“Breaking Par with Charlie Rymer” Episode 4: Pawleys Plantation

We’re checking in at the South Strand’s “House That Jack Built”: Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club, the celebrated Jack Nicklaus design that’s getting a facelift and a redesign of several holes in 2023. One that’s remaining fundamentally unchanged is its par-5 14th, the hole where Charlie’s trying to break par this week. How will he fare?

Cancer knocked me down, but not out. Now, I’m cancer free. The recovery? It’s been tough. I’ll need patience, a lot of humor …

(You can only keep talent down for so long!)

… And support from friends and family. Over the last two years, I haven’t played much golf, but there’s no better place to get back in the game than on 66 courses in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We’re keeping score, but just teeing it up means I’ve already won!

(You’re not going to believe where this ball ended up!)

Join me on my journey to break par!

Risk-reward, here we come. If you’re long and think you can get home in two, getting it to that peninsula is key for a second shot across the marsh. And pin placement will dictate that second shot. Or you could just play it safe and take the wide route along the left side. Should we go for it or play it safe? Let’s find out!

So I’m on the 14th tee at Pawleys Plantation Golf & Country Club. This a Jack Nicklaus-designed, beautiful par five downwind today, and in honor of Mr. Nicklaus, I’m going to go with a 3 wood off the tee. Arguably, he was the best 3 wood player, among other things, in the history of the game.

This three wood also helps me a little bit. Gets a little tight on the right. If I can get this up the left-hand side, I’ll be awfully happy. Catch it wind. Oh yeah, we’re cooking with grease now!

I was trying to get that one up the left-hand side. It went up the right-hand side, but I’ll take it!

All right, so let’s see what we’ve got. Oh, I’ve got 270 to the hole. Maybe I should have gone with that driver off the tee. It’s downwind. I got all this marsh to carry. Ideally, if I can hit up there a little left of the green, I’ll have a pretty good shot of getting up and down for birdie.

I don’t know where that one went, but I got all of it! Come on, boys, let’s go find that one!

All right, so came up just a little short, but I was pretty happy with that shot. Got a basic little pitch here. I’m feeling some red numbers coming my way. I like that. Find some hole, baby! We got that.

I’ll tell you one thing that bothers me, not repairing your ball mark. Folks, you’ve got to repair your ball mark. I didn’t even have to use a tee to get that one. Like I was never there.

That puts me in the red. The Golden Bear’s got me feeling bullish! We love getting birdies on a Nicklaus course. Let’s keep the momentum going!