Story by Ian Guerin
The positive vibes from a round on the links don’t have to evaporate as soon as the 18th pin is placed back into the cup.
Maybe a trip to one of the golf superstores, a reservation at a fancy restaurant or a trek to a nearby bar was the original plan. Frequently, though, what you’re seeking is right where you started the day. The South Carolina Grand Strand’s bevy of courses include some clubhouses where it is clear the owners put every bit the attention to detail as they did on the course.
Here are five (listed alphabetically) that won’t let you down.
Barefoot Resort & Golf, North Myrtle Beach
The mega-property wasn’t messing around with its 35,000-square-foot clubhouse. The restaurant is a mainstay for golfers, not to mention the non-playing visitors renting any of the nearby adjacent condos. The inside bar attracts its share of traffic, as does the outdoor porch and seating area, complete with its views of the final shots of the Fazio Course.
None of this takes into account the divided Dye Club property, which has a small, personality-laden clubhouse where the check-in is a desk inside an exclusive pro shop.
Legends Golf & Resort, Myrtle Beach
The oversized pro shop at Legends is impossible to miss. Check-in for any of the three on-site courses is smack dab in the middle of the room.
But what pulls this clubhouse into a league of its own is the restaurant and bar. A favorite of regulars, especially for those seeking to keep up on their favorite pro or college teams before and after the round, Legends has made the room as inviting as humanly possible, with a split-off pizza section to boot. With every round packaged with breakfast, lunch and two drinks, the clubhouse puts one of its strengths front and center for all to see.
Pine Lakes Country Club, Myrtle Beach
The Robert White Pub and its recently refurbished look feels right at place in the middle of one of the most established clubhouses around. It is a doorway to the sport’s past and exactly what it means to the area.
Steps away from the dining room, pro shop and wedding venue sits the permanent home of the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame. It honors the people who shaped golf not only on these grounds – which opened in 1927 as the Ocean Forest Country Club – but those who continued to push it to become a leader in play for nearly a century to come.
TPC Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet
Two and three years after TPC opened, respectively, the clubhouse earned back-to-back annual honors from Golf World Business. That’s important because, first, the course hasn’t been open all that long. And, second, TPC has continued to add to its impressive off-the-course resume.
The Champions Pub and TPC Grille overlook the 18th green, and an octagonal room disguised as part of a hallway sheds light on the course’s history, which includes the 2000 Senior PGA Tour Championship.
Thistle Golf Club, Sunset Beach (N.C.)
With a course paying homage to a Scottish legend, the aptly named Pot Bunker Pub is the perfect tip of the spear into the Thistle clubhouse. That’s just the beginning. For those looking for more, there is the reservable spot in Leith’s Lounge (pictured, above) or fine dining in Hickory Hall, a separate restaurant that hosts more than its share of private events.
All of it is housed inside a building with stone outer decor resembling the foundations of the game this course seeks to honor.