Keeping It Private: Only three clubs truly member-only in Myrtle Beach

        You would think that out of 120 golf clubs in the Myrtle Beach area, more than three would be private and that they would be spread along the 90-mile stretch of what is known as the Grand Strand. Yet three it is, and just 20 minutes between them on the south end of the Strand.

 

Privilege has its rank

        The three clubs are Wachesaw Plantation, a Tom Fazio designed course in Murrells Inlet; The Reserve Club of Pawleys Island,

located actually in Litchfield Beach and a Greg Norman design; and DeBordieu, one of only two Pete Dye designed courses on the Strand.  The other Dye layout, coincidentally, had a flirtation with privacy when it first opened but now is almost just as “public” as its three sister courses at the Barefort Resort in North Myrtle Beach.

        Wachesaw and DeBordieu rank #4 and #5, respectively, on the Grand Strand according to members of the South Carolina Golf Rating Panel, of which your editor is a recently named member.  (Statewide in golf-robust South Carolina, they rank #33 and #36.) The Dunes Club is rated #1 along the beach, and although it positions itself as a private club, it permits a fair amount of play for guests of local hotels. Everybody’s favorite, the public and expensive Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Pawleys Island -– with $200 green fees in the peak season -- is ranked #2 on the Strand.

 

Plenty in Reserve

        The Greg Norman design at The Reserve is rarely mentioned in the same breath as the top courses of Myrtle Beach, but that could change within a few months.  The McConnell Golf Group, which has been on a buying binge of private golf clubs in recent years, purchased The Reserve during bankruptcy proceedings last April and is pumping seven-figures worth of investment into the course.  All the former bent grass greens are being replaced with a more heat-tolerant Bermuda hybrid, and the course’s copious bunkers are also being re-contoured and filled with a more contrasting white sand to provide badly needed eye appeal on the flat course. 

        If the turf conditions at The Reserve, which reopens in September, turn out anything like Musgrove Mill and Treyburn, two McConnell courses I played recently, McConnell should be able to not only reverse the negative flow of members, but also appeal to new members eager to have access the McConnell’s other five courses within a few hours.  (Note:  I am preparing an article for McConnell’s in-house magazine and will provide a link here when it is published and posted online.)

 

The approach to the 8th hole at the Tom Fazio-designed Wachesaw Plantation.

 

Private Clubs, Gated Communities

        The three private clubs in Myrtle Beach are behind manned gates just off Highway 17, the major north/south route along the Carolinas coast.  The Myrtle Beach area real estate market has cooled considerably.

  After years of steady increases, the last three years have brought drops of as much as 30% to many of the better communities in the area.  A 14-year old 3,400 square foot home in Wachesaw Plantation, with four bedrooms and 3 ½ baths is currently listed at $595,000 and features a fairway view, with a peak at the Waccamaw River in the distance.  In DeBordieu Colony, a five bedroom, 3 ½ bath home on the golf course with 3,500 heated square feet (4,500 “under the roof”) is listed at $597,500.  DeBordieu has its own private beach a short walk or bicycle ride from most homes inside the gates. And at The Reserve, a four bedroom, 2 ½ bath single-level home with 2,500 square feet is on the market for $520,000.  Through August, and while its golf course is closed for renovations, The Reserve is featuring a special $5,000 initiation fee offer.

        If you are interested in any of these communities or any of the dozens of other nice golf communities in the Myrtle Beach area, please contact me

and I will provide more information.