A Myrtle Beach Institution: Why King’s North Should be a Fixture on Your Golf Trip

Highlighted by the “The Gambler,” a par 5 featuring an alternate island fairway, King’s North is one of Myrtle Beach’s most recognizable layouts.

With the level of familiarity King’s North enjoys can come the idea that you’ve been there, done that in a market with as many choices as Myrtle Beach provides. Don’t make that mistake on the area’s most popular Arnold Palmer design.

If the fact King’s North is a top 10 Myrtle Beach course and one of South Carolina’s best isn’t enough impetus to play, here are five reasons a return to the course should be part of your golf trip.

– Whether it’s the island green 12th hole with its “SC” bunkers or the par 4 18th, which has more than 40 traps, King’s North never fails to inspire discussion. ThereKing's North at Myrtle Beach National Golf Club are opportunities for eagle and holes you will be holding on for dear life. Golfers get to experience a little bit of everything and that’s a big part of the course’s appeal

– In golf, difficulty is often associated with quality, but King’s North is a high-level layout that gives players a chance to score. That’s not to say the course is easy, but it is very fair. This isn’t place golfers complain about being “unlucky” at.

– The par 5 No. 6 (AKA The Gambler) is one of Myrtle Beach’s most famed risk-reward holes but it may not be the toughest decision players have to make. The 319-yard (all distances from white tees), par 4 third hole demands players decide how aggressive they want to be off the tee. Every tee shot has to carry a lake and players that take an aggressive line have just 260 yards to the green, but there is little margin for error as water, pine trees or a waste bunker await shots struck anything less than perfectly. A waste bunker that dissects the fairway complicates the tee shot for those inclined to play conservatively. That bunker is a no-man’s land; you either take an aggressive swing at the green or layup 120 yards back to avoid the sand. It’s a great risk-reward hole and it’s a decision every player must confront.

– If you want to go low at King’s North, you have to survive holes 13, 14 and 15, a pair of meaty par 4s followed by a par 5 that is the course’s No. 1 handicap hole. If you can draw the ball off the tee, holes 13 and 14, both dogleg lefts, will play a little easier. The 14th is 384 yards on the scorecard, but it could play much longer, especially if your tee shot drifts right, and you may have to carry pine trees, water and sand on the approach. The draw that will serve you so well on the two previous holes, could take your ball OB on the 15th, a 487-yard par 5. There is a waste bunker and woods along the left side and you don’t want to be near of them. Survive this three-hole stretch and a great finish could await.

– Last but certainly not least, golf is supposed to be fun and it’s a blast to play King’s North. The combination of risk-reward holes, the challenge and the memorable visuals Palmer created have made King’s North a course you want to return to annually

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