After 25 years, my wife and I are selling our vacation condo in Pawleys Plantation, Pawleys Island, SC, leaving behind a fabulous golf course, one of the best beaches on the east coast, good friends and lots of inter-generational memories. This month, I recount what we will miss most, and what memories future owners of our condo might begin to build.
Since 2000, my wife Connie and I have owned a three-bedroom, three-bath condominium in the Woodstork Landing neighborhood of Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC. Our son was 11 years old and our daughter eight when we purchased the end unit of a six-unit building that had not been built yet. We have used it as a vacation home over the last 25 years. Our two children are now in their 30s and with children of their own – our sixth grandchild was born in early October. The kids live in northern Vermont and Vero Beach, FL, with a child by a previous marriage, my son, living with his wife and two children in New Jersey. As you can imagine, our travel plans have changed significantly over the last decade and the condo is under-utilized as a vacation stop as we travel up and down the eastern seaboard to celebrate births, birthdays and major holidays.
In the coming weeks, we will put our condo up for sale. Although my wife and children agree that it is not smart to spend for something that we cannot use much anymore, the memories make this an emotional decision for all. My son Tim has been obsessed with golf since I stuck a plastic club in his hand when he was four. He had his first birdie at a course in the Myrtle Beach area before he turned 10 and his interest in coastal golf course layouts stoked his interest in golf architecture. When he was 11, he and I won our flight at the huge Myrtle Beach Father & Son Classic. (Truth be told, his age qualified him to play from the front tees and that was a deciding factor in our victory.) Every summer Tim competed against kids his age in the Pawleys Island area’s junior golf program. I am certain there is a straight line between his golf experiences in the Myrtle Beach area and his currently successful career as a golf writer for GolfPass, a division of The Golf Channel.
My daughter Jennie and my wife Connie were smitten with the beach at Pawleys Island since the first time they laid eyes on it. The beach is a mere six-minute drive from the front gate of Pawleys Plantation and, except at the height of the beach season in mid-summer, parking within steps of the beach is easy, and free. (All beaches in South Carolina are open to the public. Even when parking is at a premium, you can find a spot on some beautiful beach along the 25-mile stretch between Pawleys Island and Myrtle Beach.) Jennie did not inherit her fine swimming abilities from me; she earned it swimming in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Pawleys Plantation clubhouse pool, a mere three-minute walk around the pond from our condo.
Pawleys Plantation par 3 13th hole, the “shortest par 5 in Myrtle Beach.
The 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course at Pawleys Plantation was opened in 1988. As was typical back then, properties had barely been offered for sale yet; the course was the lure to attract buyers for the adjacent properties. Hurricane Hugo, which severely damaged Charleston, caused flooding and downed trees in Pawleys Island in 1989; I played the golf course a few months after and it had drained well and showed no signs of damage.
In the time since, trees and other flora around the golf course and the community have grown substantially. Today, as you drive through the community’s guarded gate and toward the golf course, you are struck by the effects of the landscaping. Live oaks and other trees form a canopy over many of the side roads; those dramatic live oaks are also a feature of Nicklaus’ layout. In the middle of the par 4 9th fairway, for example, a huge live oak tree, dripping with Spanish moss as well as danger, beckons you to tee it high and hit it high over the top. Doing so will kick the ball down the fairway at least 50 yards farther than if you take the more conservative approach left or right of the tree (or under it, if your worm burner is working well).
Despite warnings in the pro shop and on the scorecard, the Nicklaus layout is not to be trifled with, even though it was softened four years ago mostly with the elimination of a few acres of sand. But the bunkers remain tucked up against most of the greens, and what remains of sand in the fairways can gobble a slightly wayward shot and spell bogey or worse. Because of the tilt of the greens and those adjacent bunkers, the pin positions determine the degree of difficulty for individual holes in ways you won’t encounter at many other courses. At the long par 4 8th hole, for example, a pin on the right side of the green brings bunker in front and lake to the right into play if you are too aggressive. I’d estimate that particular pin position adds an extra half stroke in difficulty compared with a flagstick at front left.
Your enjoyment of a round at Pawleys is dependent on which tees you choose to play, as much as how you are striking the ball. (Some of my more amusing moments in Pawleys Plantation came from sitting on our patio, which has a direct view onto the tee boxes of the par 4 15th hole. The very back tees at Pawleys carry a rating of 74.1 and slope of 144 (before a renovation five years ago, they were even higher). It made me chuckle to see some of the swings on that back tee, knowing full well those optimistic birdie-seeking golfers had their wings clipped during the round.
The 18th hole at Caledonia Golf and Fish Club, view from the clubhouse dining area.
Pawleys Island is blessed with some of the best golf on the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach, which runs about 90 miles from Georgetown, SC to just short of Wilmington, NC. Within a five-minute drive of our front gate, Caledonia Golf and Fish club and True Blue offer two of the most unusual golf experiences anywhere. Both layouts were designed by the late Mike Strantz. Caledonia features lots of sand and water that serve both as challenges and eye candy. You won’t find a golf course with more sand on and around it than True Blue, where half the waste bunkers – golf carts are permitted to drive through them – afford the kinds of lies you’d expect in the fairways. The par 4 18th at Caledonia ends on a 100-foot-long green with the deck of the clubhouse dining area seemingly hanging over the back edge of the green. With an audience, drinks in hand, looking down on you – literally and figuratively – that five-foot putt can look a bit longer.
