee thus eliminating my man-sized hangover) and shot a respectable 42 on the back which included a nice birdie 2 on the 9th (my 18th) hole. All in all, I played the first three holes +11 and the remaining fifteen holes +11.
After finishing the round and meeting the rest of my motley crew in the clubhouse restaurant, we all agreed that Tidewater might very well be the best golf course we had ever played. The condition of the course was first rate. The greens rolled very true and, we were told, were at about 11 on the stemp-meter (for those not familiar, that’s really fast. The US Open greens usually run around 12-13). The scenery was absolutely stunning, with 3 holes along the intercoastal waterway, and another 4 holes along the marsh that separates the mainland from the beach area.
After the trip, I happened to be doing some reading and found out that Tidewater ranks 39th in Golf Magazine’s best courses open to public play in the WORLD, not just the US. That makes it one of only two of these courses I have played (the other being Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico).
That said, I have been thinking of doing a real course rendition for some time for PGA2K but never could come up with a course that (a) was feasible given the tools of the course architect and (b) was a course I knew well enough to recreate. While cleaning out my desk one day, I came across the yardage book for Tidewater and thought, “gee, this might work.” I studied the book and got some overhead photos from TerraServer.com and Mapquest.com and decided that this course would not only work, but also work well.
One of the interesting things I noticed while doing this design is that the features of the course are very flat. “The natural terrain is like the gentle rolling motion of a fairly calm sea. Abrupt mounds do not belong in this picture and will not be seen at Tidewater.” – Ken Tomlinson in the preface to the yardage book. This is very true. There are some very subtle mounds here and there but nothing at all “Pete Dye” like. I resisted the temptation to add any elevation that was not indicated in my materials, and believe me, it was tough. The finished product is, some might say, a little boring, but I find the simplicity of the terrain to be one of the charming aspects of this course.
Here are some things to know about its construction and playability:
I have used 5 libraries for the course. They are Bethpage by Bruce Strober for the textures and grass objects, Bullock Run by Ken McHale for the trees, houses, and tee markers, Harbortown1 by Frank Roarda for the trees, HeadgateV2 for the bunkers and houses, and finally Yarra Yarra by Philip Lothian for the trees.
I primarily used the yardage book for layout of the course. The area is in a tidal basin and thus is very flat, but I did use some topo maps provided by USGS. The yardage book provided all necessary data to make the yardages accurate as well as the shapes.
The course plays very closely to real life. The yardages are pretty true, as is the terrain. I used my experience playing the course and photos I took during my round as additional material to recreate the course.
The greens here are huge. The yardage book provides the dimensions of the greens and they are larger than just about any course I have seen from PGA2K.
I did cheat a little when it came to the hole layout. There are several home-sites around the course that are in the process of being built. The holes at Tidewater are very spread out, thus the course uses a huge amount of acreage. I have compacted the course a little, without sacrificing the direction of the holes or any playability. I have ignored most existing homes as well as those under construction for reasons of time and file size mainly.
BEWARE the GREENS! In order to recreate the speed and look of the greens, I used the dreaded Bethpage green texture which is very fast even on ‘normal’ settings. Take caution in playing this course on ‘dry’ settings. Most of the greens slope severely from back to front, with a few that are side to side, like #9 and #18.
In terms of game-play, this course plays a bit on the easy side. The greens are tricky at first, but once mastered, not too difficult.
The holes that in my opinion are the best examples of the real course are #3, #8, #10, #16, and #18. The holes that, for whatever reason, did not quite achieve what Mr. Tomlinson did are #1, #4, #12, and #15.
Feel free to visit the website for the course at http://www.tide-water.com and judge for yourself how the course compares to the real thing.
A quick disclaimer: I did not seek nor did I obtain permission from Tidewater Golf Club and Plantation or Ken Tomlinson to recreate this golf course for the PGA2000 golf game. This course cannot be distributed in any way other than for game-play purposes and certainly not for any monetary gain whatsoever. It is my intention to introduce this course to the PGA2000 community for purposes of private or tournament play only and for no other reason. Please email me at vlasux@yahoo.com with any questions regarding its design or potential use. Thank you.
