Myrtle Beach Golf News & Updates

A Myrtle Beach golf trip is all about fun, on and off the course, and several establishments around town cater to a group’s desire for games on and off the course.

If the competition on your next Myrtle Beach golf trip extends beyond the course, here are the five best places to settle a score.

5. Ron Jon’s Beer and Burgers in Myrtle Beach offers excellent food and fun. Featuring multiple pool tables and other classic bar games, Ron Jon’s keeps the good times rolling.

Aberdeen Country Club is not a mirror image of Scotland’s sixth oldest course, Royal Aberdeen, but it does share at one trait with its ancient namesake.

The North Strand facility provides players on a Myrtle Beach golf trip an enjoyable day of golf at a 27-hole facility, comprised of the Meadows, Woodlands and Highlands nines. Players experience a protected riverfront preserve with an abundance of wildlife.

Golfers familiar with Aberdeen during their annual Myrtle Beach golf vacation recognize its reputation for well-conditioned TifDwarf greens, tightly guarded fairways, and numerous carries over rustic wetlands.  Drivers beware. Aberdeen demands precision off the tee.

Aberdeen is a 4-star course, according to Golf Digest’s prestigious “Best Places to Play” guide, and it’s popular among families because kids can play free with a paying adult.

All three 18-hole combinations on the Tom Jackson-designed Aberdeen are player-friendly – with no combination of the nines exceeding 7,000 yards in length.

Woodlands (3,445 yards from the championship tees) is considered the most scenic because it takes players along numerous wetlands. Aberdeen’s signature hole is likely the par-4 ninth on the Highlands side with the ultimate dogleg left leading to a 36-yard deep green protected by a greenside bunker in the front.

Golfers beginning on Meadows may want to leave the driver in the bag early. A premium is placed on accuracy throughout the round, but at Aberdeen, like so many Myrtle Beach golf courses, the real emphasis is on providing a memorable experience.

Aberdeen is part of the Myrtle Beach National family of courses. The layout opened in 1990 and has grown into one of the area’s most popular courses.

The marsh and wetland areas remain, reminders of the rice plantation that called the grounds home centuries ago. The scattered vestiges of life in Lowcountry South Carolina – giant oak trees and ambling streams chief among them – provide ample character, but golf has taken center stage at Indigo Creek.

Located in Murrells Inlet, Indigo Creek Golf Club is the type of layout that has helped Myrtle Beach earn its reputation as the world’s premier golf destination. The Gene Hamm design isn’t a top 100 layout, but it is a quality course, set on a piece of property unique to the area, and it offers great value.

Visiting golfers can reasonably expect superb conditions and a course that isn’t short on challenges. Playing 6,747 yards from the tips and, more importantly to the average golfer, 6,167 yards from the white tees, Indigo Creek doesn’t overwhelm players with length, but it does demand accuracy.

A series of doglegs, bunkers and the aforementioned water and marsh areas, which come into play on all 18 holes, require golfers to find the fairway.

“Hit it straight,” head pro A.J. Sawyer said when asked how to thrive at Indigo Creek. “The tee ball is the most important thing out here. If you can get it in play, you are fine; fairways to greens is not that difficult.”

The course can swallow errant drives, but just as often, an ill-placed tee shot will leave an approach unconducive to success. But don’t be scared by the talk of tight fairways and lost balls, Indigo Creek is a fair challenge.

The course rewards players capable of…

A Myrtle Beach golf vacation isn’t complete until attempting to tame Farmstead Golf Links’ monster home hole: a 767-yard par-6. Not a misprint. Literally there is not another hole in the area like Farmstead’s signature offering.Easily the l-o-n-g-e-s-t challenge on the Grand Strand, the 18th at Farmstead begins in South Carolina and ends in North Carolina. Booming drives can rest near a yardage marker that reads 525 yards to the middle of the TifEagle Bermuda green.From the

Located in Sunset Beach, N.C., just over the Carolina border from North Myrtle Beach, Oyster Bay offers one of Myrtle Beach golf’s most relaxing settings, but players need to be prepared for strong test of golf.

A golf vacation to Myrtle Beach presents unique experiences not found at other destinations. One of the qualities a trip to Myrtle Beach offers is a who’s who list of PGA Tour players who have left their signature on the Grand Strand.

Arrive in Myrtle Beach and you can challenge a course designed or co-designed by major championship winners like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ray Floyd, Greg Norman and Davis Love III. There is even a major titleholder, who along with

King’s North is home to some of the most photographed and popular holes on the Myrtle Beach golf scene – No. 6, the Gambler, No. 12, the island green par 3, and No. 18, which has 40 bunkers flanking the left side of the fairway come immediately to mind.

