You never hear Litchfield Country Club, one of the oldest layouts of the 100+ in the Myrtle Beach area, mentioned in the same sentence as Caledonia, True Blue, Pawleys Plantation, Heritage or most of its other neighbor courses on the south end of the Grand Strand. Willard Byrd, Litchfield's designer, was regarded well enough to be hired dozens of times to create layouts that were not too challenging to interrupt the relaxation vibe for those many players on vacation in the area. But Litchfield can be deceptively challenging, especially if you play the course from tee boxes that leave you a middle iron, rather than a short one, into the modestly sized and fairly well protected greens.
        Two reasons compelled me to play Litchfield this past Thursday. First, it had just been named Golf Course of the Year by Myrtle Beach's golf club owners association, a nod, it seems, to the club's 50th anniversary year but still putting it in company with the above noted layouts, most of them past winners of the award. Second, Litchfield is one of the 22 local courses owned by Founders Group International, a China-based company that owns Pawleys Plantation Country Club, where I have been a member for 16 years. My membership provides me with discounted play at all other Founders clubs, including Grande Dunes, TPC Myrtle Beach, Willbrook Plantation and the River Club. My round at Litchfield was priced at just $33, cart included. I hadn't played the course in more than 20 years and thought I might engage in a little nostalgia with one of the original five in the Myrtle Beach area.

It isn't until the finishing hole at Litchfield Country Club that water is in play in front of a green.

        Perhaps on a high from the recent award or well trained in the arts of customer service, the greetings at the bag drop and in the pro shop on a slow day -- I was the first tee time of the afternoon -- could not have been friendlier, the gentleman at the bag drop walking swiftly to meet me at the trunk of my car and grab my clubs ("What a beautiful day it is," he chortled) and the young man in the pro shop seeming genuinely happy to see me. I referenced the Travelers Championship that was playing on the television in the shop and told him I was from the Hartford area, and that I thought the tournament site, TPC River Highlands, was one of the most fun golf courses I have played. He shared that a former girlfriend's father was a member of TPC, but "I broke up with her before I could get on," he laughed.
        The starter, sitting in his cart beside the practice green, didn't seem happy to see anybody, probably because of hours of heat and humidity, but he did invite me to head to the first tee 15 minutes before my scheduled time. For five holes, I flew around the front nine but I caught the foursome of ladies in front of me on the sixth hole. After they departed, I played the back nine in 1 1/2 hours, even with frequent picture taking; I finished the entire round in under 3 1/2 hours, a blessing in the steamy heat.

The majority of par 4s at Litchfield are doglegs, including the 363 yard par 4 6th hole.

         Turf conditions were excellent, nice to see since Litchfield's reputation in recent years has been mediocre at best. I am sure the quality of the grass had something to do with its recent course of the year award, although the greens were almost painfully slow. The predominant features of the layout at Litchfield, though, are the almost universal doglegs on par 4s. It seems that designer Byrd was faced with a number of small lakes and ponds and, probably, instructions from the developers of the surrounding community not to make the course too penal. Therefore, in almost all cases but two, water is more ornamental than integrated into play. One exception is the par 4 18th, a finishing hole of modest length -- 386 yards from the white tees I played (total 6,300 yards) -- with water directly in front of the green. (Helpfully, especially for first timers at Litchfield, the edges of all ponds feature a checkered flag as a warning.). The only other instance of a true water hazard was at the sixth hole, where a pushed approach shot to the 363-yard par 4 can bound off a slope and into a pond right of the green. (I complied by pushing my approach shot off the bank and into the water.)
        Those lakes also may have forced Mr. Byrd to route all the longer holes, and a few short ones, around them. Four of the first six holes are doglegs, some of them severe. I thought I hit a nice drive down the right side on #2, bounding over a mogul at the corner. But the ball became stuck in the Bermuda rough, and when I attempted to hit a low hybrid shot below the live oak tree in front of me, I lofted the shot and it never came down out of the sprawling tree. Even one of the par three holes seemed to bend a little, necessitating the slight shaping of the tee shot.
        One thing I found a bit off-putting about Litchfield was the scorecard's handicap assignments to the holes. This classic course follows the classic, but outmoded, habit of assigning the toughest hole designations not by degree of difficulty but by length. Thus, the three toughest holes are all par 5s, all 500 yards or shorter, not the toughest holes on the course and, with two decent shots, leaving relatively easy birdie possibilities. Those designations belie the overall course rating -- 70.6 -- and slope of 128, making the Litchfield layout seem a bit out of line with what those numbers suggest.
        But, then again, Litchfield Country Club will not put you in a bad mood, whether you are on vacation in the area or one of the many members who live in the surrounding community.  Mission accomplished, for designer and player.
        Note: Founders Group International's 22 courses are located in some of the best known golf communities on the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach, from Long Bay and Aberdeen Golf Clubs close to the North Carolina border to Founders Club in Pawleys Island. If you would like information on real estate in any of these communities or an overview of real estate opportunities in the Myrtle Beach area, please contact me. There is never a fee or obligation for my advice.

