Show Aired 3/23/19

Golf Shop Radio:              This segments brought to you by MyrtleBeachGolfTrips.com. Planning a golf trip to Myrtle Beach, visit MyrtleBeachGolfTrips.com. Tee time specials, lodging, reviews, all the info for one to 100, go to MyrtleBeachGolfTrips.com and use the promo code Golf Shop Radio.

Golf Shop Radio:              Speaking of Myrtle Beach Mattie B, it’s time to check in with Meredith from Myrtle Beach. Meredith Kirk, how you doing this morning?

Meredith:                           I am doing fantastic. It’s a beautiful day in Myrtle Beach.

Golf Shop Radio:              It’s about time right. We’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting. I think spring and warm temperatures and no rain is finally upon us isn’t it?

Meredith:                           I know, it feels like it’s been a little bit like Seattle at the beach the past couple of months. But everything’s drying out and man it’s so nice here right now. I love it, I wish it could stay like this just indefinitely.

Golf Shop Radio:              Yeah, what’s your ideal temperature to go play golf? ‘Cause for me, I’m the hazy, hot and humid person. It can be 95, just people are miserable and I’m like, give me my carry bag and I’m gonna go walk 18 holes.

Meredith:                           You know I think I’m kind of like that as well. As long as it’s late in the day. In the summer I love to play late in the day. But ideally I would say 75, not too much humidity. That would be the ideal perfect golf day. But you know what, I don’t really mind the humidity as well. Any time that I can get out on the course, I’m a happy camper.

Golf Shop Radio:              Yeah, so are we gonna focus on a few courses today down in the Myrtle Beach area.

Meredith:                           Yes, I wanted to highlight two great courses that are in the heart of Myrtle Beach. These are the courses that I tell people if you’re coming to Myrtle Beach, you gotta start with these course first. Because they’re centrally located, right near the airport, in the heart of Myrtle Beach, close to all the great nightlife. These courses are Pine Lakes Country Club and MyrtleWood.

These courses are Pine Lakes Country Club and Myrtlewood.

Golf Shop Radio:              All right, so give us a little feel for how these courses play if our listeners out there are going, okay, I’m gonna take Meredith’s advice. But which one do I wanna play first and what does each one of them have to offer?

Meredith:                           Okay, so the first one that I would play first would definitely be Pine Lakes Country Club. That is the granddaddy of golf courses in Myrtle Beach. It is the first golf course in Myrtle Beach. It was established in 1927. So you have almost 100 years of golf history, that is so cool. So I love to learn about golf history, and you’ll definitely find it at Pine Lakes.

Meredith:                           So when you arrive there, it’s a very traditional golf course. Don’t be surprised if you see the bag attendants in knickers and kilts. Yes, they have completely revised their roots there, which is super cool. In the winter time you can get clam chowder, then in the spring and summer you can get mimosas.

Meredith:                           Also, you can take a walk down golf history lane here at Myrtle Beach because they have the Golf Hall of Fame. Inside the clubhouse it’s amazing, so much history on the walls. You can enjoy your mimosa while you learn about golf history here in Myrtle Beach.

Meredith:                           So I always tell people start at Pine Lakes Country Club because you really get a gist of that traditional golf in Myrtle Beach, you get the history. Now the course itself is amazing. I love Pine Lakes, it’s player friendly, it’s not too long, very traditional style. You can actually see on every hole at Pine Lakes, you can see the clubhouse. I mean how cool is that.

Golf Shop Radio:              I love courses like that. Meredith the first time I ever played was in the wintertime, and the clam chowder. I think on another hole there was hot chocolate and the kilts and all that kind of thing. What a great ambience for golf. It was a cold day in February, we did a guys’ trip down there and Pine Lakes, it was our first course. But that’s a treat. I’m an old style golf course kind of guy, so I love that place.

Meredith:                           Yes, it is fantastic. So again, I always encourage people, start at Pine Lakes, because it will really get you in that golf spirit when you come to play golf here in Myrtle Beach.

Golf Shop Radio:              All right, so then on to Myrtlewood, what have we got there?

Meredith:                           Okay, I love Myrtlewood. In fact, when I was a little girl, I grew up in Colorado playing competitive junior golf. I would come to Myrtle Beach and visit my grandparents who had retired here. My grandfather would actually take me to Myrtle Wood. So I have a lot of memories playing golf at Myrtle Wood as a young girl. It is located actually probably within about a mile or two of Pine Lakes Country Club. So you can hit both of these courses.

Meredith:                           It’s actually a 36 hole facility. So you have the option of playing Pine Hills or Palmetto. Each course is slightly different, which makes it a lot of fun. You can actually arrive at Myrtle Wood in the morning and you can spend your entire day playing all 36 holes and have a fantastic day.

