Myrtle Beach Golf News & Updates

Robert Mieczkowski of Laurance Harbor, N.J., shot a gross 76, good for a net 65, at TPC Myrtle Beach during Friday’s World Championship playoff to win the 29th annual Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship. Mieczkowski bested a field of 74 other flight winners

Major League Baseball legend Roger Clemens, who won his flight, shot a gross 79, good for a net 71 and and a share of ninth place.

The Connors brothers – Chuck, George and Dave – were dispersed across the globe and took up golf at different points in their lives.

By the mid-1990s each had been bitten by the golf bug and was playing on a regular basis, but they had never taken a trip together.

The World Am changed that.

Chuck Connors was working for a government contractor in Wiesbaden, Germany when George, who had been playing in the World Am since 1989, made what proved to be a life altering

Kevin Jones’ World Am experience didn’t start with a recommendation from a friend, an email or a magazine advertisement. The Stafford, Va., resident earned free entry into the 2010 tournament through his local amateur tour and has been hooked ever since.

“I came here and saw this is probably the most fun I’ve had playing golf my entire life, and I had to come back,” Jones said Saturday morning at registration. “There are 3,000 golfers and everybody here

Registration opened this morning at the 29th Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship and it was great to catch up with a couple of our 3,100 players. We talked to a man who traveled for almost 24 hours to get here, a man who hails from the only town in America that lacks a consonant letter in its name (Aiea, Hawaii), and a guy who already already knows his left leg will be shaking on the first

Market Common has grown into one of the area’s most popular destinations for Myrtle Beach golfers, its combination of outstanding dining and nightlife proving a powerful lure. One of the town center-like development’s anchor establishments is Tommy Bahama, a company more immediately recognizable for the quality of its clothing. But the accompanying restaurant at Market Common is one of the area’s best. In this installment of the Myrtle Beach Golf Buzz, host Blair

Rees Jones has worked on courses that have hosted multiple U.S. Opens, Ryder Cups and PGA Championships, so he has crafted many quality layouts, including his work on the Jones Course at Sea Trail Plantation.

We assigned Sea Trail’s head pro, Eddie Pratt, the difficult task of identifying Jones’ best work at Sea Trail, and Pratt, after much thought, provided us the three best holes on the Jones Course, one of two Myrtle Beach golf courses he has designed.

Basketball legend Julius “Dr. J” Erving, baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan and former football star Ed “Too Tall” Jones are among the athletes and entertainers enjoying the Myrtle Beach golf experience as part of this weekend’s Know Your Score: Fight Prostate Cancer Celebrity Golf Tournament.

The fourth annual event will be played Saturday, August 18 at Pawleys Plantation, a Jack Nicklaus design that is among the area’s most scenic layouts.

All

The Grand Strand is home to more than a thousand restaurants, so it’s not easy for a new establishment to earn immediate acceptance as one of the best, but the area’s newest steakhouse has done just that. 21 Main, located at North Beach Plantation, has taken its seat alongside New York Prime and Ruth’s Chris as the area’s best places to order a steak. In this installment of the Myrtle Beach Golf Buzz, host Blair O’Neal gives you an inside look at 21 Main and a

Market Common is a trendy urban shopping district, and it tastes like one too.

Featuring some of the Grand Strand's best dining, Market Common is a great place to go for a night out on your next Myrtle Beach golf trip.

Here are five restaurants in Market Common where you can't go wrong:

* Divine Prime is Market Common’s answer to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and New York Prime, featuring an extensive selection of Grade A Prime cuts of meat and fresh seafood.

If you

Everyone likes to get a new driver in search of a couple more yards off the tee, and in this installment of Myrtle Beach Golf Buzz, host Blair O’Neal introduces you to two of 2012’s most popular new drivers. Come to PGA Tour Superstore with Blair and get the inside scoop on two of the game’s hottest drivers – TaylorMade’s R11s and Cobra’s AMP driver. Blair and her guests provide a detailed look at what each driver offers and how they can benefit your game.

Dan Maples has publicly declared Willbrook Plantation one of his finest works, and a round at the South Strand gem will leave little doubt as to why. Willbrook challenges golfers with a strong design and charms them with an unforgettable lowcountry setting.

Identifying the cream of the crop at the 4.5-star course, a long-time favorite of Myrtle Beach golf insiders, isn’t easy, but we ask head pro Kevin McGuire to provide a look at the layout’s three best holes and he obliged.

Golf Magazine has unveiled its list of the “Top 100 Courses You Can Play,” a ranking of America’s 100 best public layouts, and three Myrtle Beach golf courses have earned a spot on the prestigious list.

Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, Dunes Golf & Beach Club and the Love Course at Barefoot Resort all earned a spot among the nation’s elite public courses.

Caledonia, a Mike Strantz design, again led by the way. The South Strand favorite was ranked 27th, a one

Set amidst sprawling oak trees draped in Spanish moss and abundant wildlife, Willbrook Plantation provides a quality round of golf with the ambiance to match.

Range finders and GPS devices can help make the game easier and speed pace of play. In this installment of Myrtle Beach Golf Buzz, host Blair O’Neal takes you to PGA Tour Superstore to review the best distance measuring devices on the market. From laser range finders to handheld GPS devices, Blair showcases the latest and greatest on the market (including what she uses!). Find out which device will work best on your next Myrtle Beach golf trip.

Blair O’Neal: Hi. I'm Blair