        From my perch at Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC, site of my family's vacation home, it appears the entire Myrtle Beach market has (finally) begun to rise again. Whipsawed by the 2008 recession that has lasted more than seven years, the real estate market along the almost 90-mile stretch known as the Grand Strand is showing strong signs of life.
        First, close to home, the dozen or so condos inside Pawleys Plantation that were priced from $129,000 to $200,000 just a year ago are gone; the lowest priced condos stretched along the 12th hole on the Jack Nicklaus golf course now start at $219,000. They are pretty standard 2 bedroom, 2 bath units just a one-minute walk to the marsh that looks out toward the homes a 1/2 mile away on the island itself, and about a five minute walk to the clubhouse and first tee of the golf course. These were priced below $200,000 when I visited earlier this year.
TPC of Myrtle Beach, designed by Tom Fazio, is one of the 22 courses available at deep discount via the Prime Times Signature Card.
        An increase of activity in the condo market at Pawleys Plantation is reflected in the overall market numbers for Myrtle Beach as reported recently by the Coastal Carolina Association of Realtors. The organization's June report showed that sales of condos in Myrtle Beach were up more than 22% over the last year, and that the number of days those condos were on the market was down more than 15%. However, prices in the Myrtle Beach area actually decreased by a little under 2% in the 2015 to 2016 time period which implies strength inside Pawleys Plantation (happy news for condo owners there like me). The south end of the Grand Strand, from Murrells Inlet down to Georgetown, does not have the traffic problems of the Myrtle and North Myrtle Beach areas but does have plenty of access to shopping, excellent restaurants and that wonderful city of Charleston, just an hour away. That, and arguably the best golf courses of the 100 in the Myrtle

Beach area, accounts for the Pawleys Island area's popularity. Condos are a perfect investment for family vacations and provide a relatively inexpensive way to both have a good time and learn whether you might, at a later date, want to put down more permanent roots in the area. Pawleys Plantation, for example, is one of those golf communities with a balance of multi-unit condominiums (townhouses, some like to call them) and single-family homes, 900 dwellings in all. Only two holes -- the 11th and 15th -- are lined with condos and they are well enough beyond the field of play that one would have to try to hit them off the tees. Single-family homes are priced from around $300,000 for patio homes, typically 3 bedroom dwellings sited on a quarter acre or less.
The beach on Pawleys Island, just three minutes from Highway 17, is clean and wide, a perfect place to wait for a family member to come back from some of the area's great golf courses.
        One other important feature about Pawleys Island and Myrtle Beach in general: A club membership is not necessary for a rich and happy golf life. There is still so much competition among the area's golf courses that prices are reasonable and many affinity memberships are available to those who like to play many different golf courses. For example, sign up for Prime Times Signature Card for $225 and you gain access to 22 golf courses in the Myrtle Beach area, with green fees discounted as much as 70% from the standard rates. If you play, say, just once a week throughout the year, you more than make your money back. The roster of courses, by the way, are among the best on the Strand and include Pawleys Plantation, Founders Club, TPC of Myrtle Beach, River Club and Litchfield Country Club, which was named this week Golf Course of the Year in Myrtle Beach by the area's golf club owners association.
        For those who are content playing repeatedly two of the best public golf courses in the east, let alone the Myrtle Beach area, the group that owns Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and True Blue Golf Club offer an annual membership with no initiation fees and dues of $1,900 per year. For courses that, in the high season, charge as much as $180 per round, the math (and savings) is easy.
        I am in Pawleys Island for the next couple of weeks and would be happy to answer any questions or check out any properties for those interested in a great place for a vacation or permanent home.  (Contact me here.)  And if you are planning a visit, I'd be pleased to make golf course and restaurant recommendations. There are plenty to choose.