Course Guide: Feedback from the pros on their first trips to The Dunes Golf and Country Club is normally positive. Described as course renovator Rees Jones Jnr as the ‘coastal Augusta National,’ the Dunes certainly but up some resistance in 2024 – in part due to extensive drainage and because it sits on a naturally sandy site, making the course drain quickly. 2024 saw The Dunes middle of the course pack for difficulty.
The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina: Designer: Trent Jones Snr 1948, Rees Jones Renovations 2003, 2013, 2018, 2023; Course Type: Parkland, Mid-Score, Carolina, Medium Length; Par: 71; Length: 7,347 yards; Holes with Water Hazards In-Play: 6; Number of Sand Bunkers: 72: Acres of Fairway: 30; Fairways: Ryegrass overseed; Rough: Bermudagrass overseeded with Perennial Ryegrass 2.5″; Greens: 6,000 sq.ft average featuring Champion UltraDwarf Bermudagrass.
Course Scoring Average + PGA Tour Difficulty Rank:
- 2024: 70.27 (-0.73), Rank 21 of 50 courses
- 2024: 69.85 (-1.15), Rank 26 of 51 courses
Dunes Golf and Beach Club Fairway Widths (yards): Below are the fairway widths for Dunes Golf and Beach Club and how they compare to recent courses that we’ve seen on Tour:
- The Dunes Golf and Beach Club: 20 – 25 yards.
- Quail Hollow: 28 yards.
- Blue Monster, Doral: 25-40 yards.
- Harbour Town: 22-25 yards.
- Augusta National: Average 50 yards.
- Oaks Course: 25-30 yards.
- Memorial Park: 30–40 yards.
- Copperhead: Average 20 yards.
- TPC Sawgrass: Average 28 yards.
- Bay Hill: Average 30 yards.
- PGA National: Average 28 yards.
- Riviera: Average 27 yards.
- Pebble Beach: Average 30-33 yards. Spyglass Hill: 25-30 yards.
- TPC Scottsdale: Average 38 yards.
- Torrey Pines South: Average 24-27 yards. Torrey Pines North: Average 24-27 yards.
- Pete Dye Stadium: Average 33 yards.
Course Designer Links: For research purposes, other Rees Jones designs include:
Rees Jones
- Aronimink GC – 2010,2011 A&T National + 2018 BMW Championship
- Baltusrol – 2016 PGA Championship
- Bellerive CC – 2018 PGA Championship
- Bethpage Black – 2009 U.S Open, 2019 PGA Championship + 2012/2016 The Barclays
- Blue Course, Congressional CC – 2011 U.S. Open + 2012-2014 & 2016 National
- Blue Course, Royal Montreal GC – 2014 RBC Canadian Open
- Dubsdread, Cog Hill GCC – 2009,2010,2011 BMW Championship
- GC of Houston – Houston Open
- Hazeltine – 2009 PGA Championship
- Highlands Course, Atlanta Athletic Club – 2011 PGA Championship
- Medinah Number 3 – 2019 BMW Championship
Course Overview: The Dunes Golf and Beach Club is a 7,347 yard, par 71 Robert Trent Jones original dating back to 1949 and is one of the oldest courses in the self-proclaimed ‘Golf Capital of the World’.
Rees Jones has had his hand in renovating The Dunes on 4 occasions in 2003, 2013, 2018 and as recently as 2023 which has helped restore the greens to their original shape whilst replacing the old Bentgrass surfaces with Champion Bermuda. Bunkering was completely overhauled in the most recent work and what we’re presented with now is a golf course fit for the modern day. Jones calls this the ‘coastal Augusta National’ – high praise indeed.
The club is positioned alongside the Atlantic coastline with some exposed holes as well as others that have much more of a parkland feel with tight (20-25 yard landing areas), tree-lined fairways and water features. Talking of water, it’s abundant on this course presenting an omnipresent danger to those errant with both their drives and their approach shots, with water coming seriously into play on 6 of the holes.
The par of 71 is formed by 3 par-5s and 4 par-3s alongside the regular par-4s, with the longs holes ranging from a generous 532 yards (4th hole) and 539 yards (15th) to an altogether different proposition at the 625 yard 13th named ‘Waterloo’.
The par-3s on the front 9 look the tougher pair at 216 and 219 yards versus 195 and 170 on the back, however it’s the par 4s which might ultimately shape this tournament given their diversity. The 14th at exactly 500 yards looks a brute, as does the 485 yard 2nd, however there’s a little respite on the 10th and 16th with both holes offering opportunities for the longest of hitters to take a few chances, particularly if tees are moved up on any given day.
