True Blue Golf Club

True Blue Golf Club opened in February 1998 as Mike Strantz's fourth course design and the bold sibling to his acclaimed Caledonia Golf & Fish Club located just across the road in Pawleys Island. Where Caledonia was refined and intimate, True Blue was designed to be bigger, bolder, and more dramatic -- a full expression of Strantz's maverick design philosophy.

Strantz built the course on a former indigo and rice plantation, using the sandy Lowcountry terrain to create massive waste bunkers, heroic forced carries over marsh, and fairways stretching 60 to 90 yards wide. The greens erupt out of sand barrens in dramatic fashion. Golf Digest praised the course for its heroic scale, noting that everything at True Blue is bigger and more adventurous than conventional designs.

True Blue and Caledonia together represent perhaps the finest pair of public-access courses by a single architect anywhere in the country. Like Caledonia, True Blue stands as a lasting tribute to Strantz's artistic genius, attracting golfers from around the world to the Pawleys Island area.

True Blue is big, bold, and visually dramatic. At 7,126 yards from the championship tees with massive waste bunkers and forced marsh carries, it looks intimidating, but the 60-to-90-yard-wide fairways provide generous landing areas off the tee. The challenge is primarily visual and in the approach shots, where Strantz's creative green complexes demand precision.

The course plays through a mix of marshland, maritime forest, and sandy terrain. Multiple tee options make it playable for all skill levels, and the experience is unlike anything else on the Grand Strand. Conditioning is typically excellent.

Do not let the visual intimidation get into your head. The fairways are wider than they appear from the tee. Focus on the landing areas rather than the hazards. On approach shots, pay close attention to which side of the green the pin is located -- many greens have dramatic falloffs that make recovery difficult from the wrong side.

Play the correct tees for your ability. True Blue from the tips is a serious test, but the forward tees offer a much more enjoyable experience for mid-to-high handicappers. The waste bunkers are generally playable, so do not treat them like penalty areas.