My Golf Spy

My Golf Spy
My Golf Spy Forums

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Tiger's Eye


FACT SHEET
Tiger’s Eye® Golf Links

• Tiger’s Eye® Golf Links, one of Ocean Ridge Plantation’s crown jewels, is an
upscale daily-fee 18-hole golf course carved from a virgin pine and hardwood
forest in Sunset Beach, N.C.

• Designed by golf course architect and land planner Tim Cate, Tiger’s Eye is
one of four championship layouts at Ocean Ridge Plantation® — Panther’s
Run®, Cate’s first solo effort, Lion’s Paw® and the newly opened Leopard’s
Chase®.

• Tiger's Eye has been recognized by several national golf publications as being
among the best in the country. The course is currently ranked Number 73 on
Golf Digest’s “Top 100 Public Golf Courses in America”. It is also Number 3
on Golf Digest's list of "Top 50 Courses in Myrtle Beach" and has earned 4 1/2
stars in their prestigious Places to Play 2006-2007 rankings. Tiger's Eye was
also ranked No. 6 in North Carolina by Golfweek magazine.

• Cate took advantage of the land’s setting, giving each hole its own unique
personality.

• The varying challenges of the greens mirror the classic look and feel of
Pinehurst. The generous, undulated, fast-paced greens, which resemble
warped plywood, yield numerous pin placements that are obscured from
view and guarded by water and/or sand hazards.
• The mature long leaf pine groves also add to the Pinehurst look of Tiger’s
Eye, but the mature, dense hardwood forest that lines the fairways and
encircles the greens remind golfers that they’re in the Lowcountry.

• Tiger’s Eye exemplifies Cate’s unique design philosophy, which focuses on
accenting the natural features of the land. Cate took great care to make his
work look as though it’s nature’s own design.

Tiger’s Eye Fact Sheet — page 2

• The cost to build the Tiger’s Eye facility — clubhouse and course — was
nearly $10 million.

• Distinguished by dramatic elevation changes reminiscent of the North
Carolina sand hills and a stunning combination of natural waste areas, native
grasses, wild flowers, pine and oak trees and 40 acres of water features—
including a preserved Carolina Bay and a coquina-bouldered waterfall —
Tiger’s Eye is a thinking-man’s course requiring precise shotmaking and an
experienced, creative shortgame.

• Several holes and lakes on Tiger’s Eye are framed by mammoth, native
coquina boulders, which were mined on the original plantation and at a
nearby commercial mine.

• More than a half-mile of coquina boulders, weighing an average of four tons
each, were used to erect bulkheads throughout Tiger’s Eye. More than 35,000
tons — or 72 million pounds — of coquina boulders were used on the course.

• Many of the coquina boulders were native to the plantation’s irrigation
ponds, while the remaining boulders came from a nearby commercial mine.
The boulders came from different layers of the earth, with some having
shark’s teeth, million-year-old mastodon teeth, shells and other sentiments
encased in them.

• Tiger’s Eye measures 7,010 yards from the championship tees; 6,628 yards
from the blue tees; 6,115 yards from the white tees; 5,328 yards from the gold
tees; and 4,640 yards from the red tees. Par is 72.

• The front nine of Tiger’s Eye features five holes that require golfers to carry
water and three holes where waste areas are routed around oak trees and
come into play off the tee. The back nine features the most dramatic elevation
changes on the course, five more holes where water must be carried, a par 3
island green, and a waterfall next to the 18th tee complex.

• The layout features large, undulating Penn G2 bent grass greens built to
USGA specifications and generous, well-manicured TiftSport Bermuda
fairways. Fescue and carpetgrass line each fairway in the secondary rough.

• Most of the sand bunkers were handcrafted and are filled with pearl-white
sand reminiscent of Augusta National. The collars of the sand bunkers are
zoysia grass.

Tiger’s Eye Fact Sheet — page 3

• The par 3s at Tiger’s Eye are exceptionally beautiful. For example, No. 11 is a
large, undulating island green surrounded by white coquina boulders and a
pearl-white, gaping sand bunker. Its degree of challenge is reminiscent of the
famed 17th hole at the TPC of Sawgrass.

• The sounds of rushing water greets golfers at the closing hole, a difficult but
picturesque par 5 measuring 565 yards from the back tees. A five-foot
waterfall to the left of the tee complex marks the start of the hole, which also
features a stream that flows from the left side, across the fairway, and then up
the right side, from where a 200-yard waste bunker takes the golfer the rest of
the way to the green. In addition, four fairway bunkers must be negotiated on
the way to the green, which reaches into a lake and is surrounded by coquina
rocks. These bunkers are positioned as visual aids to help the golfer navigate
the hole.

• The tee complexes have been carefully designed for ease and convenience for
those who choose to walk. Motorized walking carts will be available for
rental.
August 2007

No comments:

Post a Comment