Part 5: Eric Glosick of Litchfield Country Club

Speaker 1: Joining us now is Eric Glosick, the GM and head golf pro at Litchfield Country Club down on the Hammock Coast Golf Trail. You know what’s interesting is, you’re one of the original eight (courses) down there. So tell us a little bit about the golf course itself. It’s been around since ’66.

Eric Glosick: That is correct. Yeah. We were established in 1966, we just had our 50th anniversary a couple of years ago. Willard Byrd’s design, we’re a very traditional style golf course, not a dogleg, a real shot-maker’s golf course.

Speaker 3: Looking at the pictures Eric, it looks like it’s kinda tight, you know, with those doglegs and tree-lined fairways as they are on these pictures. I’ve not played it, I was invited to play Litchfield twice and wasn’t able to but I can’t wait to get down there and try this golf course.

Eric Glosick: Yeah, it’s a great golf course to play. It’s a lot of fun. You’re not gonna play the same hole twice. And I tell you, it may look a little tight but it’s actually got some very wide landing areas and it’s not an overly long golf course unless you’re like 6,900 from the back tees. And it’s really easy for players who … you can run the ball up to the green, which a lot of players like, especially older players, beginners who might have trouble getting the ball in the air … they can still play well.

Speaker 3: I’m looking at another description of the golf course and the southern charm of it with all the magnolias and the camellias and the Spanish oaks down there, it’s got that real southern Lowcountry feel, doesn’t it?

Eric Glosick: It sure does. Our clubhouse has that Lowcountry charm to it, and we’re surrounded by old oak trees all over the property. Actually, we host a lot of weddings at our property, too, just because of that southern charm and the oak trees, it makes very beautiful pictures for people to remember their wedding.

Speaker 3: Right now, it seems like the rates are in line too, Eric. I mean, 34 dollars between 12 and 1 p.m., 43 dollars between 1 and 3 p.m., that’s real affordable and this golf course is worth so much more than that, actually.

Eric Glosick: It is, and you get a lot of bang for your buck at Litchfield Country Club. Our rates are always very economical for everyone, every walk of life that wants to get out and play a quick round. It’s not gonna hurt you too bad.

Speaker 1: Yeah, so when we start talking about yardages and difficulty and different sets of tees, kind of give us a feel for the different experiences players can have down there.

Eric Glosick: From the back keys, your landing areas, you might run into some of the hazards that Mr. Byrd put out there as you move forward. We actually have quite a few sets of tees, we got the back tees all the way at the blue. But we actually have our fronts at … in front of the red tees are green tees for … older juniors can play, beginning women, older men and women, beginning men. We have a set of tees for everybody’s skill level and everything brings in … a little bit different to the game.

Speaker 1: Alright. So Eric, when we start talking about the hole by hole, and I ask this of everybody … what’s your favorite hole in the golf course, and then is there that one shot that you spend the entire round thinking about and dreading? I mean, I always run into that no matter what course I play, I’m always like … three holes from now, I gotta hit this tee shot or I gotta try and go for this green in two or this is a difficult par three that’s eating my lunch every day. What’s your favorite hole and what’s that one difficult shot that you dread hitting every day?

Eric Glosick: That’s a little difficult to answer. Favorite hole, I’m gonna have to pick two of them. I really love our two finishing holes. No. 17, it’s got medium length, a par three, but it’s just a beautiful shot. You have an oak tree up by the green, it’s landscaped very well, you’ve got water left, water right, but it doesn’t really come into play. It’s just a very visually striking hole to play. And then at No. 18, I love to play 18, too. It’s just a little dogleg right, a par four, you got some water left that can come into play for the longer hitters, but you just get to that dogleg and then you come to that approach shot. You got the gorgeous clubhouse in the background, you got a little shot over water, it’s just another visually pleasing hole to play.

Shot to dread? I play a draw, I play the ball right to left, (so) No. 13. One of our signature holes, it’s a great par five, it’s a reachable par five for longer hitters, but you’ve got water all the way down that left-hand side, you have trees out of bounds right. If I snap up that ball a little bit, I’m in the water almost every time.

Speaker 1: Wow. So, is that one of those things where there’s really nowhere to miss it? I mean, you’ve gotta hit it down the middle and … but if you hit a good tee shot, are you getting there in two or is it still a testy second shot as well?

Eric Glosick: It can be a little testy second shot because that water goes all the way up through the green. But the longer hitters, they can definitely get there in two, especially if you’ve got the wind at your back that day, which most times that’s the prevailing wind there for that hole, you can get there.

Speaker 1: So is that one of those deals where if you make a five, it’s not that bad a deal? It’s not a par five where you’re expecting to make a three or a four every time?

Eric Glosick: I’m still always happy to get a five on that hole.

Speaker 3: I also read, Eric, that Litchfield is a lady-friendly golf course, too, with not a lot of forced carries over water and bunkers are easier to hit on-

Eric Glosick: That is true, yeah.

Speaker 3:    Yeah, I’ve heard that before, yes.

Eric Glosick: Yeah, we don’t have very many forced carries to play at Litchfield and, again, the greens complexes … we do have bunkers, they are guarded somewhat, but you can play that bump-and-run shot from the middle of the fairway and it’ll run right up to the green and make you putt for pars.

Speaker 3:    Are they Bermuda greens? What hybrid is that … do you guys got-

Eric Glosick: I’m sorry?

Speaker 3: Champions or … you know-

Eric Glosick: Well, we have Tifdwarf up there on the greens-

Speaker 3: Oh, Tifdwarf, okay.

Eric Glosick: Yep, Bermuda. Right now we are overseeded with poa triv, but yes, we are Bermuda.

Speaker 3: Yeah, poa triv is a miracle worker in the winter time for Bermuda greens, they really are.

Eric Glosick: It is. We actually still have … the golf course is still very original. We’ve made a few changes, but everything still is how Willard Byrd designed it 50 years ago.

Speaker 1: Yeah, so I mean … (With a lot of recent rain), are you guys draining really well down there in the beach areas?

Eric Glosick: We drain very well. We are usually one of the first courses to come off of the cart path restriction and let you go back on the fairway. We drain very well and we have a great superintendent that lets us get back on and ride the fairways.

Speaker 1: A nd I know that you guys, I mean obviously this is a little bit of the offseason, but these couple weeks, I mean, the weather’s still been fairly mild. It’s gonna be a decent weekend here. How’s the tee sheet filling up?

Eric Glosick: Yeah, it might be somewhat of the offseason. We’ve still got plenty of open tee times. Today, we actually have a beautiful day, no rain today so hopefully we get some more that, the phones start ringing a little bit more and we fill up the tee sheet.

Speaker 1: Awesome, well you know what Eric, remind everybody where they can get a tee time whether it’s at your course or any of the courses at the Hammock Coast Golf Trail.

Eric Glosick: Of course, you can go right onto the waccamawgolftrail.com website and you can pick from us and any other of the 12, you can get your accommodations set up as well or you can check out our (course) website, litchfieldgolf.com.

Speaker 1: Well Eric, man, we appreciate you coming on with us, talking to us a little bit about Litchfield and the Hammock Coast Golf Trail and we hope to catch up with you guys again soon.

Eric Glosick: Thanks for having me on today.

Speaker 1: Alright, thanks a lot.

Speaker 3: Thanks Eric.