Course Review: Indigo Creek Offers Quality, Value

By Chris King on January 5, 2009

The marsh and wetland areas remain, reminders of the rice plantation that called the grounds home centuries ago. The scattered vestiges of life in Lowcountry South Carolina – giant oak trees and ambling streams chief among them - provide ample character, but golf has taken center stage at Indigo Creek.

Located in Murrells Inlet, Indigo Creek Golf Club is the type of layout that has helped Myrtle Beach earn its reputation as the world’s premier golf destination. The Gene Hamm design isn’t a top 100 layout, but it is a good layout, set on a piece of property unique to the area, and it offers great value.

Visiting golfers can reasonably expect superb conditions and a course that isn’t short on challenges. Playing 6,747 yards from the tips and, more importantly to the average golfer, 6,167 yards from the white tees, Indigo Creek doesn’t overwhelm players with length, but it does demand accuracy.

A series of doglegs, bunkers and the aforementioned water and marsh areas, which come into play on all 18 holes, require golfers to find the fairway.

“Hit it straight,” head pro A.J. Sawyer said when asked how to thrive at Indigo Creek. “The tee ball is the most important thing out here. If you can get it in play, you are fine; fairways to greens is not that difficult.”

The course can swallow errant drives, but just as often, an ill-placed tee shot will leave an approach unconducive to success. But don’t be scared by the talk of tight fairways and lost balls, Indigo Creek is a fair challenge.

The course rewards players capable of managing the layout with a hybrid or a three wood and it has only one par four that is as long as 380 yards from the white tees. An intelligent drive leaves players with good approach angles into greens that are firm and fair.

While leaving the driver in the bag is the percentage play, for those with accuracy and a touch of bravado, Indigo Creek offers tremendous risk-reward challenges throughout.

“I’ve played it three times (and) I’ve really enjoyed (it),” said John Ellison, who lives in upstate New York on the banks of Lake Erie. “The greens are true, the fairways are a challenge with the water and undulation … but it’s not impossible. It’s perfect for me.”

Ellison’s sentiments are shared by many as Indigo Creek is one of the South Strand’s most popular courses.

"Pleasantly surprised,” Sawyer said of the reaction of first time visitors. “(They say they) didn’t know a lot about it before (they) got here. We always get some kudos on customer service and our greens are always really good.”

The par 3 11th is the course’s signature hole, requiring a carry over water into a green flanked by one of Indigo’s 78 bunkers on the left and otherwise surrounded by mounding.