Myrtle Beach Classic Winners: 2025: Ryan Fox (-15), 2024: Chris Gotterup (-22).
- 2025: Ryan Fox 65-70-68-66 -15/269
- 2024: Chris Gotterup 66-64-65-67 -22/262
OWGR of Myrtle Beach Classic Winners: 2025: Fox 119; 2024: Gotterup 284.
Datagolf Ranking Myrtle Classic Winners: 2025: Fox 151; 2024: Gotterup 156.
Dunes Golf and Beach Club Cut Line: 2025: -2; 2024: -2.
Lead Score Progression:
- 2025: Round 1 -8; Round 2 -10; Round 3 -13; Round 4 -15.
- 2024: Round 1 -7; Round 2 -12; Round 3 -18; Round 4 -22.
Path to Victory: Below are end of round positions for Myrtle Beach winners at Dunes Golf and Beach Club:
- 2025 – Ryan Fox: Round 1: 5th, Round 2: 9th, Round 3: 4th.
- 2024 – Chris Gotterup: Round 1: 7th, Round 2: 1st, Round 3: 1st.
Shots From the Lead: Below are Myrtle Beach Classic winners at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club and where they were positioned in terms of shots from the lead during the tournament:
- 2025 – Ryan Fox: Round 1: 2 back, Round 2: 3 back, Round 3: 3 back.
- 2024 – Chris Gotterup: Round 1: 2 back, Round 2: 1 ahead, Round 3: 4 ahead.
Incoming Form of Myrtle Beach Classic winners:
- Ryan Fox: 60th Byron Nelson/MC New Orleans/59th Corales/MC San Antonio.
- Chris Gotterup: 24th Byron Nelson/11th New Orleans/MC Corales/MC San Antonio.
Tournament Stats: We’ve published some key player statistics for this week’s event that are well worth a look. Naturally they’ll help to shape a view on players who could go well this week: Current Form | Tournament Form | First Round Leader | Combined Stats
My published predictor is available here. Top 10 of my published predictor are:- 1) Gordon Sargent; 2) Casey Jarvis; 3) Taylor Moore; 4) Marco Penge; 5) Johnny Keefer; 6) Aaron Rai; 7) Trace Crowe; 8) Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen; 9) Davis Thompson; 10) Max McGreevy.
Myrtle Beach Classic Winners & Prices: 2025: Fox 40/1; 2024: Gotterup 50/1. Average: 45/1.
Historical Weather:
- 2025: Thursday: Mostly cloudy. High of 78. Variable winds, 4-12 mph with gusts up to 20 mph. Friday: Morning thunderstorms. High of 78. Wind S 8-12 mph, gusting up to 18 mph. Due to inclement weather in the morning, all tee times were delayed 1 hour, 40 minutes. Saturday: Mostly cloudy morning with afternoon showers. High of 71. Wind ENE 8-12 mph, gusting to 20 mph. Sunday: Mostly cloudy with morning showers. High of 71. Wind E 8-12 mph, gusting to 16 mph. Preferred lies.
- 2024: Thursday: Mostly cloudy. High of 84. Wind SSW 10-18 mph with gusts to 24 mph. Friday: Partly sunny. High of 81. Wind SW 8-14 mph with gusts to 22 mph. Saturday: Mostly sunny. High of 72. Wind SSW 8-12 mph. Sunday: Sunny. High of 77. Wind NW 8-12 mph with gusts to 18 mph.
Weather Forecast: The latest weather forecast for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is here. Thursday looks tough with +30 mph winds from the south west and 20 Celsius – 68 Fahrenheit temperatures.
From there conditions improve and warm-up – 24-25 degrees Celsius 75-77 but there is +50% chance of rain and thunderstorms on the weekend.
Strokes Gained Rankings: These top 25 in the field rankings are based on an 8-tournament window that stretches back to the Players Championship which includes both PGA Tour and DP World Tour events, where recorded. Player rankings are based on performance relative to the rest of the field:
- Top 25 SG Off The Tee: 1) Neal Shipley; 2) Casey Jarvis / Justin Lower; 4) Gordon Sargent; 5) Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen; 6) Marco Penge; 7) Doug Ghim; 8) Jimmy Stanger / Kris Ventura; 10) Alejandro Tosti; 11) Rico Hoey / Pontus Nyholm; 13) Johnny Keefer; 14) Chandler Phillips; 15) Lee Hodges / Taylor Moore; 17) Adam Hadwin / William Mow / Kevin Roy; 20) Erik van Rooyen; 21) Max McGreevy / Davis Thompson; 23) Christo Lamprecht; 24) Patrick Fishburn; 25) Brooks Koepka / Haotong Li.
