By mustang6560 on 8/28/12

Hey, Tropical Storm Isaac, I hate you.

Not only did you force the folks at Caledonia Golf &Fish Club to cancel my second round of the World Am, but you’re also going to potentially destroy part of my home state and maybe part of my hometown. I hope you hit a stretch of cold water in the Gulf of Mexico and lose your strength so you don’t do anymore damage to me or anyone else I know!

Rant (mostly) over.

I’ve been looking forward to playing Caledonia since the World Am first released the course assignments a few weeks back because it's supposed to be one of the nicest courses in the Myrtle Beach area. Golf Magazine ranked Caledonia near the top of its “Top 100 Courses You Can Play”, so I was thoroughly disappointed when the second round was called off due to inclement weather. I made it through 11 holes before the head golf professional blew the air horn to signal my day was done. And unfortunately, incomplete rounds don’t count for anything and since I played more than nine holes, I probably won’t get a partial or full rain check to use next year – se la vie!



This is what it looks like approaching the clubhouse at Caledonia

Caledonia is in Pawleys Island, which is about 45 minutes from the Sheraton in downtown Myrtle Beach. For a brief moment in time, I wasn’t sure I’d get to play the second round at all due to the weather – it rained the entire drive to the course. Our original start time of 8:30am was delayed 1:15 minutes because the course was sopping wet. But, the clouds cleared up around 9:30am and even though the radar was green, yellow, and red, they sent us on our way.



The Caledonia Clubhouse

I started on hole 18, which is a relatively short par-4, dogleg right. It’s not a true dogleg because you can see the green from the tee box, however, water runs along the entire right side of the hole and it separates the fairway from the green. The ideal tee shot is about 225-235 yards, which leaves between 175-125 yards depending on where you hit your tee shot. The one negative about Caledonia is there is no driving range, so I had to hit my first tee shot cold knowing there is water right.



The 18th at Caledonia

I proceeded to stripe my 5-wood right down the middle of the fairway – it felt great! But, apparently the head golf professional mixed upour flight with another flight so even though the rules sheet said were playing from the black tees, we were supposed to be playing from the blue tees. One of the rules officials drove out to our location on the 18th hole and informed us of the mix up, so we had to go back and re-tee (nopenalty). I was even more nervous hitting my tee shot the second time around because I had already hit the fairway once and I knew I would be upset if I missed it left in the trees or right in the water. Luckily, I was able to put a decent swing on my second 5-wood and my golf ball found the fairway again. I hit my approach shot on the green and two-putted for an opening par.

We made it to hole six before it started raining. It was a slow, steady rain. The kind of rain that allows you to run from the parking lot into the grocery store without getting too wet, but will soak your cloths in a matter of moments if you stand still. I didn’t bring my umbrella with me to the Grand Strand, so I got wet real quick. But, the rain seemed to help me calm down. I was 8-over-par (including the par on hole 18) before the rain started and even-par (with one birdie and one bogey) after.

Caledonia is a beautiful golf course and I hope I get the chance to play a full round in calm and dry conditions at some point in the future. It’s a plantation style course built on a swamp, so it has big oak trees and lots of waste areas (all sand was played as a bunker). The road leading to the clubhouse is lined with oaks trees that makes you feel like your driving back in time. Even though I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to finish my round, I’m happy that Caledonia lived up to my expectations.

I’m about to go to the 19th Hole for dinner and drinks. I’m also contemplating a trip to Martin’s PGA Super Store to get some rain gear for tomorrow. The forecast doesn’t look good and I'd rather not be soaking wet for another round! See y’all tomorrow!