Good Friday Afternoon from Classic Swing Golf School in Myrtle Beach. Today it’s extremely windy out so watch your hat carefully! Well anytime in Myrtle Beach is a great time so make your reservations today!
Please enjoy part 1 of this piece by Bob Gillespie!
Where Myrtle Beach Golf Began Nearly a Century Ago
These days, South Carolina’s Grand Strand stretches more than 50 miles from north to south, with some 70 golf courses that make this the Golfing Capital of America. They range from high-end designs by name architects that rank among the world’s best, and smaller, mom-and-pop tracks that offer fun and great value.
But only two of all those courses can lay claim to having started it all.
The oldest existing course in Myrtle Beach, built in 1927 and having undergone a total restoration in 2009, is Pine Lakes Country Club; fittingly located almost in the exact center of the Strand. Once known at Pine Lakes International and affectionately called “The Granddaddy,” the course and its restored clubhouse are credited to Robert White, the first president of the PGA of America and a co-founder of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.
Today, the course’s back nine reflects White’s original design, while the front nine was renovated to “enhance the elegant experience (that) golfers from around the world associate with Pine Lakes,” according to the club.
Myrtle Beach’s second oldest club, by two decades, is The Dunes Beach and Golf Club, built in 1947 by renowned architect Robert Trent Jones Sr. A primarily private club that allows outsiders to play through a limited number of member hotels and golf package providers. The Dunes in its time has hosted multiple Senior PGA Tour (now Champions Tour) events, and was an early member of Golf Digest’s “Top 100 Courses in America.”
A Jones-led renovation in 1992, and a $6 million renovation in 2001, both have kept the course and its bent grass greens in tune with the times. The Dunes is home to Myrtle Beach’s most famous hole, the par-5, lake-wrapping Waterloo.
Both Pine Lakes and The Dunes are products of golf’s Golden Age, with easy green-to-tee locations conducive to walking and subtle but strong greens complexes. Both are exciting strolls through history. –Bob is a former sports writer at Columbia’s The State newspaper. He enjoys golf at South Carolina’s 360-plus courses, and after a round, sampling craft beers from the Palmetto State’s breweries.
Make sure you contact Classic Swing Golf School today, Spring begins March 19!