Video Spotlight: Founders Club at Pawleys Island
The former Sea Gull Golf Club was redesigned by Thomas Walker just over a decade ago, and 12 years later Founders Club at Pawleys Island continues to provide a fresh look to the Lowcountry golf experience. Join us on a dramatic video tour of this dynamic layout.
Pawleys Island and its surrounding areas along the Grand Strand’s southern shores are well known for their Lowcountry charm, sweeping vistas of salt marshland, warm hospitality and seasonably warm weather for enjoying the outdoors on a year-round basis.
And Founders Club at Pawleys Island contributes greatly to this region’s charm, with a rich local history going back more than five decades as one of the first four golf courses to come to life in the Myrtle Beach area.
As with most classic designs, Founders Club at Pawleys Island has evolve over the years, including a 2008 redesign and renovation by noted golf course architect Thomas Walker. His efforts brought back natural sandy areas throughout the course that are indigenous to the Southeast coastal region, helping to frame beautiful visuals against a dramatic backdrop of tall, long-leaf pines and centuries-old oaks.
Dramatic shadowing throughout this design is produced by strategic mounding amid the property’s natural setting, and it’s at its most notable during early-morning and late-afternoon rounds. Nowhere at Founders Club is this more evident than at Holes No. 14 and 15. The 14th plays as a dogleg right that produces a steady climb from the fairway to an elevated, narrow green protected by surrounding sandy waste area. The tee shot at No. 15 must steer clear of a long, encroaching finger bunker that longer players may try to carry for a short-iron approach to a small green.
Founders Club’s sandy waste areas draw frequent comparisons to the recent work done at world-renowned Pinehurst #2 that met with widespread critical acclaim from tour pros, historians and golf experts alike in media coverage of the 2014 U.S. Open.
Founders Club at Pawleys Island was touted by the Myrtle Beach Golf Course Owners Association as its 2011 Golf Course of the Year, and provides a memorable coastal-feel playing experience. Come see it for yourself, in a short drive just 15 minutes south of Myrtle Beach in Pawleys Island, South Carolina!
