When it comes to stay-and-play golf packages, Myrtle Beach wrote the book. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of options are available at the click of a mouse, with deals to fit every budget, every skill level and any location along the Grand Strand.
Here are a handful of tried and true properties, each offering a variety of packages that are a good starting point for visitors. Or feel free to explore and find the perfect one for your crew of golf-hungry players.
Legends Golf Resort
With five golf courses, three located at The Legends clubhouse, this is ideal for players who want everything practically within walking distance. Courses include Moorland, P.B. Dye's 1990 tribute to his famous father Pete's PGA West Stadium Course; Heathland, built by Tom Doak in the image of British Isles links courses; Parkland, with its contoured, tree-lined fairways and sweeping waste areas; plus, off-site, Oyster Bay, Dan Maples' 1983 Golf Digest "Course of the Year," and the Heritage Club, built on the site of a former rice plantation.
Accommodations are 2- and 3-bedroom villas that sleep 4-6 with living and dining rooms, TVs in each room, free Internet service, full kitchens with dishwashers and washer and dryer. Beside the large clubhouse where package players have free breakfast, lunch and two beverages each day, the on-property Ailsa Pub has bar and food service and 16 TVs.
Mystical Golf
Located along the US 501 corridor, Wizard Golf Course offers a trio of Dan Maples designs, each a different style of golf architecture. The Wizard evokes Scottish links golf with rolling terrain, few trees and strategic mounding; The Witch winds its way through forests and marshlands; and Man O' War has wide fairways but water on every hole, with several island greens. The Witch and Man O' War are adjacent to each other, The Witch a 10-minute drive away.
Guests stay in three-bedroom Mystical Resort Villas, which sleep up to a foursome, and receive free breakfast and lunch each day, two beverages per round, free range balls and cart fees. Some packages include a gift card for a golf shirt and a steak dinner at Logan's Roadhouse.
The Glens Golf
A four-night stay at the two-bedroom Golf Villas at Barefoot Resort in North Myrtle Beach includes one round each at The Glens Group's courses. The most dramatic is Glen Dornoch, a spectacular property along the Intracoastal Waterway. Shaftsbury Glen, further inland near Conway, and Possum Trot round out the offerings. (Heather Glen, which paid tribute to Scottish-style links golf, has closed permanently.)
Packages include free lunch at each course's clubhouse, free replays after 1:30 p.m. and free range balls prior to each round. Villas include linens and departure cleaning.
Pawleys Island Golf
On the south end of the Grand Strand, Pawleys Plantation, home to one of two Jack Nicklaus courses in Myrtle Beach, offers two-bedroom villas at the course, plus breakfast vouchers each day and a $100 reward card for food, drinks or merchandise.
A three-night package includes rounds at Pawleys Plantation Country Club - a demanding but fun layout featuring marshlands, water and old-growth forests - plus nearby Litchfield Country Club, Tradition Club and the Founders Club of Pawleys Island.
Barefoot Resort & Golf
In North Myrtle Beach along US 17, Barefoot Resort has four courses on the property created by four of the game's premier architects: Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Davis Love III and Greg Norman. The Dye course is semi-private, but available to resort guests, while the Love course was rated No. 1 in Myrtle Beach by Golf Digest. Barefoot serves as host to the annual "Hootie & The Blowfish Monday After the Masters" pro-am tournament.
A three-night stay in Barefoot Resort's two-bedroom villas, with large living and dining rooms, full kitchen and washer-dryer, includes four rounds of golf (one afternoon) with carts, free range balls per round and free lunch and two post-round drinks. Visage GPS in all carts provides accurate yardages tee-to-green. Barefoot also has multiple pools, one the largest swimming pool in South Carolina.
Intel Sports Lodge
A stand-alone property in Murrells Inlet, Inlet Sports Lodge has large apartments and deluxe studio accommodations, some belonging to property owners but with hotel-style rentals available. Besides on-site breakfast and lunch, the lodge has outdoor fire pits and a rooftop "widow's walk" with views of the inlet.
The lodge ownership also owns two of Myrtle Beach's premier courses: Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and True Blue Plantation, a pair of designs by the late Mike Strantz. Caledonia is built on a historic rice plantation and features tidal marshes, creeks and giant live oaks, while True Blue has much of the same topography as well as surprising elevation changes and waste bunkers.
Waccamaw Golf Trail
Also near Pawleys Island and Murrells Inlet, the Waccamaw Golf Trail has 12 area courses, including Caledonia and True Blue, Blackmoor, Tradition Club, Wachesaw East, Heritage Club and the acclaimed TPC Myrtle Beach, home course for PGA Tour player Dustin Johnson.
The Inlet Sports Lodge is one of several accommodations sites for the Waccamaw Golf Trail, including Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort, Pawleys Plantation & Country Club, True Blue Golf Villas, the Litchfield Hampton Inn and Pawleys Island Best Western motels, plus a number of beach rentals via several rental agencies.