- Top 25 SG Approach: 1) Blades Brown; 2) Marcelo Rozo; 3) Zac Blair; 4) Brooks Koepka; 5) Max McGreevy; 6) Austin Eckroat; 7) Karl Vilips; 8) Nick Dunlap / Billy Horschel; 10) Lee Hodges / Sami Valimaki; 12) Joe Highsmith / William Mouw; 14) Mark Hubbard / John Parry / Dylan Wu; 17) Davis Thompson / Camilo Villegas; 19) Tom Kim / Hank Lebioda; 21) Joel Dahmen / Kris Ventura; 23) Matti Schmid; 24) Rasmus Hojgaard / Casey Jarvis.
- Top 25 SG Around The Green: 1) Lanto Griffin; 2) Paul Peterson; 3) Eric Cole; 4) Camilo Villegas; 5) Brandt Snedeker; 6) Nick Hardy; 7) Christo Lamprecht; 8) Brendon Todd; 9) Marty Dou; 10) Adam Hadwin; 11) Tom Kim / Kevin Roy; 13) Adrien Dumont de Chassart / Adam Svensson; 15) Stephan Jaeger; 16) Davis Thompson / Danny Walker; 18) Christiaan Bezuidenhout / Kensei Hirata / Danny Willett / Kevin Yu; 22) William Mouw / David Skinns; 24) Jackson Suber; 25) Max Greyserman / Aaron Wise.
- Top 25 SG Tee to Green: 1) Adrien Dumont de Chassart; 2) Doug Ghim; 3) Brooks Koepka; 4) William Mouw; 5) Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen / Davis Thompson; 7) Max McGreevy; 8) Lee Hodges; 9) Blades Brown; 10) Austin Eckroat / Kevin Yu; 12) Pontus Nyholm / Camilo Villegas; 14) Seamus Power / Alejandro Tosti; 16) Adam Svensson; 17) Rico Hoey / Stephan Jaeger / John Parry; 20) Tom Kim / Kevin Roy / Brandt Snedeker; 23) Dylan Wu; 24) Eric Cole; 25) Hank Lebioda / Adrien Saddier.
- Top 25 SG Putting: 1) Brendon Todd; 2) David Skinns; 3) Vince Whaley; 4) Chad Ramey / Jeremy Paul; 6) Matt Kuchar; 7) A.J. Ewart / Stephan Jaeger / Karl Vilips; 10) Brandt Snedeker; 11) Beau Hossler; 12) Kevin Streelman; 13) Jimmy Stanger; 14) Eric Cole; 15) Christiaan Bezuidenhout / Marco Penge / Danny Willett; 18) Takumi Kanaya; 19) Jon Parry; 20) Steven Fisk / Rico Hoey; 22) Sam Ryder; 23) Blades Brown / Rasmus Hojgaard; 25) Matthieu Pavon.
- Top 25 SG Total: 1) Adrien Dumont de Chassart / Brandt Snedeker; 3) David Skinns; 4) Thriston Lawrence; 5) Brooks Koepka; 6) John Parry; 7) Blades Brown / Chad Ramey; 9) Eric Cole / Rico Hoey / Casey Jarvis / Hank Lebioda; 13) Stephan Jaeger / William Mouw; 15) Austin Eckroat; 16) Doug Ghim; 17) Steven Fisk; 18) Pontus Nyholm; 19) Marco Penge / Jimmy Stanger / Davis Thompson / Kevin Yu; 23) Christiaan Bezuidenhout / Tom Kim / Max McGreevy.
Trends & Key Factors: Analysing the Strokes Gained Stats of the Myrtle Beach Classic winners here gives us a little more insight into the requirements for this test:
- 2025, Ryan Fox (-15). SG Off the Tee: 4th, SG Approach: 17th, SG Around the Green: 25th, SG Tee to Green: 3rd, SG Putting: 24th.
- 2024, Chris Gotterup (-22). SG Off the Tee: 44th, SG Approach: 4th, SG Around the Green: 6th, SG Tee to Green: 2nd, SG Putting: 3rd.
Strokes Gained Tournament Skill Averages:
- SG Off the Tee: 24th, SG Approach: 11th, SG Around the Green: 16th, SG Tee to Green: 3rd, SG Putting: 14th.
Tournament Trends & Key Factors: Analysing the final stats of Myrtle Beach Classic winners gives us a little more insight into the requirements for this test:
- 2025, Ryan Fox (-15). 300 yards (31st), 60.7% fairways (31st), 73.6% greens in regulation (14th), 52.6 % scrambling (59th), 1.60 putts per GIR (1st).
