If you haven’t heard about Rounds 4 Research – an online bidding program to buy rounds of golf at terrific savings, which has been profiled here before, there’s good news: Time remains this fall to get into the mix for not only discounted golf, but chances to play at courses in South Carolina and around the nation not normally accessible to public-play golfers.

Currently, bidding for golf rounds is underway from now until Nov. 5 at www.Rounds4Research.com, e-mail at Rounds4Research@gcsaa.org, or by calling (800) 472-7878. The online auction was begun by the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association (CGCSA) a few years back, offering tee times at courses in both Carolinas, and was such a success it went national via the superintendents association over the past two years.

Profits from the on-line auction support turf grass research programs, at Clemson and N.C. State, among other universities. And if you miss the Nov. 5 deadline, more good news: A second auction will run Nov. 12-26.

Here are a quartet of offers on some of South Carolina’s best (and, in several cases, exclusive) golf courses, with estimated values of the golf packages and bids as of now:

Dunes Golf & Beach Club – Foursome for one 18-hole round including carts at Myrtle Beach’s second-oldest course, designed by Robert Trent Jones and regularly ranked one of the Grand Strand’s best, as well as perhaps the area’s premier private club. Value: $500. Current top bid: $177. (Not valid March-May or October; expires Dec. 31, 2013)

Dataw Island Club – Located on St. Helena Island near Beaufort, foursome for 18-hole round with carts. Dataw Island features 36 holes on the Cotton Dike and Morgan River courses. Value: $320. Current top bid: $177. (Requires one-week advance tee time schedule; expires Aug. 31, 2013)

Dunes West Golf Club – An Arthur Hills-designed layout featuring Wagner Creek, moss-draped oaks and Lowcountry grass-covered dunes, located near Mount Pleasant, 20 minutes from downtown Charleston, foursome for 18 holes including carts. Value: $250. Current top bid: $84 (Monday-Thursday or Friday-Sunday after 1 p.m., not available the day after Thanksgiving or the day after Christmas; expires Aug. 31, 2013)

Long Bay Club – A Jack Nicklaus Signature design ranked as one of Myrtle Beach’s best and most challenging layouts, with large waste areas and formidable pot bunkers, foursome for 18 holes including carts. Value: $200. Top current bid: $67. (Not valid March-April or October, expires Aug. 31, 2013.

Note: A 10 percent handling fee is added to the final bid/sale amount and charged to purchaser’s credit card. A portion of proceeds go to the Environmental Institute for Golf for research, information, environmental protection and public awareness and safety. All sales are final; for more information and terms and conditions, go to www.rounds4research.com.

Rounds 4 Research is administered by the Environmental Institute for Golf (the GCSAA’s philanthropic organization) and presented in partnership with the Toro Co.