thornbllade1st_hole.jpg
The first photo we ever featured was of the first hole at The Thornblade Club, in Greer, SC.  Not everyone wants to pay for amenities they won't use in a golf community.  Purchasing a home "outside" the gates and becoming a member of a free-standing private club is a viable option.


    On January 23 a year ago, I posted my first article here, a rather innocuous note about Montgomery, AL, being the best bargain for real estate in the U.S., according to Smart Money magazine.  That day, a half dozen people visited the site, most of them friends and family I had begged to do so.
    GolfCommunityReviews has come a long way.  One year later, our humble site has reached something of a milestone, with 50,000 "hits" from more than 1,100 different visitors this month, both numbers a first for us. That tells me we are attaining a level of gravitas, to invoke a term favored by the mainstream media.
    The mission of GolfCommunityReviews is to provide information that helps golfers make the best possible

I can say what is on my mind, no matter whom I might offend.

decision about the purchase of a retirement home, a second home or a piece of property in a golf rich area.  I receive no compensation from the communities or courses I review, which means I can say what is on my mind, no matter whom I might offend.  Also, I am available and eager to answer questions from readers, to play devil's advocate against all the marketing hype that is out there, and to recommend the best people to contact in the areas in which you are interested.
    To all my frequent readers, thank you for hanging in there with me.  For those who stop by occasionally, please let me know what I can do to make you even more frequent visitors.  I plan to add some bells and whistles this year to expand our offerings and our audience.  In the coming weeks, for example, those of you who love to pour over scorecards will have a dedicated area of the site where we will not only include the scorecards, but also photographs that will give life to some of the numbers.  We also plan to step up the number of interviews we conduct with industry experts so that you don't have to rely solely on my opinions.  The golf community market is a moving target, and the more perspectives and information you have, the better the decisions you can make.    

    Many thanks for your continuing loyalty.

Larry

    We happened upon a fun web site the other day that is loaded with all sorts of interesting data about cities. It is appropriately named City-Data.com, and the site includes numerous lists of Top 100 cities for one thing or another.  The topics are wide-ranging and diverse.
    One that caught our eye was "Most restaurants per zip code."  After scanning the top of the list which, not surprisingly, included really big cities like New York, whose zip codes held the top 11 positions, and Chicago, San Francisco and Las Vegas in the next three positions, #15 was held by zip code 29577 in Myrtle Beach, SC.  At 141 "full-service" restaurants, the Myrtle Beach zip offers just one fewer restaurant than the zip code in Las Vegas.  
    The 27 square mile 29577 zip code area includes the center of the town's beach area, including the former Myrtle Beach Pavilion, which was torn down last year to make way for a housing development overlooking the ocean.  With a population of just 30,000 in zip code 29577, no one is going to go hungry with 141 restaurants available.  However, these are not exactly gourmet food establishments.  Most of the restaurants are seafood buffets, chains (like Olive Garden) or pancake houses, attractive to many of the beach tourists in the summer who do not have cooking facilities in their rooms.  (Many of the 141 restaurants close down in winter because of lack of business.)  But if you look hard, you can find the occasional decent eatery in the group, including the Carolina Roadhouse Highway 17 and 48th Street North, one of our family's favorites for many years.
    The 29577 zip code comprises a few interesting golf courses, including the venerable Myrtlewood, with some holes that play along the Intracoastal Waterway; Whispering Pines, the underestimated municipal course favored by locals and a few visitors; and Pine Lakes International, currently closed for renovations but the "Grandaddy of Them All," the first course opened in Myrtle Beach and the site of the founding of Sports Illustrated magazine.

    Click here for a map of zip code 29577.