Be careful making a lunch bet when playing TPC Myrtle Beach under tournament conditions.

I learned that lesson the hard way in 2023 when I shot a grisly 121 on the Tom Fazio design while attempting to break 115 from tips (7,000 yards). The course was set up for the Dustin Johnson World Junior Golf Championship – rough up, greens lightning fast, and little mercy for a bogey golfer with fragile confidence.

Three years later, I returned for another crack at it under the same conditions.

In the 1,000+ days since my last bout with TPC from the back tees, my game has improved marginally while mentally I, to put it charitably, remain frail.

But this year would be different – or so I told myself.

Steeled for the fight, I loaded up my fraying golf bag with extra Kirkland Signature balls and a handful of tees the night before. I vowed to stay positive throughout the round and avoid the impulsive theatrics that often derail my game.

I warmed up well – focusing on my 56-degree wedge, figuring I’d have plenty of shots from inside 80 yards – and headed to the tee confident that as long as I didn’t come completely unglued, I’d break 115 and win a free lunch from my nemesis Matt Daly.

The First Nine – Hope Springs Eternal
(Editor’s Note: your faithful correspondent started on No. 10 but will refer to holes in the order they were played.)

All the positive thoughts on the range deserted me in half the time it takes Patrick Cantlay to line up a putt after I pulled my second shot of the day, and it came to rest less than a foot from the base of a pine tree.

My third shot nipped the side of the tree and never made it out of the pine straw, leaving me with a shot that had to clear a bunker and hold a green that was running away from me toward the water.

Of course, I bladed the ball into the water.

I’m on the verge of coming unglued less than 10 minutes into the round.

Then something strange happened.

I took my drop, had a good lie, an uphill chip and … I holed it for double bogey 6!!

I’d set double bogey as my personal par for the round, which meant I was even after one.

The chip-in quickly returned the smile to my face. I bogeyed my third, fourth, sixth and eighth holes, and didn’t make a triple until No. 9 (TPC’s 18th hole).

I cruised to a front 9 51 that included a pair of bad three putts.

I wonder if New York Prime serves lunch?

The Back Nine – TPC Myrtle Beach’s Revenge
After a routine bogey on my 10th, a double on the 11th, and a great drive on the 12th hole (TPC’s third) that easily cleared the wetlands, I walked to my ball confident as I’d been all day.

Sure, I was beginning to tire from walking, but I’d hit my 5-wood and hybrid well all day, leaving me a short wedge to most greens. The formula was working.

This bet was as good as won!

Then I came over the top on a hybrid and pulled it left. Terrible shot that ended up in the mulch. Chunked it out and ended up making triple. No big deal.

Next tee box: snap hook that narrowly avoided going OB. I banged it around the trees once more before getting out and making another triple.

I’m okay … right?

Hit my tee shot in the water on my 14th hole, a par 3, but I hit a nice wedge from the drop area and two-putted for a needed double.

I split another fairway on the following par 5 but my previously trusty hybrid apparently didn’t make the turn with me. After squirting one in the woods, it eventually takes me multiple attempts to get out of a greenside bunker en route to a 9.

Uh oh.

After a six on the following par 3, my 16th hole of the day, the collar of my shirt was tightening, but the meltdown was far from over.

On the penultimate hole, my fourth shot – out of a bunker – goes over the green and into another trap. Three shots and two putts later a quintuple bogey nine is on my scorecard.

I need to make an 8 on the final hole, which in this case is No. 9 at TPC, the course’s most daunting challenge.

I’ll spare you the details on the hybrid I chunked into the water and skip to my fourth shot, a chip from the left side of the green. I was short sided, the rough had swallowed my ball, and the pin was at least eight feet above the spot where my ball was resting.

This was a hard shot for a good player, which if you’ve read this far, you know I am not.

I took a deep breath, made a committed swing, and for the first time in more than an hour, hit a good shot with a club other than the driver. The ball stopped 25 feet from the pin, leaving me a dicey downhill putt.

Mercifully, I had a tap-in for seven.

I shot 51-62. 113.

Never has winning a bet felt more like a loss.

TPC Myrtle Beach battered me mentally and physically.

For those scoffing at the score, yes, I suck. But under championship conditions – heavy rough, fast greens – that place is a beast.

It might be another three years before I muster the courage to try again.

Next time, the goal is 110.

Photos for this featured captured during the 2026 Dustin Johnson World Junior Championship, featured on our Instagram Account MyrtleBeachGolfTrips

(Course photos from top to bottom: 11th, 10th, 9th, 12th, 16th, 17th & 18th)