Best courses in Myrtle Beach?

[cody west]

So I'm heading out on a golf trip to Myrtle Beach. I've never been and I was wondering (from those of you who have been), which course was your favorite?  Please list your top 3 and give a brief reason why.  All of your advice will be a huge help to me.

Thanks,

Cody

[caniac6]

Check out courses in the Litchfield/ Pawleys Island area. A lot of nice courses in a small area, and a very laid back vibe,

[shooter101]

Cody,

I was just recently in MB and the rates on some courses are insanely cheap now.  If you give a price window in which you would like to stay within I think I could give you some insight on some of the courses.  Also, how many people do you have going and how many days are you going to be there to play golf?  There is a thing called a Myrtle Beach Golf Passport not alot of people know about it but if you are golfing for around a week and have 2 or 3 others it will be well worth the investment.

[cody west]

it's going to be myself and one other person.  I'm not too worried about price, but i wouldn't want to spend over $150 on a round.

[shooter101]

For 110 or less these 3 are my top favorites TPC Myrtle Beach, MBN Kings North, and Long Bay(very challenging course).  If you want a cheap round around $40 I would go to Man-O-War, last time I played here the course was in excelent condition and greens rolled perfect.  Its not very challenging but there are a couple of island greens that are tricky.  Hope this helps!

[LRMgolf]

Every year my uncles and I go to Myrtle for our annual golf trip. Last year we Played all the legends courses. They are Heathland, Moorland, Parkland, Heritage and Oyster Bay. They were all very nice courses. As shooter was saying, you can get some great packages. We played 6 rounds of golf in 3 days. We got free breakfest and lunch at the course along with 2 drink tickets per course. If you are planning on playing multiple rounds a day. Heathland, Moorland and Parkland are all together, and use the same club house (which is nice so your not running around to much between rounds). So my suggestion would be any of the legends courses, each course is different from the other, so its not like playing the same course over and over.

[Gioguy21]

Traditions club is beautiful, played myrtlewood palmetto, willowbrook plantation, MBN king's north, river club....all nice courses down there. i bought our greens fees in a package and made out with 5 rounds for less than $350. i used professionalgolftravel.com to get the golf, the lodging we used military condo's (my pops and i both work for the government, and he's a retired leutenant colonel). best of luck, we're headin back down in March 14-18th!  : )

[DannyG]

Originally Posted by LRMgolf

Every year my uncles and I go to Myrtle for our annual golf trip. Last year we Played all the legends courses. They are Heathland, Moorland, Parkland, Heritage and Oyster Bay. They were all very nice courses. As shooter was saying, you can get some great packages. We played 6 rounds of golf in 3 days. We got free breakfest and lunch at the course along with 2 drink tickets per course. If you are planning on playing multiple rounds a day. Heathland, Moorland and Parkland are all together, and use the same club house (which is nice so your not running around to much between rounds). So my suggestion would be any of the legends courses, each course is different from the other, so its not like playing the same course over and over.

I'm exploring MB for a first time visit in February. Have you found a place that offers a consistently good package? I have been shopping and it's a bit overwhelming and when you crunch the numbers, some of the so called packages are no bargain at all.

[LRMgolf]

I can figure out where exactly my uncle got the package. But the package we had was $450 a person, and there were 4 people. That price included a 3 bedroom house a block from the beach for a week, 5 rounds of golf. Free breakfest and lunch everyday along with several free drinks. So ours was very reasonable as in price. Of the price per person also factored in the amount of gas to drive from and back to ohio. Let me see if i can get some details for you.

[LRMgolf]

Originally Posted by DannyG

I'm exploring MB for a first time visit in February. Have you found a place that offers a consistently good package? I have been shopping and it's a bit overwhelming and when you crunch the numbers, some of the so called packages are no bargain at all.

I can figure out where exactly my uncle got the package. But the package we had was $450 a person, and there were 4 people. That price included a 3 bedroom house a block from the beach for a week, 5 rounds of golf. Free breakfest and lunch everyday along with several free drinks. So ours was very reasonable as in price. Of the price per person also factored in the amount of gas to drive from and back to ohio. Let me see if i can get some details for you.

[LRMgolf]

Originally Posted by DannyG

I'm exploring MB for a first time visit in February. Have you found a place that offers a consistently good package? I have been shopping and it's a bit overwhelming and when you crunch the numbers, some of the so called packages are no bargain at all.

I can figure out where exactly my uncle got the package. But the package we had was $450 a person, and there were 4 people. That price included a 3 bedroom house a block from the beach for a week, 5 rounds of golf. Free breakfest and lunch everyday along with several free drinks. So ours was very reasonable as in price. Of the price per person also factored in the amount of gas to drive from and back to ohio. Let me see if i can get some details for you.

[DannyG]

Originally Posted by LRMgolf

I can figure out where exactly my uncle got the package. But the package we had was $450 a person, and there were 4 people. That price included a 3 bedroom house a block from the beach for a week, 5 rounds of golf. Free breakfest and lunch everyday along with several free drinks. So ours was very reasonable as in price. Of the price per person also factored in the amount of gas to drive from and back to ohio. Let me see if i can get some details for you.

That would be a help, thanks!

