The Thistle Golf Club
by Mitchell Laurance

     Opened in early 1999, Thistle Golf Club is a perfect example of what passion, experience, teamwork, and clarity of vision can accomplish.
     Developer/managers Bob and Mort (III) Hansen's connection to, and love for, the game and serious collecting of historic, golf-related items goes back years.
     That love of collecting led to a fortuitous event. In 1996, Bob Hansen attended an auction in Scotland, and the rest will be Myrtle Beach history.  Among the items he purchased were the original historic documents of Thistle Golf Club, a golfing society that began in 1815, and played their golf on the links of Leith, near Edinburgh, Scotland. It turned out that the documents Hansen bought were the earliest known group of historical documents having to do with golf.  A treasure in search of a home.
     The Hansens had ``wanted to do a course with a theme for a long time," and now they had a theme that was truly time-honored.

In choosing to build  Thistle Golf Club in the Myrtle Beach area, the Hansens were able to team up with a rapidly rising star in golf course design, Tim Cate, who has a number of outstanding area courses to his credit. In Cate, they found someone who seemed to be entirely in tune with their design philosophy, who knew how to creatively and respectfully work the land, whose courses are known for their visual grace and beauty, as well as playability for every level of golfer.
     There are a number of well thought-out design principles at work at Thistle, most immediately noticeable the Hansens' desire to ``create a very natural, soft, yet flowing course."  Cate has taken that directive, and has shaped an incredible collection of generous, open fairways framed by rolling, beautifully-shaped mounding, soft-faced bunkering, lavish waste areas, and gently moving water. ``I try to make a golfing experience so that, if you're maybe not having the best of days out there, you still can enjoy the scenery." 

    A connection to nature is definitely a part of that experience, with over 25 acres of wildflowers spread over the course, a bird sanctuary by the 10th tee, and a 38-acre nature preserve along the right side of the 16th hole. It is a visual masterpiece.
    And those early, historic documents from the Thistle Golf Club?  They'll be on display in the clubhouse, along with period golf pieces, original art, clubs, and Thistle-oriented antiques going back to Scotland of the 1850's.  It's a place and time the Hansens would probably love to visit, but, luckily for us, they chose Myrtle Beach instead.