Myrtle Beach enjoyed an unprecedented golf boom that began in the 1970s and reached its zenith during a stretch from 1985-2000 when the area averaged opening three new courses a year.
A contraction, perhaps not unexpectedly, followed the expansion and the area’s subsequent real estate boom.
Myrtle Beach still features a deeper roster of outstanding golf courses than any destination in America, and some of the courses that have closed over the last 20 years aren’t missed – here’s looking at you Heron Point – but some certainly are. After polling locals, we’ve comprised a list of the 5 closed Myrtle Beach golf courses we’d most like to play one more time.
— Renowned for its stunning views, Marsh Harbour, a Dan Maples design, tops the list of courses people would like to revisit. It’s sister course, Ocean Harbour, was also a popular choice.
— Wild Wing was once home to four layouts, and the Woodstork Course edged the Falcon as the one our pollsters would most like to tee it up on again.
— Heather Glen (pictured below) closed in 2018 so memories of the 27-hole property remain fresh. The Clyde Johnston design was long a favorite of North Strand golfers, many of whom still recall the pot bunker known as the Devil’s Mistress on the fourth hole on the White Course with both fondness and fear.
— The Gold Course at Bay Tree hosted the 1977 LPGA Championship, an event won by Chako Higuchi with Pat Bradley and Judy Rankin just three strokes behind. The Gold Course was the best of Bay Tree’s trio of layouts and it also hosted a lot of high-stakes money games.
— The final spot on our list goes to Belle Terre, a Rees Jones design I used to play weekly as part of a work league. This gone-to-soon layout was closed to help make way for Highway 31, a welcome addition by the way, but I’d love to tee it up there one more time on Wednesday evening at 5:15.
Honorable Mention: Waterway Hills (top photo), Ocean Harbour, Wild Wing Falcon.
Which Myrtle Beach golf course do you most miss?