Heritage Golf Club, Pawleys Island, SC (all photos by Elliot deBear)

    One of our faithful readers, Elliot deBear, recently returned from a long weekend on the south end of the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach.  He and a friend stayed in the Pawleys Island area, home to the best courses in the entire Myrtle Beach area (okay, I'm biased, I have a second home in Pawleys).  We love when Elliot submits his reviews because of his enthusiasm, as well as the great photos he takes.  Here are his notes from his trip last week to Myrtle Beach.

    I could not wait to get out of New York and land in Myrtle.  Left the airport and headed straight down to Pawley's Island to play Heritage Golf Club.  What can I say about this beautifully designed golf course that hasn't already been covered?  It is one of my favorites and a classic track in every way. The course was designed originally by Larry Young in the early 80s, but the club later called upon then little known Mike Strantz to redesign the greens and do some bunker tweaking in the 90's.  What I like most about Heritage, aside from its sheer plantation beauty, is that length and power are not a great advantage here.  
    This is a shot maker's course.  Due to challenging pin placements with subtle breaks in the greens, the second shot is everything at Heritage.  We played from the blue tees which deliver a 74.8 rating and 144 slope at 7,000 yards.  This afforded us views of the course layout from the eyes of the designer and the full range of each hole.  Conditions were good, with blue skies and only a light wind.  The greens were a little patchy but rolled very true. Saw a bunch of gators today, some fairly large.  Again, a pure classic that is always on my must play list.
    After Heritage, we ventured over to Martin's, which is always a very dangerous move.  If you haven't been to Martin's, it is the single most fantastic golf store on earth (with a shoe department larger than most shoe stores and every club in existence).  Got away lucky with only one purchase of a pair of Footjoys on sale.  Whew!
    For dinner we headed to Broadway at the Beach, a large shopping and entertainment complex built around a manmade lake.  Sadly, the place was empty, a true sign of the times.  Weather was good and nobody around. Stopped into the Key West Grill for dinner. We didn't expect much from a chain restaurant and were very pleasantly surprised. The food, service and prices were terrific.  We are New York food snobs and really enjoyed dinner.
     We went back to our condo at True Blue to watch college hoops. The two bedrooms, two baths unit was comfortable, clean and well located.  Our balcony overlooked the 15th hole. Good showers with plenty of hot water.  No complaints.
    Next day, we scheduled Caledonia for the morning round, followed by True Blue in the afternoon. This is what I consider among the best back-to-back 18s you can play in Myrtle Beach.  Back to back Mike Strantz all the way.  Caledonia, built in 1993, is a 4.5 star Golf Digest rated track that continues to receive numerous awards. It is visually fantastic.  Just driving through its entrance with 150 year old oaks lining the way with the moss hanging down is worth the visit.  Really nice antebellum clubhouse.  Course was in very good shape, greens rolled true.  Maybe the best combination of par 3's on any course in Myrtle. 

    It was very windy on this day, which caused a lot of back and forth on club selections.  I always bring a camera when playing Caledonia because there are so many great vantage points.  It was a good move today because the course was absolutely empty.  The fish stew they serve at the crossover between nines was, as usual, delicious.  We were a twosome and had the entire track to ourselves.  Couldn't believe it, again a sign of the times.  A must play track for me during each year's visit.  We had a great time and finished with lunch in the clubhouse.  Actually, the grill seemed to have more people in it than the course did.
Tomorrow:  Part two of Elliot's excellent Myrtle Beach vacation.

True Blue Golf Club, Pawleys Island, SC

Pawleys Plantation, home to a fine Jack Nicklaus layout along the marshland, is just one of dozens of Myrtle Beach area golf communities that are "on sale" in the current market. This is the approach to the 16th hole, perhaps the toughest par 4 on the course.

 

Myrtle Beach prices could lure some off sidleines

 

    It is déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra might say.  This morning, we learned that housing starts across the nation increased dramatically in February, shocking economists who had predicted a more than 1% decrease in starts.  Instead, the numbers rose more than 22%.  (Editorial comment:  No wonder so few economists predicted the near collapse of the financial system.  They are like weathermen; they predict sunny, we get rained on without protecting ourselves, then they say, "Oops, conditions no one could have predicted."  Nice work if you can get it.)  New home construction starts in the southern U.S. rose an impressive 30%.
    Coming as they do after three months of double-digit drops in housing

starts, these latest numbers might be cause for optimism about the general trend of the market.  But we still have more than 13 months worth of unsold inventory across the land, much of it foreclosure sales whose pricing keeps solvent homeowners from listing their own homes.  In short, most homes in the current environment are forced sales by those who must relocate for one reason or another (relocation, old age, death, foreclosure) -- all reasons that keep prices low.  Until the majority of the foreclosures are flushed out of the system, the best we should hope for is a stabilization of prices before they start to inch up again in certain areas.  
    Those areas may not include Miami, Las Vegas and the Phoenix area for some years to come, given the huge inventories of unsold and half-finished projects there.  But sheer demographic power will have a positive effect on prices in other areas attractive to retirees with equity in their homes and warm weather in their souls. 

    I am in the Myrtle Beach, SC, this week and, scanning the real estate sections and talking with local residents, it appears the market has come to pretty much of a standstill.  Neighbors of ours who have two properties in the area -- a condo and single-family home -- have put both up for sale and will take the first reasonable offer on one of them and live in the other.  Prices have eroded up and down the Grand Strand, especially on the high-end properties; at the lush Grande Dunes resort, which includes a resort and private golf course, both excellent, million dollar homes are on the market for nearly half what they sold for a few years ago.  
     More modest homes in the Myrtle Beach area have not dropped by such significant percentages from their highs, but bargains abound.  In Sunday's paper, a 2 BR, 2 BA unit overlooking the Greg Norman course at the Barefoot Resort was listed for just $135,000. (See other examples below.)  When prices are such that you start asking yourself "How bad can it (the property) be?" it may be time to start considering a nice little vacation or retirement home.

Other current listings in Myrtle Beach:

International Golf Club, 4 BR/3 BA on golf course, $379,500
Grande Dunes lot, $399,900
Grande Dunes, 4 BR/4 BA on lake, short sale*, $795,000
Long Bay Club, 4 BR/3.5 BA, golf views, $359,900
Indigo Creek patio home, 17th fairway, $219,000
River Club, 3 BR/2 BA, water & golf view, $369,900
Brunswick Plantation, lot, view of Crow Creek golf course, $69,000
The Legends golf resort, 4 BR/4 BA, lake view, $419,000
Wild Wing Plantation, 3 BR/2 BA, golf view, $220,000
Prestwick, 4 BR/3.5 BA, lake, golf views, $499,000
Wachesaw Plantation lot, 5th fairway private Fazio course, $189,500
Pawleys Plantation 3 BR/2 BA, $349,900
True Blue condo, 2 BR/2 BA, golf and water view, $169,000

 

* a "short sale" occurs when the price of the home is lower than the amount owed.  The owners try to get what they can on the sale, then work out the difference with their mortgage holder.