Tag: True Blue

Where to play golf around Myrtle Beach: Golfweek’s Best public-access courses

Thanks to Golfweek’s Best rankings, we break out the top courses around Myrtle Beach.

Looking to play the best public-access courses at one of the most popular golf destinations in the U.S.? We’ve got you – and Myrtle Beach – covered. Using the Golfweek’s Best rankings of public-access courses in South Carolina, we are featuring the layouts within an hour’s drive of the Grand Strand.

For this exercise, we used Google Maps and punched in each course as of a Saturday morning to determine drive times, with Myrtle Beach International Airport as an achored starting point. Included with this list is a general map of where to find all these courses. Each one on the list below is represented with a number on the map – keep scrolling to see the numbers. The numbers represent the order in which the courses are ranked.

Included with each course is its position in South Carolina on the Golfweek’s Best public-access list. For any course that appears on our other popular rankings lists, those positions are included as well.

A little background: The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all our Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

The courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort, by staying at an affiliated hotel or purchasing a golf vacation package. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time – no membership required.

Myrtle beach map
(Google Earth and Golfweek)

Golfweek’s Best 2022: Top public and private courses in South Carolina

Which layouts top the public-access and private course rankings in South Carolina?

South Carolina is one of the most popular golf destinations in the country, with top layouts stacked alongs the Atlantic coast. From major-championship sites to PGA Tour venues to elite private clubs, the Palmetto State’s golf offerings are a gift that just keeps giving. Keep scrolling to see the best of them.

Golfweek’s Best offers many lists of course rankings, with that of top public-access courses in each state among the most popular. All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time.

Also popular are the Golfweek’s Best rankings of top private courses in each state, and that list for South Carolina’s private offerings is likewise included below.

MORE: Best Modern | Best Classic | Top 200 Resort | Top 200 Residential | Top 100 Best You Can Play

(m): Modern course, built in or after 1960
(c): Classic course, built before 1960

Note: If there is a number in the parenthesis with the m or c, that indicates where that course ranks among Golfweek’s Best top 200 modern or classic courses. 

* New to or returning to list

Preview: The 2022 International Mid-Am & Senior Championships

The best mid-ams and senior amateur golfers in the world are soon descending upon Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

The best mid-ams and senior amateur golfers in the world are soon descending upon Pawleys Island, South Carolina. The 2022 International Mid-Amateur & Senior Championship plays host to a who’s who of amateur golf. Considered as a major in the amateur golf world, the best of the best will be teeing it up August 4-7 for a piece of history.

Names like Paul Simson, Doug Hanzel, Bob Royak and Rusty Strawn all pop off the screen when looking at the senior roster.

Simson is one of the best American amateur golfers in the game’s history. Two U.S. Senior ams, a mini grand slam in 2010 winning the U.S., British, and Canadian Senior amateur championships in less than two months time, nine North & South victories (2 amateur wins, 7 senior amateur wins), and over 40 Carolinas Golf Association championships gives Simson a World Golf Hall of Fame worthy career.

Hanzel is coming off a win last month at the National Senior Hall of Fame tournament. Royak is constantly at the top of leaderboards and won the 2019 U.S. Senior amateur. Strawn is currently ranked No. 2 in the Golfweek Senior Amateur rankings, trailing Kevin VandenBerg, who is also in the field this week.

In all, 38 seniors in the field are ranked in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

As for the mid-ams in the field this week, 13 are ranked in WAGR. Brett Viboch, ranked 1,599 in the world, is the top ranked mid-am at the event. Constantly at the top of the leaderboards both at USGA mid-ams and Northern California amateur championships, Viboch is due to break through.

Other notables in the field include Jay Livsey, Justin Young, Domingo Jojola, and Gant Bills.

Mike Stranz’s masterpieces Caledonia and True Blue are the courses playing host this week. With remnants of the rice plantations that once stood where the courses now reside, both tracks take a players best golf if they are going to claim a championship.

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