Golfweek lauds Myrtle Beach golf courses

South Carolina is home to some of the best golf in America, and as Golfweek’s recent rankings make abundantly clear, the Palmetto State’s best is in Myrtle Beach. Led by Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and the Dunes Golf & Beach Club, six of South Carolina’s top 10 public courses are located in the Myrtle Beach area, according to Golfweek.

Nearly 475 raters helped Golfweek compile its annual ranking of America’s Top 100 Classic Courses, Top 100 Modern Courses, and Best Courses You Can Play, State by State. Both of the top 100 lists took into account public and private layouts, making the ranking earned by Caledonia and the Dunes Club even more significant.

The Top 100 Classic Courses list ranked courses built before 1960, and the Dunes Club was one of just eight public layouts to make the grade. Ranked No. 94, Dunes joined Pebble Beach, Pinehurst No. 2 and Bethpage Black among the public courses. Cypress Point topped the rankings, followed by Pine Valley, Shinnecock Hills, Merion and Oakmont. Augusta National was ninth.

Caledonia was one of 30 public courses to crack the Top 100 Modern list, checking in at No. 98, giving Myrtle Beach two of the top 38 public courses in the nation.

With the Top 100 lists dominated by private courses, Golfweek ranked the best public courses in each state with its Best You Can Play list, which highlighted the depth and strength of the Myrtle Beach market.

Caledonia was ranked third in South Carolina, followed by the Dunes Club (No. 4), Tidewater (No. 6), True Blue (No. 7), TPC Myrtle Beach (No. 8), and the Love Course at Barefoot Resort (No. 10).

Leopard’s Chase, the newest course at Ocean Ridge Plantation, was ranked the fourth best course in North Carolina, and River’s Edge was No. 10, furthering bolstering the Grand Strand’s status as the Golf Capital of the World.

All three major sets of golf rankings – those by Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and Golfweek – have underscored Myrtle Beach’s growing reputation as a premier destination for golfers in search of elite layouts.

Golf Digest ranked 10 Myrtle Beach area layouts among “America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses,” and Golf Magazine had four Grand Strand layouts among its “Top 100 You Can Play.”