Every day, it seems, some mainstream media article cites how difficult it is to find reasonably priced homes for sale. Some blame cash-bearing Baby Boomer purchasers for the inability of young and first-time home buyers to enter the real estate market. Forget that interest rates, although moderating, are still an obstacle to young purchasers. But the biggest problem, especially in popular golf communities, are inventory levels, many at historic lows, and for that Baby Boomers may have a role. Nevertheless, there are some reasonably priced homes available for purchase in high-quality golf communities. Using GolfHomes.com as a source, I scanned current homes for sale in some of my favorite golf communities and found some price ranges that will appeal to many potential buyers. Below are a few of them.

Carolina Colours trees sand homeTrees, sand and homes are in harmony along the golf course at Carolina Colours

Carolina Colours in New Bern, NC, features a fine 18-hole semi-private golf course that is reasonably priced for both members and daily fee players and a blend of homes for sale that is atypical of golf communities in the Carolinas. There are a couple of resale homes priced at $500,000 and $700,000 but it was a group of new homes that caught my eye – six of them ranging in price from $356,000 to $366,000 and from 2 BR, 2 BA to 3 BR. They are sited on “patio” lots, less than a quarter-acre, but to me that just means fewer landscaping chores and more time for golf and visits to the historic city of New Bern. This link will take you to all the homes for sale in Carolina Colours, and a couple of home sites as well.

Callawassie approach shot water and sandTom Fazio created 27 holes at Callawassie that put a premium on course manageent -- of sand, trees and water.
It may be tough to spell, but life is easy going at Callawassie Island in Okatie, SC; and the number of homes for sale are surprisingly robust for such a popular and well-located golf community. A reasonable drive from the Bluffton and Hilton Head Island areas, and even closer to the historic and charming town of Beaufort, Callaswassie’s 27-hole Tom Fazio golf course is easy on the eyes and, if you choose the right tee boxes, easy on your game. Homes currently for sale range from $475,000 to $1.8 million, with a dozen nice choices in between. Prefer to build? There are six lots available beginning at just $19,900. Check out all of the Callawassie listings at GolfHomes.com. Click here

There are way more lots for sale than homes at Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club in Kilmarnock, VA. One lot currently for sale at just $84,000 offers a waterfront location “just steps away from the golf course, country club and your boat.” Other lots range in price from just $26,000 in some of the prettiest geography on the east coast, far from urban traffic – Richmond is two hours away – but just a few minutes ride to the Chesapeake Bay. The golf course was designed by the noted architect Tom Clark and much of it plays along water, making it both scenic and challenging, although two sets of hybrid tees among the total of seven tee boxes make choosing a distance to match your game easier. See all the properties for sale at Indian Creek by clicking here

Pawleys 13th from tee 1I liked to brag that Pawleys Plantation's signature par 3 13th hole had a smaller green than #17 at TPC Sawgrass. Not anymore since a recent renovation expanded the green to the right. But with prevailing winds and a narrow landing area front to back, it can still lay claim to being "the shortest par 5 in the Myrtle Beach area."
I own a vacation home in Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC, where the 35-year-old Jack Nicklaus golf course was recently recreated – somewhere between a renovation and an updating. The results were excellent and should appeal especially to those of us whose games do not feature outstanding sand play. In any case, the number of Pawleys properties for sale had fallen under the 10 mark from the time of the pandemic to now but have squeaked above that level. The community is a balanced mix of single-family homes, condo/townhouses and an ever-dwindling number of lots available – just two at the moment. Two townhouses in the Weehawka Woods section, which abut two holes on the course, have come on the market recently priced in the low-to-mid $300s. They are especially suited to those couples or families who intend to spend a few weeks per year at Pawleys and generate rental income the rest of the year. Click here for links to all Pawleys Plantation properties for sale now. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

As I wrote yesterday, the 35 year old Pawleys Plantation golf course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, was significantly restored and renovated this summer – in part to return its green complexes to their original design but also to reduce dramatically the size of fairway bunkers. Since my first round at Pawleys Plantation in 1989, I have probably played the course nearly 100 times.

