The 3 Best Holes at Prestwick Country Club

As with any Dye design, in this case the work of Pete and P.B., beauty is in the eye of the beholder. At Prestwick Country Club, the Dye brothers crafted an excellent, if underrated, course.

Prestwick Country Club enjoys the hallmarks of every Dye course, but we asked head pro Jay Smith, who loves a good challenge,  to sort through the railroad ties, pot bunkers and undulating fairways to tell us the course’s three best holes. 

Here were Smith’s best:
 

No. 5, 195-yard, par 3: A stern test, No. 5 has a winding creek that starts at the tee and turns left at the green, leaving the putting surface sandwiched between the water and mounded bunkers.

“There is not a lot of room to bailout,” Smith said. “You really need to aim to the right side of the green and hope you hit it there. Left is pretty much dead.”

Take a deep breath, trust your swing, and do not go left!

No. 9, 537-yard, par 5: One of the Grand Strand’s best par 5s, the ninth follows the contours of a lake that runs from tee to green. The man with the diving contract for the lake collects plenty of golf balls but the hole’s most substantial trouble is on and around the green.

Whatever you do, don’t go long. Prestwick’s most feared bunker, a 20-foot deep, double bogey-maker is behind the ninth green. 

No. 14, 451-yard, par 4: While Smith loves Prestwick Country Club’s 14th hole, the average golfer will be happy to survive it. Dye designed the hole to play into the prevailing wind coming off the Atlantic so it plays even longer than the yardage suggests.

Throw in an elevated green and you have the recipe for a challenge. Sometimes it’s necessary to take your medicine on the 14 and move on.

“If I make a five there I don’t feel bad,” Smith said. “Because I know I can go to 15 and make a birdie. You can take a big number on (14).”

How do your favorite holes at Prestwick Country Club compare with Smith’s?