Meredith:                           They also have a wonderful restaurant inside that overlooks the intercostal waterway, and it is gorgeous. I always tell people if you’re going to Myrtle Wood, plan on spending the entire day and hit both the courses ’cause each one is unique.

Golf Shop Radio:              And I think we’re also giving a little extra today. If you use the Golf Shop Radio promotion code, you get an extra $5 per player, per round when booked on MyrtleBeachGolfTrips.com.

Meredith:                           Awesome, I’m loving that. You definitely gotta head out to Myrtlewood. Also, I wanna mention that PineHills there, they recently renovated their greens last summer, so they have new greens. That course is just in fantastic shape, love Pine Hills. Also Palmetto, if you like to have the waterway views, you’re gonna have a lot of them at Palmetto.

Meredith:                           So I love seeing the intercostal waterway, the finishing hole, number 18 is amazing. In fact, I don’t wanna tell the listeners too much about number 18, because they need to get out there and play it and see it for themselves.

Golf Shop Radio:              That’s awesome. When you go out to the MyrtleBeachGolfTrips.com, there’s a little section called golf packages. I just wanna let everybody know. You’ve got things like golf anywhere at the beach and stay at the Doubletree. Two rounds southern special at the Doubletree. Flex stay and play package, platinum stay and play experience and the players’ choice. All area courses at the lowest daily pricing.

Golf Shop Radio:              So there’s a lot of good packages out there, there’s a lot of golf. Man how many golf courses are on the site?

Meredith:                           Oh, probably over 80 I believe.

Golf Shop Radio:              Yeah, I was scrolling through and I was like, okay, they’re in alphabet, thank god they’re in alphabetical order. You can just sit there and keep on scrolling and I’m like whoa, that was like a 50 scrolls to get to the bottom of that thing.

Golf Shop Radio:              So everything’s out there, great prices across it. River Hills $45, Pine Lakes is $68 right now.

Meredith:                           That’s awesome.

Golf Shop Radio:              So great deals to be had out there and a great opportunity to go play. At the same time, we can get some lessons from you, right?

Meredith:                           Absolutely, I’m always available for lessons as well.

Golf Shop Radio:              Now where do you do your lessons at? Do you travel around, or do you do it at a specific place?

Meredith:                           There are times that I travel around if I have certain students coming in from different locations. But primarily, I teach at Indian Wells Golf Club, it’s at Murrells Inlet.

Golf Shop Radio:              That sounds like fun. So these days, give me a feel for what are lesson prices. I grew up as the son of a club pro, so I never had to pay for lessons.

Meredith:                           Well, so my lesson rates are pretty low. I’ll tell you this, I love teaching the game. I’m very passionate about teaching the game. I’ve been teaching for over 20 years. I love introducing people to the game of golf. So if somebody calls me for a golf lesson, I’m pretty flexible.

Meredith:                           My starting rates are $75 an hour. I also have packages where you can get three lessons for $180. I try to keep my rates lower because I truly love what I do. Again, if I have the opportunity to introduce someone to this amazing game.

Meredith:                           Golf is a game of a lifetime. So really it’s a privilege and an honor to introduce people to this game. I’m pretty flexible, I love what I do. I just can’t imagine my life without playing golf and being out there on the course.

Golf Shop Radio:              Meredith, teaching pros have a lot of different methodologies to which how they go about teaching the game. What kind of age do you use in some of your teaching for the- [crosstalk 00:08:45]

Meredith:                           You’re talking about like teaching age?

Golf Shop Radio:              Yeah, for the beginner basically is what I’m asking?

Meredith:                           Oh okay, all right for a beginner, I keep it very simple. My teaching philosophy, I’m very rooted in the fundamentals of the game and I teach that. If there are issues in your swing, they’re always connected back to the fundamental. So really if I have a new golfer that comes to me and we’re doing that beginner lesson, two tools. I say tools for my teaching aids that I use are the alignment sticks. I also use video analysis, but I don’t go too deep into that with the beginner golfer.

Meredith:                           Most people are very visual, and so sometimes when I record a video, we can be out on the range, and I’ll say do you see what I’m talking about, because a player can’t see their swing. So actually seeing it they’re like, yeah, I see what my hands are doing or I see that I’m not making a shoulder turn.

Meredith:                           So when it comes to video analysis, I like to keep it short and sweet. Not over analyze it, which could be a temptation for many instructors. But really sticking to the basic fundamentals. What is your target. What is that intention, aims, alignment, the addressed position, get in the athletic position. Having teaching aids or tools such as alignment sticks, those are the best aids for a beginner golfer. ‘Cause you wanna make sure that you are in a nice addressed position at set up, you’re hitting all the fundamentals.

Golf Shop Radio:              Well I always heard if it comes down to grip, stance and alignment, usually that’s what it comes down to.

Meredith:                           Yes, absolutely.

Golf Shop Radio:              So, well Meredith, we appreciate you being with us, we’ll talk to you next week.