MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — South Carolina is one of America’s most golf-rich states, and Myrtle Beach is the epicenter of the Palmetto State’s offerings, a fact reconfirmed by the South Carolina Golf Course Ratings Panel.
The SCGRP recently released its biennial list of the “Top Courses for Public Play” and 13 of the 32 Palmetto State courses recognized reside along the Grand Strand. The SCGRP doesn’t rank courses by number, though Caledonia Golf & Fish Club was cited as the region’s best.
Joining Caledonia on the prestigious list were the Fazio, Love and Dye Courses at Barefoot Resort, TPC Myrtle Beach, Grande Dunes Resort Club, Pawleys Plantation, Heritage Club, Pine Lakes Country Club, Prestwick Country Club, Tidewater and True Blue Golf Club.
The 13th course honored by the panel was the famed Dunes Golf & Beach Club, a private facility that can be booked by select providers, including MyrtleBeachGolfTrips.com, the area’s premier trip planning and booking resource.
The Myrtle Beach courses that made the SCGCRP list vary greatly, but the one common denominator they share is the ability to booked through MyrtleBeachGolfTrips.com.
Caledonia’s spot atop the region was hardly a surprise. The Mike Strantz design is a consensus top 100 layout, showcasing the natural lowcountry beauty of Pawleys Island, where four of the state’s best are clustered within a Dustin Johnson drive of each other.
Less than a mile from Caledonia are its sister course, True Blue, a layout renowned for the size of its fairways, greens and waste bunkers, and Heritage Club, a Dan Maples design that is home to some of state’s most daunting greens complexes.
Pawleys Plantation is just minutes away and the back nine of the Jack Nicklaus design is one of the state’s most scenic. Six of the nine holes play along a tidal saltmarsh, highlighted by the unforgettable 13th, a par 3 that plays to a peninsula green.
TPC Myrtle Beach, a Tom Fazio and Lanny Wadkins design that has been ranked among America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses, hosts the Dustin Johnson World Junior Golf Championship.
Barefoot Resort is one of America’s premier multi-course properties. The Fazio Course, which hosted the championship match of Big Break Myrtle Beach, is a stern test while the Love Course, which features the faux ruins of an old plantation home on the front nine, will offer the chance to score.
The Dye Course will host the Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am for the 17th consecutive year this spring and traveling golfers enjoy the layout as much as the professionals and celebrities that tee it up there.
Pine Lakes Country Club was Myrtle Beach’s first course and the layout continues to charm golfers more than 90 years after its opening in 1927.
Grande Dunes, with seven holes that play along the Intracoastal Waterway, is on the short list of Myrtle Beach’s best. Joining Grande Dunes on any list of the area’s premier courses is Tidewater, which has eight holes that play along either the Intracoastal Waterway or Cherry Grove Inlet.
Prestwick Country Club has long been one of the Grand Strand’s most underrated courses. The Pete and P.B. Dye design offers a stern test of golf and enjoys a reputation for always being in superb condition.
For more information, visit www.MyrtleBeachGolfTrips.com.
