Ten Grand Strand Courses on Golfweek’s “Best 2020: Best You Can Play by State” Listings

Ten Myrtle Beach-area golf courses in the Carolinas have achieved honored status from Golfweek in the national publication’s most recent statewide rankings, with each course earning a spot in “Golfweek’s Best 2020: Best You Can Play by State” listings.

Nine of South Carolina’s 15 courses are in the Myrtle Beach area – led by The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, ranked No. 3 in the state behind only The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and Harbour Town Golf Links at Sea Pines Resort. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club (No. 5), True Blue Golf Club (No. 6), Tidewater Golf Club (No. 7), Heritage Club (No. 8), the Moorland Course at Legends Resort(No. 11), the Dye Course at Barefoot Resort (No. 12), King's North at Myrtle Beach National (No. 13) and TPC Myrtle Beach (No. 14) round out the Palmetto State entries.

The Grand Strand golf market is also represented just across the state line, with Leopard's Chase at Ocean Ridge Plantation coming in at No. 13 in the North Carolina list led by Pinehurst No. 2.

With Golfweek’s recently released nationwide collection of “Best Courses You Can Play,” which includes The Dunes Club, Caledonia and True Blue, the publication also names the best public-access courses in each state as judged by its nationwide network of raters. This list is one of three that serve as the foundation of Golfweek’s course ratings program: Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses, Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses and Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play.

The Dunes Club is the lone Myrtle Beach-area design classified by Golfweek as a “classic” design (built before 1960), and comes in at No. 134 on Golfweek’s nationwide “Best Classic Courses” list. Caledonia ranks 183rd on Golfweek’s national “Best Modern Courses” list.

The members of Golfweek’s course ratings panel regularly evaluate courses and rate them based on 10 criteria, with each member filing a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are then averaged to produce a final rating for each course, with each course rating compared to other courses in its state to produce Golfweek’s final rankings.
All the courses on this list allow public access in some fashion.

KEY: (m) modern, built in 1960 or after; (c) classic, built before 1960. (For courses with a number preceding the (m) or (c), that is where the course ranks on Golfweek’s Best lists for top 200 modern and classic courses in the U.S.)

South Carolina

1. Kiawah Island Golf Resort (Ocean) – Kiawah Island (No. 13 m)
2. Sea Pines Resort (Harbour Town GL) – Hilton Head Island (No. 56 m)
3. The Dunes Golf and Beach Club – Myrtle Beach (No. 134 c)
4. Montage Palmetto Bluff (May River) – Bluffton (No. 150 m)
5. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club – Pawleys Island (No. 183 m)
6. True Blue – Pawleys Island (m)
7. Tidewater – North Myrtle Beach (m)
8. Heritage Club – Pawleys Island (m)
9. Sea Pines Resort (Atlantic Dunes) – Hilton Head Island (m)
10. Sea Pines Resort (Heron Point) – Hilton Head Island (m)
11. Legends Golf Resort (Moorland) – Myrtle Beach (m)
12. Barefoot Resort & Golf (Dye) – North Myrtle Beach (m)
13. Myrtle Beach National (King’s North) – Myrtle Beach (m)
14. TPC Myrtle Beach – Murrells Inlet (m)
15. Palmetto Dunes (Robert Trent Jones) – Hilton Head Island (m)

North Carolina

1. Pinehurst (No. 2) – Pinehurst (No. 15 c)
2. Pinehurst (No. 4) – Pinehurst (No. 115 m)
3. Mid Pines – Southern Pines (No. 112 c)
4. Pine Needles – Southern Pines (No. 145 c)
5. Linville GC – Linville (No. 166 c)
6. Tobacco Road – Sanford (m)
7. Pinehurst (No. 8) – Pinehurst (m)
8. Bald Head Island Club – Bald Head Island (m)
9. *Pinehurst (No. 7) – Pinehurst (m)
10. *UNC Finley Golf Course – Chapel Hill (m)
11. Omni Grove Park Inn – Asheville (c)
12. Ocean Ridge (Leopard’s Chase) – Sunset Beach (m)
13. *Mid South – Southern Pines (m)
14. Duke University GC – Durham (c)
15. Southern Pines GC – Southern Pines (c)