King's North at Myrtle Beach National is no gamble

By Brandon Tucker,
Senior Writer

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Myrtle Beach National's famed King's North course is No. 76 on Golf Digest's list of the best public golf courses in America. (Courtesy Myrtle Beach National)

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Arnold Palmer's King's North at Myrtle Beach National has one hole that may have a bigger reputation than the entire golf course.

It's the par-5 sixth or simply "The Gambler".

In such a saturated golf market, this iconic hole is among the Grand Strand's most photographed, marketed and talked-about holes.

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If you go

King's North at Myrtle Beach National Golf Club - Resort in Myrtle Beach

4900 National Dr
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 29579

( 4 reader ratings )

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The Gambler features an island fairway cutoff that if hit, gives you a mid-iron into a shallow green that juts out into the pond. Miss the fairway or the green and, well, that's the gamble.

But King's North is much more than just one hole. Looking at the full 18, it's one of the area's prettiest, most well-conditioned golf courses, with hole variety and shot values that rank among Myrtle Beach's elite.

Palmer's design firm was commissioned for all three courses at Myrtle Beach National, which opened in 1974. But it was the 1995 redesign of King's North that elevated National to one of the area's best multicourse facilities.

"He really had the biggest stamp on King's North and the redesign," said Michael Burnside, director of golf at Myrtle Beach National. "Now, it's a totally different course than the other two, with island greens and elevation changes. It's more wide-open."

The land was heavily shaped, so the course is rarely dead-flat. Many trees were cleared mostly for circulation purposes. You can even see a few old photos in the clubhouse of the old course and see how different it was. Now the course is open and expansive, with wide fairways and no housing winding along them.

Many golfers usually play one of the club's other two courses, South Creek and the West Course, in the morning as a fitting warm-up to King's North.

King's North can play tough from the right tees. It is over 7,100 yards from the championship tees and has a slope rating of 72.6. It's rated one of the best courses for women, largely as a result of six tee boxes and two ladies tees: the usual forwards plus the "ladies championship" further back. Women aren't off the hook with approach shots over water, just like the men.

Both the first and 10th holes are similar: forgiving par-5s, with wide fairways and little trouble, so it doesn't matter where you tee off, since the course double-tees most mornings. The short par-4 third is a warm-up gamble. You can cut the dogleg left around water and a waste bunker as much as you're willing to go for it to leave as little as a pitch into a smaller elevated green.

The collection of par-3s here is another strong point. Each plays to a green guarded in front by water and none more so than the 12th, a short hole but playing entirely over water to an island green shared with two sand traps.

The long par-4 18th is a straight but hardly dull finisher. There are more than 40 bunkers lining the fairway, mostly on the left side. The fairway is shaped so that your line of sight into the green may be obstructed by mounding and you won't be able to see the pond front-right either.

King's North at Myrtle Beach National: The Verdict

The "Gambler" aside, what sets King's North apart is wide-open, nicely-shaped land that rolls and winds through tall pines, waste areas and many ponds. Like its next-door neighbor at Myrtle Beach National, the West Course, there is no housing on the property, which makes the round all that more scenic.

There are a handful of knee-knocking shots to island greens and forced carries over water. The result is plenty of memorable shots on a beautiful golf course. It easily deserves a spot in Myrtle Beach's top 10.

King's North usually costs about twice as much as the West and South Creek, but it's a poster boy for Myrtle Beach upscale resort golf and well worth it.

May 23, 2007

Brandon Tucker is a Senior Writer and Special Projects Editor for the WorldGolf.com Network, where he contributes not only golf and travel articles, but photo essays, videos and more. His golf travels have taken him across the U.S., including more than 50 Myrtle Beach-area golf courses, and to such destinations as Scotland, Wales, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany and Malaysia.

Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.