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<p><em>Story by Ian Guerin</em></p>
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<p>From the Cherry Grove Inlet along the north Strand to the Waccamaw River down south, the towering pines of Carolina Forest to the bluffs of the Intracoastal Waterway, golf in the Myrtle Beach area is as much about the environment and what designers did with it as it is the game itself.</p>
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<p>Indeed, the game here is part of a beautiful spectacle.</p>
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<p>A perfect blend of the earth around us and the sport we love.</p>
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<p>The 90 or so courses in our neck of the woods give us every reason to enjoy nature.</p>
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<p>We can smell the salt water, feel the coastal breezes and watch as the mellow changes from season-to-season usher us directly into a feeling of golf euphoria.</p>
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<p>Here are some of the top spots to tee it up, knowing the game is only part of the majesty.</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="500" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Bird-Pawleys.png" alt="" class="wp-image-12906" style="width:350px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Bird-Pawleys.png 600w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Bird-Pawleys-300x250.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong><em>MARSH MAGNIFICENCE</em></strong><br>Anyone who has stood on the 13th green at Pawleys <strong><a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/pawleys-plantation">Plantation Golf &amp; County Club</a></strong> has felt different after. The peninsula of the shared green with No. 16 juts into a marshland that is nearly half a mile from the Atlantic Ocean but still very much affected by its tides.</p>
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<p>From one week to the next, the marsh can appear dry or the opposite, with bird life teeming from the meals they seek. You’ll see cranes tip-toeing through the high grasses.</p>
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<p>The same can be said at <strong><a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/tidewater-golf-club-plantation">Tidewater</a></strong>, where half of the property lies adjacent to the Cherry Grove Inlet. That landscape, during the morning hours, lends itself to the gleam of the sun in a way few courses can ever hope for.</p>
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<p>Both courses &#8211; Pawleys in 1988 and Tidewater in 1990 &#8211; bent their entire design philosophy around it. Jack Nicklaus embedded himself in it, living just off the 14th fairway while he was laying out Pawleys Plantation. Ken Tomlinson, an Columbia attorney by day, used his love of the north end and perfectly aligned it with the design.</p>
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<p>There are others in the area that have their own versions of marsh blending, but these two had an exceptional canvas with which to work.</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="500" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Grande-Dunes-9th.png" alt="" class="wp-image-12907" style="width:350px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Grande-Dunes-9th.png 600w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Grande-Dunes-9th-300x250.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong><em>A DIFFERENT KIND OF WATER</em></strong><br>For as much as any course owner would love to have the bragging rights of holes along the Atlantic, the fact of the matter is that the Myrtle Beach area doesn’t have such a course. Sure, some are close, very close, but hearing the waves crashing while you’re making contact? Not going to happen.</p>
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<p>What we do have is the Intracoastal Waterway.</p>
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<p>To us, that next best thing is pretty darn special.</p>
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<p>Look at how <strong><a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/grande-dunes">Grande Dunes Resort</a></strong> course incorporated is into its own M.O. Five holes play parallel or perpendicular to the waterway, with the Par 3 14th oft-regarded as the signature hole (you can debate that for yourself). The best part is how Grande Dunes framed it all.</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="500" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hawk.png" alt="" class="wp-image-12908" style="width:350px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hawk.png 600w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hawk-300x250.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></figure></div>

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<p>The bluffs alongside the Waterway leave players with an everyday elevated view that are all but unmatched in the Carolinas.</p>
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/arrowhead-country-club">Arrowhead Country Club</a></strong>, in a lower elevation point, took a slightly different approach. Along the fifth hole of its aptly named Waterway 9, players could walk up the left edge of the rough and reach down with a club and touch the thoroughfare.</p>
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<p>Arrowhead knew what a selling point this was, which is a big reason the cart path runs mere feet from the Waterway.</p>
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<p><strong><em>ONE WITH NATURE</em></strong><br>You can’t have nature without animals, and it’s not like the Grand Strand’s prevalence four- and two-legged wildlife is barred from the courses.</p>
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<p>We start with <strong><a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/wild-wing-plantation-avocet">Wild Wing Golf Course</a></strong> in Carolina Forest. There, the mega property once included four distinct 18s, each named for a different bird that called the area home. Even after the site downsized to one full 18 and a 9-hole add-on, the Avocet track is know for as many birdies as it is birdies.</p>
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="600" height="500" src="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Gator-TPC.png" alt="" class="wp-image-12909" style="width:350px" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Gator-TPC.png 600w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Gator-TPC-300x250.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /></figure></div>

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<p>Hawks and eagles nest here, as do 100s of other species, ranging from your every day American crows to blue jays. It’s not coincidence that the clubhouse restaurant is called the Bird’s Nest.</p>
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<p>From the air to the ground, <strong><a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/oyster-bay-golf-links">Oyster Bay Golf Links</a></strong> and <strong><a href="https://www.mbn.com/course/tournament-player-club">TPC of Myrtle Beach</a></strong> have some of the most notably sun bathers around.</p>
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<p>Multiple families of alligators inhabit different ponds at Oyster Bay. Marshalls are often positioned on the course during certain portions of the calendar to warn golfers.</p>
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<p>And down at TPC, the gator that lives in the pond off the 18th green <em>(pictured right)</em> has become a mini-celebrity, with its image adorning Instagram and Facebook for years.</p>
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<p>Both properties are better or their presence.</p>
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<p><em>Photos for this feature from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/myrtlebeachgolftrips/">@MyrtleBeachGolfTrips</a> Instagram Account</em></p>
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Golf & Wildlife: The Natural Beauty of Myrtle Beach’s Courses

Courses in this Article

Arrowhead Country Club

Grande Dunes - Resort Golf Club

Tidewater Golf Club

Wild Wing Golf Club

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