My Myrtle Beach Golf Vacation

[Vinny Cap]

So I surprised my son with a trip south to the golf capital of America.  He had no idea we were going there.  I told him we were visiting my Uncle out in NY for the weekend for some golf.  He got his clubs ready and packed lightly for the weekend.  When he was sleeping, I packed a week’s worth of clothes to cover the trip as well as bathing suits and beach goodies.

We headed out Sat morning and as we drove past NY he started to ask where we were going.  I played dumb and said change of plans… something had come up and we were doing something different for the weekend.  By the time the sun had gone down, we were in North Carolina and stopped for the night.  Booked a nice Wyndham Hotel in Wilson, NC that was very clean, had a super friendly staff and gave us a great place to sleep for the night.  He wondered if we were visiting my Aunt who also lived in NC but I kept changing the subject and offered up no answer.

We packed up and head out in the morning.  Drove a couple hours down some long stretches of crazy back wood fields, towns and barren land.  All of a sudden a Golf course popped out of nowhere.  As we pulled into the parking lot he got big eyes and said we are golfing here?  In NC?  I said kinda… this is SC and yes we are golfing here.  Played a place called Crown Park.  Was a decent place.  Some greens had some issues recovering from the winter but we had a blast playing as it was 78* and we were not in New England!  We saw so much wildlife out there we thought we were playing through a zoo.  Wild turkeys, swan, geese, ducks, turtles, black squirrels and a couple of cranes.  We both had a blast with the golf and the animals.  When we were done we headed out and shortly were down in Myrtle Beach.  I couldn’t hide the signs so he knew where we were.  He was so excited and it got better as we headed to the beach when he saw the huge hotel we were staying in right on the beach!

We pull into the Ocean Reef Resort and start to unload the car.  Check in and off to our room.  Nice room with all we need in it and then I go over and open the balcony door.  WOW!  What a view!  Up on the 12^th floor overlooking the beach.  I took a couple of pics, we changed into our swim gear and went to explore the pools.  They had a huge outdoor pool, a lazy river, some smaller pools and 5 Jacuzzis.  This place is NICE!

We had the breakfast buffet every day and it was a great spread.  Anything and everything you could want.  After eating we load up and head on out to Blackmoor.  It is a Gary Player course and it was very nice.  Real tight and interwound into a neighborhood where you were in backyards and between driveways all over the place.  It was in great shape and we enjoyed it.

We did dinner and breakfast and then off to the next course.  We played Arrowhead, a Raymond Floyd course.  They had 3 9 hole setups and they stuck us on the hardest one.  It was a beautiful course but the score card didn’t show all the holes and they had a lot of water on the 3^rd 9 hole setup.  We then played the 1^st 9 hole setup and enjoyed it much more.  Didn’t try the 2^nd 9 hole setup but I think it was in between the others.

For our last round, we headed over to Arcadian Shores.  This was our favorite out of all 4 courses.  It was in beautiful shape and was pretty challenging but they did have the holes on the card and that does help when you haven’t played somewhere before.  They have alligators here and we saw 3 of them.  My son thought that was the coolest thing.

Overall this was the best vacation I have ever had.  Everyday was sunny and in between 78* - 82*... couldn't have asked for a better week!  My son totally enjoyed it and we did pretty good golfing.  I won 2, he won 1 and we tied the other round.  I would definitely recommend any of the courses we played and also the Ocean Reef Resort as a place to stay… especially if you have kids.  He loved that place.

Shout out to @DaveP043 for offering up some suggestions for places to stay and eat on the way down there.  Thanks Dave!

 

Edited April 24, 2018 by Vinny Cap

[dennyjones]

So cool.   That is something he will remember for the rest of his life.   thanks for sharing.

[Vinny Cap]

I am glad you enjoyed my story.  Wasn't sure if it was too long.  I wanted to share as we have many cool people here who share their great stories.

We will both remember that vacation.  We can only hope to top it next year!

[klineka]

Share some pics!

Sounds like you guys had a great time and cool idea for the surprise trip!

[Vinny Cap]

41 minutes ago, klineka said:

Share some pics!

Sounds like you guys had a great time and cool idea for the surprise trip!

We had a blast and it was hard to keep it a secret but totally worth it as he was so surprised.

I will get some pics off his phone tonight and add them in tonight or tomorrow.

[Vinny Cap]

Some of the courses we played at.

 

The awesome view of the beach.

Some course pics.

[Vinny Cap]

My son didn't want to be on the web so I blurred our faces.  To show we were on the courses, tearing it up and having a ton of fun I added in these.

[adampaul]

Wow! It seems like you had a great time with your son. I read your whole story, this is the first time I have ever read such long content it seems like very interesting. thanks for sharing such a wonderful journey.

[Vinny Cap]

@adampaul  I am glad you liked my story.  I was worried it was a bit long but I could have made it so much longer with all the non golf activities.  I would so recommend MB for a vacation with your family or friends as it was such a great time.

We are already looking forward to going back next year and we will stay at the same place and try some new courses as they had about 80 within an hours drive.

When we play together during the week, we often reflect back to our vaca when we see turkeys, turtles and other wildlife on the course.

 

[golfnz34me]

In 1992 my golf buddy and I took a trip to Myrtle Beach.  Our package price for 7 days/6 nights of golf and oceanfront hotel was $383.  There was a hurricane sitting about 50 miles off the coast spinning rain bands over us and we were soaked for almost the whole week. (The smell in the back of my friends truck at the end of that week would have made you believe there was a rotting corpse in there :-D)  We played Caledonia, Parkland, Lions Paw, Blackmoor, Deer Track (ughh!) and a couple others I can't remember.  In spite of the rain we had so much fun we've gone back every year but one since.  This will be our 26th year this fall.

[Vinny Cap]

@golfnz34me   Sounds like you are hooked on the MB golf vaca like me.

26 years of going there is sweet.  Wonder if you have played all the courses in the area yet.  I know they have a lot but 26 years is a long time.

[golfnz34me]

We've played most of the courses there, but not all.  There are some muni-level tracks that aren't worth playing that we've intentionally skipped.  And some of the courses are so great (Caledonia, Heritage, TPC, Tidewater, Heather Glen, Tiger's Eye, etc) that we've played some of them a 10-12 times.

In fact, there's maybe ten or so courses we've played that no longer even exist anymore.  (R.I.P Marsh Harbor)

[Vinny Cap]

17 hours ago, golfnz34me said:

And some of the courses are so great (Caledonia, Heritage, TPC, Tidewater, Heather Glen, Tiger's Eye, etc) that we've played some of them a 10-12 times.

Thanks for your list of great courses.  I will keep this and see if we can play these next year on our trip.

[adampaul]

@golfnz34me 

Thanks for sharing such a great list of Golf Courses, hope I can also on these golf courses.