Pawleys Island may be a resort town – it claims to be the first one on the east coast – but it is situated very well for year-round living. Four of the six couples in our building live there year-round, and my guess is that reflects the overall population of the 900-acre community. Within five miles of our front gate, you have your choice of six supermarkets, including the Whole-Foods-like Fresh Market and a just-opened European chain store Aldi, which features a select discounted line of items. Spring and fall are the high seasons for golf, summer for the beach, and winter for the hardy year-rounders (and a few hardy out-of-town golfers looking for bargain green fees). Our family has spent late December weeks down there, and some years my son and I played golf in shorts and golf shirt and other years in heavy sweaters. On the two or three days a year it snows in Pawleys Island, the snow is gone the next day in all but rare cases.
Restaurants in the area are plentiful, and some of them are quite good. Check out Frank’s, Chive Blossom and Perrone’s for upscale dining; consider the buffet at Hog Heaven for t-shirt and cutoffs dining and some of the best fried chicken east of the Mississippi – all you can eat for $11. Charleston is a little over an hour away and the city maintains, justifiably, one of the best reputations for dining on the east coast.
Healthcare options in the Pawleys Island area are good and getting better every year. Since 2000, we have had to call on the emergency room in Georgetown, eight miles away, for a few minor calamities. The wait times were well within reason and the care as good as we are used to in the ERs of the Hartford, CT, area. Some years ago, while in South Carolina, my left knee gave out. I hobbled around for a couple of days before making an appointment with a local orthopedist. He determined that a cortisone injection would give me relief but that I could very well require replacement in one or both knees within a couple of years. His aim with the needle was true because that was 14 years ago, and I am happy to say that both my knees feel fine today, no replacements necessary. I have returned to that doc for shots in my shoulder and wrist, each time to positive effect. Most specialties in the area are part of the Tidelands Health system which spans Georgetown (Pawleys Island) and Horry (Myrtle Beach) Counties.
If Pawleys Island lacks anything that is important to most of us, it is what to do for entertainment when you are not on a golf course or the beach. There are no movie theaters within 20 miles, and the only live performance theater, in Georgetown, presents sporadic local theater-company shows (and a rare art movie). In terms of visual entertainment, the digital age has been a godsend for those who love Pawleys Island but would miss movies and big-city sporting events. (Note: Through a full-community agreement with cable provider Spectrum, we are billed less than $30 a month for TV, Internet and telephone, although additional payments are made through our HOA dues.). But despite the lack of near-city amenities, the area is blessed with one of the most impressive cultural attractions on the east coast – Brookgreen Gardens, a 9,000-acre sculpture garden with keen emphasis on both “sculptures” and “gardens.” Brookgreen, as well as the big, beautiful beach at Huntington State Park across Highway 17, were donated to the state by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington in 1931. Archer was a major philanthropist and Anna a renowned sculptress. There is even a zoo in Brookgreen Gardens where children can get close to the animals. A one-hour boat trip through the marsh is both entertaining and informative about life on the former 19th Century rice plantation.
Have a seat: Just one of the hundreds of sculptures in Brookgreen Gardens.
What I particularly like about Pawleys Island is that virtually everyone you meet is from somewhere else. Our next door neighbors hail from Connecticut – they bought the unit from our former Kentucky neighbors. The others in our six-unit building are from New Jersey, North Carolina (by way of the Caribbean island of Eleuthra), Columbia, SC, and West Virginia. The owners of Landolfi’s, a popular Italian bistro that arguably makes the best pizza AND cannoli in the area, are from outside Philadelphia. A popular grocery store and Italian market is run by folks from New Jersey. And a new meat purveyor in Pawleys Island is called New York Butcher Shoppe, although I have no idea where the owners are from.
A few words about shopping. As with many tourist-dominated areas, Myrtle Beach has its share – some might say more than its share – of outlet shopping malls. I have supplemented my own wardrobe with bargains I’ve stumbled upon while browsing in one of the area’s outlet malls. My latest acquisition was a pair of Travis Matthew golf shoes that retail for around $140. They cost me $80, and they are as comfortable and certainly as fashionable as any I have worn. For those inclined toward standard shopping malls with reliable department stores, Coastal Grand in Myrtle Beach is slightly more than a half hour from Pawleys Plantation, just a mile from Myrtle Beach International Airport.
It will be hard for our family to leave Pawleys Island, but I do not plan on a full separation. I have made a deal with my wife and children that after we sell the condo, I will be pleased to arrange for a week or two in a Pawleys Island house, steps from the beach and a mere 10-minute drive to some of the best golf on the east coast. With grandkids involved now, Pawleys Island could very well become a multi-generational playground for our family for years to come.
Thanks for reading,
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