But when we went to long-time head pro Michael Burnside for an insider’s look at the layout’s best, he placed a premium on holes that allow players to make risk-reward decisions. Here are the three best holes at King’s North from Burnside’s perspective.

The official title says it’s the International Club of Myrtle Beach, but it's technically located in Murrells Inlet, an historic fishing village just 20 miles south of the Sun Fun City.

But International Club seems like a world away from the bright lights and big city. The natural beauty of the South Carolina Lowcountry combined with the spotlessly maintained links makes it a favorite tee time among Myrtle Beach golf courses.

Tucked away amid acres of woodlands and wetlands,

Golfers travel from all over the world to tee it up in Myrtle Beach. Many choose to go the extra mile by playing and staying at a North Strand golf resort.

Extending from just north of the Myrtle Beach city limits to beyond the North Carolina border, the North Strand offers all the great accommodations and amenities of the Sun Fun City in a more laid-back setting. The North Strand is also home to some of the top courses and resorts in the Southeast.

If you're looking for a quiet

Mark Chapman, a 21-year Air Force veteran, played 11 rounds of golf in honor of Veteran’s Day in the Golf Capital of the World. Chapman completed all 11 rounds in a time of 10 hours, 19 minutes and eight seconds. Chapman played at Waterway Hills Golf Club, a Myrtle Beach golf vacation favorite. Proceeds from the event benefit the Wounded Warrior Project and Salute Military Golf Association. “What an amazing day; 198 holes in less than 11 hours, I’m exhausted, yet

Many players take a Myrtle Beach golf vacation to escape the hustle and bustle of home. Others escape the hustle and bustle of Myrtle Beach at a South Strand golf resort.

Stretching from Surfside Beach to Georgetown, the South Strand has all the great accommodations of Myrtle Beach in a more laid-back environment.

Whether you're looking for an oceanfront hotel or a country club-style resort, the South Strand has it all in a serene, South Carolina Lowcountry setting.

In addition

As 2011 nears its end, Golfweek magazine has provided a 2012 wish list – its ranking of America’s Top 100 Resort Courses – and a pair of Myrtle Beach golf courses rank near the top.

Caledonia Golf & Fish Club was ranked the 21st best resort course in the nation and the Dunes Club followed closely behind at No. 26. Golfweek published the annual rankings in the November 4 issue of the magazine.

A Mike Strantz design, Caledonia is equal parts art and architecture. The

Don't let the name fool you.

The Witch Golf Club may sound like something golfers don't want to touch with a 10-foot driver, but it's a great course for those who want a good challenge on their next Myrtle Beach golf vacation.

Just as in the classic movie “The Wizard Of Oz,” there are good witches and wicked ones. The Myrtle Beach golf course has a bit of both in its split personality – natural beauty that can cast a spell on golfers while also providing some challenging shots.

Opened in 1989 and located on 500 wooded acres of wetlands between Myrtle Beach and Conway, the scenery is perfectly suited for a relaxing round surrounded by nothing but nature.

But the course can be wicked to those not up to the challenge of the par-71, 6,702-yard layout, 3,600 of which are located on a demanding front nine built amidst a swamp.

The Dan Maples design requires more than 4,000 feet of bridges to navigate the natural lakes and wetlands, most of which appear on the expansive front stretch.

There are some beasts on the opening nine – the 416-yard, par-4 No. 2 that plays over the water, leading up to the par-5, 592-yard No. 8 that requires three solid shots to reach the green.

But the toughest test comes at the turn on the relative short par-4, 349-yard No. 9, a dogleg left that is protected along the left side by thick forest. The good news, is a kinder, gentler back nine situated over more open spaces.

With a slope rating of 133 and a rating of 71.2 from the championship tees, The Witch provides one of the stern test, and also one of the most scenic layouts on the Myrtle Beach golf scene.

Along with sister courses The Wizard and Man O' War, The Witch delivers great golf and value on a Myrtle Beach golf trip.
 

Awards continue to pile up for Lion’s Paw Golf Links and the other three Big Cats at Ocean Ridge Plantation, one of two four-course facilities on the Myrtle Beach golf scene.

In June, Where to Retire Magazine selected the Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., facility as one of America’s top places to retire. It was the seventh time Ocean Ridge Plantation was chosen for the honor.

Lion’s Paw opened in 1991 as the first “Big Cat’’ course. A top 50 selection in the