[sabram]

I've played more than 60 of the 100+ courses that remain open on the Grand Strand. My three favorites are True Blue, Caledonia and The Dunes Club.I'll give a description and reasonas at the end of the post.  On the Myrtle Beach Golf Talk forum their was a recent thread askingposters to name their five favorite MB courses. Of the first 21 replies, the courses that were named more than once were as follows. I would inlude most of those in my list of top 20 MB courses:

Caledonia - 18
Dunes - 16
True Blue- 13
Tidewater -10
Rivers Edge - 9
TPC - 9
Barefoot Dye - 5
Grande Dunes - 4
Moorland - 4
Barefoot Fazio - 3
Leopards Chase - 2
Heritage - 2

Barefoot Love -2
Kings North -2
Cape Fear - 2

Willbrook - 2

They did another poll of favorite North end courses with the following results:

Oyster Bay - 10

Rivers Edge - 10

Tidewater - 9

Leopards Chase - 8

Tigers Eye - 7

Glen Dornoch - 6

Thistle -6

Carolina National - 4

Cape Fear National - 4

Crow Creek - 3

True Blue is unique among MB courses. To most players it is either love it or hate it with few in the middle ground. It was designed on a grand scale with wide fairways, huge bunkers and some large greens. It is like an English Heathland course on steroids.(except without the heather).  When it first opened it was very diffciult with one hole having a difficult blind second shot and there was lots of high grass in the rough. They have made it more user friendly since then, keeping the rough short and lowering the dune that made the shot I refered to so tough. No two holes are the same. The greens are inetersting and allow for a variety of shots. Many of the holes allow bump and run shots.One of the things I don't like about TPC is that almost every hole has bunkers blocking the green front, a narrow entry to the green or some other feature that forces every approach to be flown onto the green. True Blue has more options in that respect. I don't think there is another course in MB like True Blue

Caledonia is like playing in a botanical garden. Besides being beautiful it also offers a nice variety of holes, shot options and interesting greens. Other courses in MB that will remind you of Caledonia, (but not as good IMO) are Heritage and Willbrook, both of which are less expensive courses if that is a factor in choosing.

The Dunes Club. This is one of the oldest courses in MB and is a semi-private club. It has severeal architecturally inetersting and famous holes, including #13 known as "Waterloo". When Robt Trent Jones Senior built this hole it was the first of its kind, a par 5 circling around the lake, daring you to cut off as much as you dare on your second shot to try to reach the green in two or for a shorter hitter, to make a par. It has been copied many times since, but this is the first. If you have an interest in Golf course architecture, in a country club setting, this is a course to play.

Here are links to my photos of these three courses:

http://sports.webshots.com/album/579929091bMBhQR - Dunes

http://sports.webshots.com/album/579927639Swarmy - True Blue

http://sports.webshots.com/album/570513900QVSgqT - Caledonia

For lists of best MB courses by area (South, Cental, and North),  photos and trip planning info, here's a link: http://golfcourses.weebly.com/myrtle-beach--the-grand-strand.html

[sabram]

Originally Posted by DannyG

I'm exploring MB for a first time visit in February. Have you found a place that offers a consistently good package? I have been shopping and it's a bit overwhelming...

I'd suggest that you call Brian Noblin at Myrtle Beach Golf Desk. I've used him to book MB trips several times and found him to be honost, knowledegeable and helpful. He'll help you put together a package that will meet your needs at your price point and it won't be overwhleming. 800- 642-3108 http://www.golfdesk.com/

By the way, February can be quite cold in MB. You  can have frost delays and probably won't be able to play 36 holes a day. The main benefit of MB in Feb is that prices are low.

[Lefty-Golfer]

Originally Posted by sabram

I'd suggest that you call Brian Noblin at Myrtle Beach Golf Desk.

I just finished booking a trip with Brian, we was a very busy man as in his voicemail was always full and once he couldn't even recieve an email due to it being full as well...and in spite of that he was great. had deal done in two days and that included me confirming with my crew that all was good. I would certainly use Brian again, as a matter of fact i plan on using him next year!

April 11-15 condos at Bearfoot landing for group of 12, playing nothing but highend courses.

playing - Bearfoot Love, Oyster Bay, Tidewater, Caledonia twice (am and pm with T times not a replay), Grande Dunes members, Grande Dunes resort. - $1,150.00 per man. i was very happy with both the courses and the price.

[sabram]

6 very nice courses and Barefoot is a nice place to stay. I'm sure you and your group will have a great trip.

[Lefty-Golfer]

Originally Posted by sabram

6 very nice courses and Barefoot is a nice place to stay. I'm sure you and your group will have a great trip.

thanks, glad barefoot is good for condo's, i have never stayed there. the both of the dunes courses will be new to me but i have played the others. i haven't been at tidewater in many years and am looking forward to the return. that has always been one of my favorites!!

[JUDGE SMAILS]

1.  Caledonia- simply the most beautiful course in MB

2.  TPC Myrtle Beach- A true championship course

3. The Dunes- awesome course with "private club" feel

I just booked our trip for July... $1175

We Play...

Sunday-  Fazio @ Barefoot

Monday-  Pawleys Plantation

Caledonia

Tuesday- Wachesaw East Plantation

TPC of Myrtle Beach

Wednsday- Tidewater

The Dunes

Thursday-  Grande Dunes

Preswick

....and fly home that nite!