8 Things About Azalea Sands You May Not Have Known

If you’ve been golfing the Grand Strand for any length of time, you’ve probably driven past Azalea Sands Golf Club on Highway 17 in North Myrtle Beach. Maybe you’ve played it. Maybe you’ve thought it a “beginner’s course” or just another mid-range stop on a golf trip. Either way, there’s a good chance you don’t know the full story — because Azalea Sands is quietly one of the more interesting courses on the North Strand, and it’s been hiding in plain sight since 1972.

Here’s what many golfers don’t know.

It’s One of the Original North Strand Courses

When Azalea Sands opened in 1972, North Myrtle Beach was a very different place. The massive resort corridor, Barefoot Landing, and the brand-name golf empires that define the area today didn’t exist yet. Azalea Sands was part of the early wave of courses that essentially put North Myrtle Beach on the golf map. That makes it more than 50 years old — a genuine piece of Grand Strand golf history still operating at full capacity.

Gene Hamm Designed It

The course was designed by Gene Hamm, one of the most prolific golf course architects in Carolinas history. Hamm’s fingerprints are all over the Southeast, and his design philosophy leaned toward playability and natural aesthetics over gimmicks. The result at Azalea Sands is a layout that rewards smart, visual golf — the course is best played by reading the land rather than relying strictly on yardage markers. There’s a reason the course uses colored stakes and flags for visual yardage cues rather than exact measured distances: it’s part of the design DNA.

No Homes

This one genuinely surprises people. In a market where nearly every golf course is bordered by condos, townhomes, or residential developments, Azalea Sands is one of the rare Grand Strand courses with virtually no homes adjoining the course. You’re playing through open, natural corridors without the constant reminder that someone’s backyard is your lateral hazard. For golfers who miss the feel of a course that’s actually just a golf course, this matters more than you’d think.

Part of the Course Borders an Airfield

Speaking of unusual neighbors: a portion of Azalea Sands borders North Myrtle Beach’s county owned, public use airfield. Not a residential subdivision, not a strip mall — a runway. It’s the kind of quirky geographic fact that doesn’t show up in the marketing brochure but definitely comes up when you’re mid-backswing and a small aircraft passes overhead.

The 5th Hole Has a Seasonal Secret

In spring, the azaleas the course is named for aren’t just branding — they actually bloom. Vibrantly. The 5th hole in particular puts on a genuine floral show in the spring months, with bursts of color lining the fairway that you won’t find on most courses in the area. It’s the kind of detail that makes a round feel like more than just a round.

It Plays Harder Than Its Reputation Suggests

Azalea Sands has a reputation as a “forgiving” course, which is fair — five tee sets ranging from 3,730 to 6,444 yards make it genuinely accessible to all skill levels. But that reputation undersells the back nine. The course plays as a par 72 with a rating of 69/122 from the white tees, and Google reviewer Ron Owens put it well: “Even from the senior tees, it’s still challenging. At Azalea Sands, doglegs are still doglegs.” The course won’t eat your lunch the way, say, a TPC Myrtle Beach might, but anyone expecting a pushover will have a story to tell at the 19th hole.

The Renovation Was More Significant Than Most People Realize

In recent years, Azalea Sands went through a meaningful transformation that many visiting golfers haven’t fully registered. Trees that formerly separated the back-nine fairways were removed and replaced with open waste areas, creating a more links-adjacent feel on that side of the course. The clubhouse was fully refurbished — new pro shop, renovated restaurant and bar, the works. Google reviewer Nicholas Molling called the conditions “the best of any mid-range course I have played in Myrtle, for $20 less per green fee.” That’s a pretty compelling pitch.

The Staff Culture Is Legitimately Different

Reviewer Greg Witkowski captured it this way: “My sons and I played multiple times throughout the week because of the positive experience and level of course.” When a family plays the same course multiple times in one trip — by choice — the staff is doing something right.

Azalea Sands Golf Club isn’t the flashiest name on the North Strand, and it doesn’t try to be. What it offers instead is 50-plus years of well-maintained history, a layout that plays truer than its price point suggests, and a no-frills golf experience that the Grand Strand increasingly needs more of. Sometimes the course everyone overlooks is the one worth finding.