Courses to Hit on Southeast Golf Trips

Planning a golf trip this summer? The Myrtle Beach area has become one of the country’s most popular destinations for golf trips. With well over a hundred golf courses in easy driving distance of nearly any hotel or resort on the Myrtle Beach coast, choosing the courses to play presents the avid golfer with an embarrassment of riches. How do you choose the best links when there are so many available?  How about letting some of the world’s best golf experts help you with your choice?

The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach take top marks in Golf Digest’s Myrtle Super 60 list of top Myrtle Beach golf clubs. Designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1948, the course has been a world class course almost since its inception. While the green has been modified a number of times—most recently in 2003—it remains true to its original spirit and challenge.

Golf Digest ranks the Heritage Club among its 50 Best Public Courses in America and ranks it at No. 13 in South Carolina. The plantation style golf course was built on the site of the True Blue and Midway rice plantations. It features spacious fairways, undulating greens and some of the most gorgeous landscaping in the country. The Myrtle Beach Golf Association ranks it among the Players’ Top 20 and notes that the course had fallen on hard times, but is definitely on the way back up.

The Witch Golf Club, part of the trinity that includes The Wizard and Man o’ War golf clubs, is one of the most unique courses in South Carolina. Created by golf architect Dan Maples, the course opened in 1989. It also ranks among the Players’ Top 20 course at the Myrtle Beach Golf Association, which notes that its dynamic elevation changes and tight fairways make it a challenging course to play. The 1^st and 9^th holes are actually on islands, completely surrounded by wetlands.

Golflink lists Wicked Stick Golf Club among the top five player-friendly golf courses in the Myrtle Beach area. It features a John Daly signature course designed in conjunction with golf architect Clyde Johnstone. It’s not the most challenging course, but the staff is wonderful, and the layout provides enough challenge for experts to have fun without making it frustrating for those with less expertise. Myrtle Beach Golf calls it a great place to have a golf vacation with a group.