Barefoot Resort & Golf - The Fazio Course Review

Texas Outside Rating: 9.5

Golf - Resort Public Course · 18 Holes · Par 72
North Myrtle Beach, SC
Website
· Stay & Play

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Barefoot Resort & Golf - The Fazio Course Review

Barefoot Resort and Golf Course, on the Intercostal Waterway, is home to 4 spectacular golf courses designed by some of the legends - Tom Fazio, Pete Dye, Davis Love, and Greg Norman.  These courses are consistently ranked as some of the best in Myrtle Beach.  In fact, the Fazio Course was rated #96 in Golf Digest's America's 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses 2009 and it's consistently rated in Golf Digests' Top 50 Courses in Myrtle Beach.  The Love Course is currently ranked #96 in Golf Digest's America's 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses.  Each of the courses has it's own unique characteristics, personality, and challenges.  We loved the Fazio course and thought it was one of the best we played during our visit to Myrtle Beach. 

The Fazio course traverses the natural sand dunes and low country forest filled with live oaks and pines surrounding Barefoot Resort.  The natural areas, elevation changes, grass areas, ponds and creeks, mounding, and bunkers make this a very challenging as well as aesthetically pleasing course.   With a slope of 139 and rating of 73.7, you'll need some strategic shot making, good course management, and a little bit of luck to score well on the Fazio Course.

The Fazio course winds through a naturally wooded area with few homes.The fairways range from wide open and let-er-rip to fairly tight.  The rolling and contoured fairways also mean that an even lie is rare.   And on the way to the green, you'll encounter over 100 bunkers, including the waste areas, of all shapes and sizes that you need to avoid.  Fazio is known for super-sizing his bunkers and he outdid himself on this 18 - some seem like they are big enough to hold the entire state of Maine and they held my ball two or three shots before I could find the fairway!  One writer described #9 as "having more sand on it alone than most entire golf courses. There's a mid-sized pond to the right along the tees and then a sand trap that can be best described as Saharan. Even calling it a sand trap is like branding a Ferrari a modest mode of transport."

The large, undulating green complexes demand a good short game.  All of the greens are well protected with bunkers, ponds, pines, or oaks and some are elevated.  The putting surfaces are smooth, but fast, and with plenty of slope and undulation.  When we played, the fairways, greens, and bunkers were in near perfect condition. 

The Fazio course is a little short (thank goodness) but the elevated tee boxes and greens, forced caries, water on most every hole, bunkers and waste areas, dog legs, and challenging green complexes  make for a very challenging round.  But don't let any of this scare you away from playing this fantastic golf course - just pick the right set of tee boxes, keep your head in the game, relish the challenge, and enjoy the scenery.  Who cares about score, you're on vacation and out to have some fun - this will be one of your most memorable rounds of golf.   

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Course Slope & Ratings

Tee Box Yardage Rating Slope
Blue 6,548 70.6 130
White 6,205 67.6 116
Gold 6,911 73.7 139
Red 5,054 68.0 115

Course Information

Course Architect:
Tom Fazio
Greens Type:
Bent
Greens Condition
10.0
Greens Difficulty
8.5
GPS:
Yes
Walkable:
Yes
Beware of water on 15 holes and the 102 sand traps.

Texas Outside Rating

Overall Rating:
9.5 out of 10
Beauty:
9.5
Difficulty:
9.5
Variety:
9.0
Fun to Play:
10.0
Value:
8.5
Condition:
10.0
Front Nine Rating:
9.5
Back Nine Rating:
9.5
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FEES & AMENITIES

Approximate Weekend
Rates: $85.00 to $185.00

Service is excellent, all of the facilities are first class, the pro shop is well stocked, and the practice area is good.

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Here's How Texas Outside Determines the Scorecard Rating

The Texas Outside rating scale ranges from 1 to 10 – a perfect 10 course would be something like this:  links along a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean and bordered by tall trees; lush fairways on rolling hills with lots of natural hazards; water (which is crystal clear) on most of the holes; immaculate greens (but they are undulating and tough); lots of variety and character (each hole is completely different and includes blind shots, elevation changes, doglegs, and significant challenges); perfectly manicured traps with the whitest and prettiest sand you’ve ever seen; a nice club house with great food and a 19th hole; a GPS; plenty of beverage carts or your own cooler and ice; and it only costs $40 bucks! What this means is that you probably won’t find any 10s in Texas – try Cabo San Lucas, Pebble Beach, or some of the Hawaii courses! 
Texas Outside rates courses on the following:

  • Beauty – tall trees, rolling hills, beautiful houses, waterfalls, and similar stuff would score high; a 1 would be flat, bushes or cactus instead of trees, and some grass but mostly weeds
  • Difficulty – a straight, 300 yard par 4 with no traps or hazards, no out of bounds or water would probably get a 1; if it is a 460 yard par 4 over two ravines, with water along one side, natural hazards on the other, strategically placed traps or that dreaded tree right in the middle of the fairway, we are talking a 10. 
  • Variety – what would you give a course where all the holes looked and played exactly the same (“I thought we just played that hole!”); were side-by-side, which is good for finding or dodging other people’s balls, but not much fun; and you can see the flag from every tee box?  That’s right, it gets a 1.
  • Fun Scale – a 10 is where you walk off the course and say “now that was fun” and you can’t wait to get back, or you immediately turn around and play another 18 holes
  • Value – a 5 is $50 to $60, a 10 is $20 to $30, and 1 is $200 or so – of course all of this is dependent upon how you liked the course.  For example, if a run down, boring municipal course, with six players on each hole was only $10; it would still get a value rating of 1.
  • Condition – this one’s pretty easy – what condition are the fairways. A 10 commands very lush perfectly manicured fairways, compared to a 1, which has fire ants, weeds, and more dirt than grass!
  • Condition of Greens and Difficulty – very hard to read greens with lots of undulation and tough pin placement, rate very high on the difficulty scale.  Condition is self-explanatory.  

All of the above determines the overall score for the golf course.  In other words, we like courses that are pretty, fun, very challenging with a lot of variety, and fairways and greens in excellent condition – all for $40.  We also tend to play the courses that are affordable for the masses, which means in the $30 to $80 range. We rate hard and we haven’t found a 10 in Texas yet – don’t worry we haven’t given up and we’re still looking.