On my maiden round on the revamped layout in mid-December, I found a layout that will be kinder and gentler for my game. Starting on hole #1, which I have always thought was a great “warm-up” hole anyway, especially if you stayed left of center on your drive and approach shot, it is now even gentler since Nicklaus’ architect on the scene, Troy Vincent, had the 250-yard-long bunker down the right side removed. Only the modest greenside portion of that bunker remains, guarding the right rear half. Ditto the par 4 12th hole, which brings you out toward the marsh and the iconic par 3 13th.

The 12th hole, an otherwise short and easy par 4 dogleg right, had featured one of those tee-to-green bunkers covering the right side of the hole; a ball in the fairway portion of the bunker made it virtually impossible to hold a shot to anywhere but the left front of the green. That huge bunker has now been replaced by three modest-sized fairway bunkers and one at greenside that still covers the right half of the green. Today, if you push your ball to the right, there’s a decent chance you’ll wind up in grass with a playable lie. If you should land in one of those new bunkers, you will be faced with the traditional problem of a longish approach to a tough green whose middle is guarded by a greenside bunker.
Pawleys 13th from teeThe iconic 13th hole at Pawleys -- marsh in front and behind -- was extended to the right, providing a modest bailout area. Still, wind and a green lacking in depth make it the "shortest par 5 in Myrtle Beach."

As for the signature par 3 13th hole, which plays over marsh to a peninsula green from a thin strip of tee boxes along a bulkhead, I used to take some masochistic pride in the fact the green was smaller than the famous 17th at TPC Sawgrass. No longer. Nicklaus and Vincent have extended the green a little to the left and a lot to the right, providing something of a bailout area. But scant depth to the green has been added and the prevailing winds – the Atlantic Ocean is less than a half-mile beyond the green – still play tricks on your choice of clubs; if the breeze is at your back, and with the green as firm as it is, a that strikes the middle to middle-back of the green is likely to bound into the marsh behind. Members like to claim, tongue in cheek, that #13 is the “shortest par 5 in Myrtle Beach.” Despite the changes, it is likely to remain that way.

Founders International, the owners of Pawleys Plantation and 20 other golf courses in the Myrtle Beach area, had not tweaked the design of the course in the years leading up to the renovation – with one exception, the par 3 7th hole. As originally designed by Nicklaus in 1988, the green was shaped like an hourglass, running front to back. A pin position at front was relatively easy to get at with short irons off the tees; the pin was there when my son Tim got his first hole in one. But pins set in the narrow neck or slightly wider back portions of the hourglass were extremely difficult to get close to, and second shots from the bunkers or grass left and right of those locations typically led to double bogey or worse.Most likely with an eye toward speed of play, Founders widened the 7th green a few years ago and, after this summer’s renovation, the green is now even larger. Over time, the tee shot has gone from scary to intimidating to meh.  That really is my only criticism of the course redo – except for the short tee box on the par 4 5th hole, where a tall tree forces us old guys to choose between a shot to the rough on the left of the tree or the bunkers to the right.
Pawleys7thfromteeToday's 7th green at Pawleys Plantation is about half the width of its original size, circa 1989, when a middle pin was nearly impossible to get close to -- from the tee boxes or the bunkers on either side of the green.

It will take a while for the newly planted greens – TifEagle grass which withstands heat and salt well – to soften a bit. For now, pin seeking is verboten unless you are strong enough to spin a ball on linoleum. When pins are set at the front of most greens at Pawleys, the current play is to land short and take your chances on a friendly bounce onto the green or, at least, a chip or putt from inside 10 or 20 yards. When the pins are protected by greenside bunkers, equally conservative approach shots will avoid dreaded double bogies.

Pawleys is still a tough slog for those of us who don’t hit the ball more than 190 yards off the tees, but the slight softening of the layout makes breaking 80 occasionally a more realistic opportunity from what are euphemistically referred to as the “executive” tees. Younger, stronger and better players will pick their poison but should beware: Fickle winds, hard surfaces and smaller but still menacing bunkers still stand guard against aggressive shot making.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!