South Carolina has long been a popular vacation and recreation destination, especially in the Myrtle Beach area. Consequently, the state is blessed with many beautiful public golf courses, including:
1. and 2. The Barefoot Resort and Golf in North Myrtle Beach is home to four different golf courses: “Course Norman”, “Course Dye”, “Course Love”, and “Course Fazio”. The Love and Fazio courses have been rated as two of the best public golf courses not only in the state, but in the country as a whole and, as their names indicate, were designed respectively by Davis Love III (a native of Carolina) and renowned architect of golf, Tom Fazio.
3. The Caledonia Golf and Fish Club on Pawleys Island is a beautiful course that has been highly rated by Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, and Golfweek. The course is established on what was once a Carolina rice plantation, and is also home to the Caledonia Grillroom, a popular and hospitable restaurant that offers excellent local and southern dishes.
4. The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach is home to one of Robert Trent Jones’ best designs. The course was first built in 1948 and was later improved by Robert Trent Jones himself in 1976-1977 and 1992. Since then, Robert Trent Jones’s son Rees Jones has continued the work of his father and improved the field even more.
5. The Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head on Hilton Head Island is home to three golf courses: “Harbour Town Golf Links”, the “Ocean Course” and “Sea Marsh”. Harbor Town Golf Links has been highly rated by all of Golf Digest, Golf Magazine and Golf Weekly. This course offers panoramic views of the ocean, as well as deep bunkers and lagoons.
6. The Heritage Club at Pawleys Island is another highly rated and beautiful 71 course. The clubhouse overlooks the Waccamaw River, and the course itself offers undulating fairways and undulating greens flanked by lsuh vegetation.
7. King’s North at Myrtle Beach National in Myrtle Beach is an 18-hole course designed by Arnold Palmer and Frank Duane that first opened in 1973. The course has many unique and distinctive holes, including hole 3, which has become on a signature hole for the entire Myrtle Beach area, the 5th hole (nicknamed “The Gamber”) which offers a risky shortcut to the green for a chance at an eagle, and the incredible 18th hole.
8. Kiawah Island Golf Resort is home to no less than five different courses: “Turtle Point”, “Osprey Point”, “Oak Point”, “Cougar Point” and “The Ocean Course”. The most appreciated of them is the Ocean Course, which was built in 1991 by Pete Dye. This course offers 10 seaside holes, more than any other course in the Northern Hemisphere, and is probably the most wind-affected course in the whole country, if not the whole world outside of the UK and Ireland. The most notable feature of the Ocean Course is that the game is completely different depending on the direction of the wind!
9. Tidewater Golf in North Myrtle Beach is a well-regarded course that offers challenging yet playable golf suitable for both professional and junior golfers.