The music for this course is the Allegro section from the 2nd part of “Appalachian Spring” by Aaron Copeland. Good, wholesome American music fits in well with this course for some reason. The performance is by the Abbey Orchestra under the direction of the ever-present and back-patting Chuck Gunsaullus. It was recorded in 1997 in Mendham, NJ.
I thought long and hard about including the playing tips from the yardage book for each hole but I have decided not to in order to give you, the player, an opportunity to reach your own conclusions.
Course Information:
Gold – 7078 74.8/144
Black – 6630 72.5/139
Blue – 6164 70.2/129
White – 5097 66.0/106
Red – 4615 67.1/115
There are 96 bunkers on the course. There is no out-of bounds. The tee markers’ colors have been changed to coincide with those in the Bullock Run library.
Please bless me with constructive criticism by either posting at the “Course Reviews” forum or email at vlasux@yahoo.com. I would love to hear from anyone who knows this course, or has played it in real life. Please feel free to criticize and I will feel free to mock you for doing so. J
Thank you for playing Tidewater!
Chuck Gunsaullus 10/12/03
Additional Comments:
It has been a while since I wrote the above text. When I did write it, the course was about 80% complete and I had played it a few times. While I am overall pretty happy with the completed version, I find the course a bit too easy, and I am not as enthusiastic about the finished product as I was during the early stages of its construction. Maybe it’s because I have been around it for the last 6 months and have designed a few other courses in the meantime. This is my only real course rendition, and I see the problems this kind of design invites. Areas that I would usually add some elevation have been left untouched so as to keep this as faithful to the real course as possible. I hope you enjoy playing here, and please let me know what you think. Thanks for playing.
CG 11/15/2003
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Just a note: the course's actual website is http://www.tidewatergolf.com/
Of the very, very small number of real courses we have to offer for this game that I have actually played in real life, Tidewater is by far the most accurate and realistic. It's been a long time since I have played Tidewater, but once I stepped on the first tee (in PGA 2000) it all came back to me. One of the holes that Chuck mentioned he had problems with in his real golf round here, was the par 3 12th hole. This happens to be my favorite hole on the course, both in real life and on this recreation. It looks so much like it did when I played it, and you can see an overhead on the website I listed above:
That marshy stuff looks so much like I remember it. It's just part of the great planting by Chuck. There is alot of variety throughout the course, from holes like the 12th to holes with tight fairways surrounded by trees. This next hole is the 7th; a straight away par 4 with a narrow landing area. You can see that Chuck did a great job with the blends he chose to use, and how well the planting is.
The large amount of bunkers make the course a challenge to shoot at pins. That is only the begining of your challenge! The Bethpage green texture is what Chuck used, so please do not try 'very dry' greens unless you have an awesome short game. Having said all of that. I played long/very dry/breezy and was still able to shoot a solid round of -4, which is about average for me. Here on the short 3rd hole, you can see how nicely the bunkers look, as well as a realistic view of the Intercoastal Waterway in the background:
Chuck G is one of the better designers that PGA 2000 has to offer, and after you play Tidewater you will probably want to play some of this other courses. Luckily, Chuck has quite a few of them to offer. Here are his other 13 courses:
Aspiration Valley GL
Barnegat Bay Club
Boundary Waters GC
Destiny Ridge GC
Four Lakes Preserve
Le Vallee Du Le Juste
Point Counter Point
Schuberts Bay Golf Club
Stableford Meadows GL
The Country Club of Martin Downs
Thors Hammer 2000
Thors Hammer 2004
TPC of Egg Harbor
Oldie but Goodie: Tidewater GC and Plantation
Re: Oldie but Goodie: Tidewater GC and Plantation
Doron! I don't know if you read my thread in the season column but I just resently played Tidewater for the 1st time as the host course at the MCI Heritage instead of Harbour Town
I absolutly loved the course and it's better then Harbour Town in my opinion. The planting was top notch. The hole designs had its charms even though there was no doglegs to speak of. I think its fantastic and plays a little harder then it looks.
I absolutly loved the course and it's better then Harbour Town in my opinion. The planting was top notch. The hole designs had its charms even though there was no doglegs to speak of. I think its fantastic and plays a little harder then it looks.