True Blue Golf Club

If Caledonia is the composed older sibling, True Blue is the one who came back from art school with strong opinions. Mike Strantz designed both courses on adjacent properties in Pawleys Island, four years apart. Where Caledonia whispers, True Blue raises its voice. Where Caledonia guides the eye along oak-lined corridors, True Blue confronts you with vast waste areas, enormous greens, and tee shots that demand a commitment before revealing whether the decision was wise.

Strantz built True Blue in 1998 on a former indigo plantation, and the agricultural past is visible in the broad open expanses that define many holes. Sandy waste areas recall the property's coastal origins, punctuated by stands of pine and hardwood that survived the clearing.

From the back at 7,060 yards with a slope of 139, True Blue plays longer than Caledonia by over 500 yards. Par shifts from 70 to 72, and the additional yardage shows up in par 4s that stretch beyond 440. Length isn't the only difficulty. Strantz designed greens here that are among the largest and most dramatically contoured on the Grand Strand, with some surfaces exceeding 10,000 square feet and internal slopes that can redirect a ball 20 feet from where it lands.

The opening hole announces the intentions immediately: a par 4 of modest length playing from an elevated tee across a waste area to a fairway sitting below the surrounding terrain. The depth perception required to judge the approach is challenging. It's a disorienting beginning, and that's by design.

The par 3s are among the most photographed holes in the area. The 4th plays from a high tee across sandy wasteland to a green that appears to float in the landscape. The 11th is shorter but no simpler, with a green tilted away from you and fronted by a collection area that gathers anything hit with insufficient conviction. The par 5s offer the clearest scoring chances, but the strategic decisions matter. The 5th is reachable in two for longer players but defended by a deep bunker complex that makes the go-for-it play genuinely risky.

Conditioning is strong, benefiting from the same management group that operates Caledonia. The property lacks Caledonia's plantation-garden refinement, but that's the point. True Blue is intentionally raw.