Fore! . . . Five. Six. Seven. . . . ” The old golf joke gets seriously out of hand on the Grand Strand, especially if you are counting golf courses instead of strokes. At one time, the Grand Strand boasted more than 120 golf courses. The number now stands at 104, but the popularity of chasing that little white ball has helped stretch Myrtle Beach’s tradition of summer vacationers into the spring and fall, when the climate in the Carolinas yields the most enjoyable temperatures for golfing.
In 2008 golfers played more than 3.4 million rounds here, making the Myrtle Beach area one of the world’s most popular golf destinations. Though no one keeps a central count of how many actual golfers come here every year, it is projected—comparing those more than 3 million rounds with hotel occupancy figures—that approximately 1.3 million golfers come to the Grand Strand every year.
The average golfer comes to the Grand Strand with three other golfers, spends three days here, and is a 39.8-year-old male with a household income of about $52,000. Golf has ranked as the number two generator of tourism revenues here since 1996, pulling in players primarily during spring and fall.
Yes, golf is a big deal here. It’s so big, in fact, that golfing legend Gary Player has commented, “If you do not have a high-profile presence in Myrtle Beach, you are not considered a serious player in the golf industry.”
Overview
Most courses market either through hotel package deals or through an advertising co-op association; package deals usually include a welcome gift, breakfast, greens fees, and a cart. Heavy discounts in the off-season (summer for golf) have begun to bleed over into the once-inflated fall fees.
Although the sheer abundance of courses is staggering, perhaps more impressive than the quantity is the quality. This 60-mile stretch of real estate boasts a collection of the country’s finest course layouts. Creations of golf-great architects such as Jones, Player, Nicklaus, Fazio, Palmer, Maples, and Dye, these courses offer a lot more than what you might expect—they’re everything golf fantasies are made of.
In 2007 Golf Digest included 10 Grand Strand courses on its 2007–2008 America’s Top 100 Greatest Public Courses list, more than any other golf destination in the country. The highest ranked was the Dunes Golf and Beach Club, coming in at number 28.
Something you might not know about the Grand Strand is that the topography of the countryside is delightfully diverse. If you’re a beachgoer, you might know and love the salt-scrubbed beaches, sand castles, sailboats, sea oats, and little else. But wander inland just a bit; you’ll discover bountiful secrets in the corners of our counties. You’ll find undulating river bluffs and panoramic river vistas, shadowy swamplands, stately old oaks weeping silver moss, sandy pine forests, and seemingly unchanging marshlands. The assortment of ecosystems continues to provide golf-course architects with some of the richest natural resources in the world.
Mother Nature not only has given us an abundance of beautiful real estate but has blessed us with a subtropical climate that makes the outdoors pleasant almost every day of the year. Crisp days and aqua-blue skies make autumn and spring the favored seasons of many golfers. Still, lots of folks are learning the local secret that outrageous bargains abound during the summer and winter months. Since our weather is governed by cool Gulf Stream breezes when temperatures rise and warm Gulf Stream breezes when temperatures dip, golfing is a year-round delight.
Like everything else in our neck of the woods, golf offerings are eclectic, electric, and just plain fun. Provocative and dazzling new courses flourish, along with the vintage, time-tested tracks graced with history and tradition. Pine Lakes International Country Club, a semiprivate layout designed by Robert White in 1927, launched golf’s popularity in this area and today is appropriately known as “the Granddaddy.” Myrtle Beach’s highly regarded Dunes Golf and Beach Club, designed in 1948 by Robert Trent Jones, carried on the tradition. In decades following, a parade of splendid designs have come to maturation along the Strand. As the number of courses spirals past 100, the area’s reputation blossoms accordingly.
With so many courses, the Grand Strand is naturally host to many tournaments for any and every kind of golfer. One of the oldest and biggest golfing events along South Carolina’s Grand Strand is the PGA Superstore World Amateur Handicap Championship, billed as the world’s largest on-site championship. Golf Digest dubbed the August event the “Everyman Open,” and Golf World crowned it the “mother of all golf tournaments.” Little wonder. For more than 20 years, roughly 70,000 golfers from all over the world have participated in the four-day, matched-handicap competition. For information regarding participation, call (800) 833-8798.
The WorldAm tournament is held at various courses, as are other tournaments hosted by Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday: the International Summer Family Golf Tournaments, the Veteran’s Golf Classic, and the National Police Golf Championship.
Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, founded in 1967, is a nonprofit association of accommodations and golf courses along “the Carolinas’ Golden Golf Coast,” from Georgetown, South Carolina, to Southport, North Carolina. The organization’s mission is to increase consumer awareness of the advantages of a Myrtle Beach–area golf vacation and make it as easy as possible for a golfer to reserve accommodations of a preferred level of luxury or economy. Devised as a tax-exempt advertising co-op program and originally put together by the head of a local ad agency, the organization has allowed hotels and golf courses to advertise at rates and in media that they could never initially afford; it is a brilliant promotional tool for Myrtle Beach golf.
Prospective vacationing golfers and travel agents can call (800) 845-4653 or visit www.golfholiday.com to receive a free vacation planner complete with information on 82 resorts and 96 golf courses, as well as travel tips and information on how to directly book a golf vacation with a member accommodation. There are also toll-free numbers to call from the United Kingdom, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The Classics of Myrtle Beach is an umbrella organization that represents 13 of the Grand Strand’s top courses and 10 of its best resorts. Their collection demands strict standards of quality and offers deluxe amenities that include fine restaurants, exercise and relaxation facilities, and entertainment options. They have truly mastered the small details that ensure your golf vacation is first class. Booking a Classic package couldn’t be easier. Just select a resort and the courses and tee times you want; they will take care of everything else. Visit www.myrtlebeachclassics.com for additional information.
Service-oriented Myrtle Beach caters to a golfer’s every need; there are also more than a dozen golf schools in town, many with PGA instructors, great student-teacher ratios, and programs keyed to all levels of play.
For the inside scoop regarding golf on the Strand, refer to SCORE magazine. You’ll discover scads of interesting editorial, dining, and entertainment tips; a directory of courses; maps; and much more. The magazine is available free at most golf stores throughout the Grand Strand.