- 2024, Chris Gotterup (-22). 289 yards (46th), 48.2% fairways (60th), 76.4% greens in regulation (13th), 70.6 % scrambling (19th), 1.66 putts per GIR (8th).
Tournament Skill Averages:
- Driving Distance: 39th, Driving Accuracy: 46th, Greens in Regulation: 14th, Scrambling: 39th, Putting Average 5th.
Let’s take a view from players as to how Dunes Golf and Beach Club sets-up and what skill sets the course favours:
Ryan Fox (2025): “I think everyone probably said the same thing. They’re pleasantly surprised. Being an alternate event, you’re not quite sure what you are going to get golf course-wise. Most of them are resorty, and this place is pretty strong .In places you’ve got to golf your ball well. There’s obviously lots of birdies if you hit good shots, but it’s firm. It’s fast. If they got the rough up around here, this place would be really tricky. Just had a good vibe around here. Felt comfortable hitting a lot of shots. When I came back on Tuesday and played a few holes, I was, like, Oh, yeah, I know why I like this place. It’s always nice coming into an event feeling like that.
I think it’s probably a little weather dependent. I know we’re going to get some in the morning. This golf course definitely gives up some birdies when conditions allow it, but if the wind gets up, the greens firm up a little bit, it gets tricky pretty quickly. I think tomorrow it’s kind of pick your moments to be aggressive. You do have lots of wedges in here. The par-5s are all gettable. But if you’re out of position, you’ve got to take your medicine and try to scramble a par. That’s the theory tomorrow; just sort of take it on for the most part.”
Chris Gotterup (2024): “Yeah, it’s a little tricky when you’ve got the wind going on some cross-wind holes, but I definitely can take advantage on a couple holes with some length. Obviously you’ve got to hit it straight to do that. But yeah, I think there’s some good holes that I can get after that some guys may have trouble with some bunkers here and there. But just got to keep my pedal down and keep going.
I Yeah, the wind was kind of funky all four days. It would switch here and there. It made the course play different every day, which is fun. Obviously the course is in amazing shape. Greens were great. There’s not a whole lot wrong with what’s going on out there. There’s definitely some tough holes. I really, really enjoyed playing it. It just looked good to my eye.”
Davis Thompson (2024): “Actually I played a college event here my sophomore year, so I was kind of familiar with it. I had kind of forgotten a few holes. But yeah, it’s an interesting course because the greens are kind of like turtle backs, so sometimes if you miss, if you short-side yourself it’s okay because you’re chipping back uphill, so it’s not too bad. It’s a good course.
Robert MacIntyre (2024): “To be honest, coming into this week, not a lot. But I made a few tweaks in the last two days, and I’ve been rolling the ball really nice on the greens. The greens are absolutely perfect out there on the course. Today I done everything pretty well. Drove it well, iron play well, wedges. It’s not really a wedge golf course, so don’t have too many of them, but yeah, overall, all around good game.
Yeah, we had 147 yards to the pin, about 132 to the front, and I’m in the bunker and I’m looking at it going, there’s a lip in front of me, I can’t flight it. I’m trying to calculate how far, how much hurt the wind has been having. I’ve grown up in wind, so by the sea here just now, you know it’s going to affect it a lot when it goes into the sky. Knowing that I couldn’t flight it down, that’s a full pitching wedge normally if it’s flat calm, and I went with my 7-iron and hit it as high as I could. I knew it was going to get hurt 30 plus yards. It worked out better than I thought it would.
Yeah, it’s different. You’ve not got as much room to manoeuvre it. I like to shape the ball. Off the tees there’s some funnels you’ve got to play it through. The golf course needs a bit of breeze, and I think it’s a good test when it comes up.”
First Round Leader Analysis: First round leader(s), their group and winning score since 2010. Full First Round Leader stats are here.
- 2025 – Hughes – AM -8/63 – 35/1F.
- 2024 – Hossler / MacIntyre – 7/64 – 50/1 & 70/1.
For the record, here’s the breakdown of Bermudagrass PGA Tour victors in the field since 2008:
- 4 – Billy Horschel, Camilo Villegas.
- 3 – Brooks Koepka, Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker.
- 2 – Mackenzie Hughes, Peter Malnati, Davis Riley, Robert Streb.
- 1 – Rafael Campos, Tyler Duncan, Nick Dunlap, Austin Eckroat, Steven Fisk, Lanto Griffin, Adam Hadwin, Nick Hardy, Garrick Higgo, Joe Highsmith, Stephan Jaeger, Tom Kim, Patton Kizzire, Martin Laird, Taylor Moore, Andrew Novak, Seamus Power, Adam Schenk, Kevin Streelman, Adam Svensson, Brendon Todd, Sami Valimaki, Kevin Yu.
