MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. | South Carolina’s Grand Strand has long been known as a golf mecca, where family vacations or a getaway for the buddies are wrapped around tee times. Meanwhile, thousands of couples – locals and outsiders alike – elect to tie the knot here each year, as well. When the former is used to supplement the latter, the lead-up and execution of the biggest day of a couple’s life can be combined with relative ease. The bevy of clubhouses that also serve as some of the finest wedding venues in or around Myrtle Beach frequently coincides with some of the best playing options. In some cases, wedding packages include an accompanying round of golf for a small group or at the very least a hefty discount. More importantly, getting in your golf fix with friends and family at the same place you’re saying “I do” can ease some of the planning nightmares. Here are five locations where both are top-notch experiences.
PINE LAKES COUNTRY CLUB (pictured above)
Myrtle Beach’s oldest golf course also happens be to one of its best on-site wedding venues. The back yard, as so many who have tied the knot there know it, is a quaint stretch of land feeding into the open-air setting of several of the course’s beginning and ending holes. Inside, receptions take place in the historic portion of the original clubhouse, with some of the same decor the room included upon its opening in 1927, as well as the recently renovated bar and grill.
PAWLEYS PLANTATION GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
With the 18th green just a few feet away, couples electing to get married and/or hold their receptions at Pawleys Plantation (pictured right) have a picturesque setting alongside a hole recently named one of the area’s best. The Jack Nicklaus design offers challenging golf, but as far as wedding venues go, Pawleys Plantation has a natural divide that allows the night’s events to flow smoothly from one item to the next. Three separate rooms, including the spacious ballroom, provide more than enough room for several hundred guests.
DUNES GOLF & BEACH CLUB
The Dunes Club, routinely named the top course in Myrtle Beach by one ratings panel or another, is one of the only courses in the area with holes that include even a partial view of the Atlantic Ocean, and you better believe that the backside of the clubhouse and ballroom milk those views for all they are worth. With weather-permitting ceremonies taking place with the waves crashing in the background, the party moves inside to the grand ballroom, where a glass wall reminds everyone all evening that the ocean is a brief walk away.
LITCHFIELD COUNTRY CLUB
Lowcountry weddings or golf don’t get much more Lowcountry than at Litchfield.(pictured right) The golf course, which opened in 1966 and has remained relatively untouched in terms of renovations, is home to centuries old live oaks, many of them starting to come into their own during George Washington’s trek through the area during his 1791 Southern Tour. Especially for outdoor weddings, the properties still have much of the same look, with partial brick walls prevalent at one and the elevated plantation-style building at the inland location serving as a photographer’s dream.
WILD WING PLANTATION
The short veer off U.S. 501 is going to take couples seemingly much further off the hustle and bustle of the thoroughfare. Golfers, too. The straight-line course cuts through nature around preserved land and limited housing before bringing you right back to the oversized clubhouse where one day has started off more than its shared of marriages. The large bar-and-grill can serve as a fantastic staging area for guests during pictures or cocktail hours, and the back-side ballroom sets the scene into the course property that is a green as anyone could hope for.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: In addition to his years as a sports and golf writer, author Ian Guerin has also owned and operated a D.J. and event-planning business in the Myrtle Beach area for nearly a decade. His expertise on venues has steered couples to the right locations to match their needs.]
For More Information on some of the above Wedding Venues Click Here