If a player can tame The Long Bay Club, they may feel confident enough to take on the Golden Bear. The Jack Nicklaus-designed course is considered one of the most difficult on the Grand Strand.

Rightfully so. Long Bay's formidable features include:

• A demanding 137 slope from the championship tees to a difficult 127 for the ladies
• Countless large man-made mounds. They're particularly lethal near the green, creating a new approach (so to speak) to your wedge game.
• Handsome but deadly par-3s, especially No. 13, a mid-iron test to an island green.
• Many bottomless bunkers surrounding Long Bay's small Bermuda landing surfaces.
• And a striking horseshoe waste bunker on the courses signature hole, the 353-yard (championship tees) No. 10 has become one of the most recognized in golf.

Long Bay's par-3s are attractive, but they can be cruel to the scorecard. The best of the four is No. 13 and it's wide island green. Not a long test, this par-3 teases players with various pin placements. The hole plays a club less if the pin is on the left. Ten yards too much and players likely will visit the drop area.

Golfers likely will remember Nos. 4 and 18 (par-4s) and Nos. 11 and 15 (par 5s). No. 4 is rated the courses most difficult hole. At 472 yards from the back tees, it features a narrow fairway guarded by waste areas on both sides. The homeward bound hole demands a left-to-right tee shot to trim off the distance to the green. Both par-5s on the back nine-547 yards and 492 yards- provide different looks. No.11 is a dogleg left design to a small green protected by a horseshoe bunker. No. 15 veers to the right. Players must carry a meandering creek on their second shot and avoid a water hazard that runs by the right side of the green.