Renovation work on the first nine holes of the Kings North Course at Myrtle Beach National in South Carolina is progressing as scheduled, with the course aiming to reopen in early October.
Architect Brandon Johnson of Johnson Golf Design is overseeing the two-year, two-part project (the back nine is scheduled for a complete renovation next summer) that will transform the experience at the Arnold Palmer-designed course.
Kings North closed in June to begin the project, which has seen all of the course’s greens restored to their original size and some expanded, adding 30,000 sq ft of putting surface space. The greens have been planted with TifEagle Bermudagrass and are growing on schedule with just one month left until the layout reopens.
“The greens are going to be wider,” says Johnson, who worked at Arnold Palmer Design for 17 years before going out on his own. “It’s been fun discovering a lot of the boundaries of the old greens. You see where things were and you peel back the layers and you see, ‘Oh, that was the green over there.’ We’ve been able to smooth out the contours that we’ve rediscovered, and the new greens have a good roll and flow.”
With work on the greens and surrounding areas nearly complete, Johnson and his team are now focused on the continued renovation of the front nine bunkers, which will further enhance the strategic value of a course that has long attracted golfers.
“By widening the fairways, opening up the front of some greens to allow for more ground-hitting opportunities and tweaking the angles of some bunkers, we’ll have some new strategic locations to provide players with some fun puzzles to solve,” Johnson said.
Johnson has also built on the rugged aesthetic that Kings North already boasts, expanding the layout’s waste bunker to highlight the area’s natural sandy soils.
“We are excited to welcome golfers back to Kingsnorth in October, where they will enjoy a rare opportunity at the halfway point to experience a redesigned layout that reflects the architect’s vision,” said Steve Mays, president of Founders Group International. “Brandon’s work recreates the charm of Arnold Palmer’s original design while incorporating his own vision for the Myrtle Beach area’s iconic course, and buzz around the reopening is already building.”
Kings North was last renovated in 1996, when Palmer oversaw a complete redesign of what had previously been known as the North Course, and the layout has topped lists of Myrtle Beach’s best designs and been ranked among Golf Digest’s “100 Greatest Public Courses in America.”
The renovation of Kings North is the latest in a series of investments Founders Golf is making across its course portfolio: in summer 2023, FGI commissioned a comprehensive restoration project of the greens, bunkers and clubhouse at Pawleys Plantation, highlighting the company’s commitment to delivering the finest golf vacation experience.
FGI owns 21 courses in the Myrtle Beach area and has undertaken major capital projects at 12 of those courses in recent years, including Grande Dunes, Pine Lakes and TPC Myrtle Beach.