Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
In 1967, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, had fewer than 10 golf courses. Today, there are nearly 100.
“No other destination can match Myrtle Beach not only with its number of courses but its outstanding designs,” said Chris King, spokesman for Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, the destination marketing organization for the area’s golf courses.
For groups looking to gather, the Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club on quiet Pawleys Island has event space for up to 150 people, and each of its guest villas offers a golf course view. On the Jack Nicklaus-designed course, “five of the nine holes on the backside play out over the saltwater tidal marsh,” King said. “Visually, it’s a stunning golf course.”
The Caledonia Golf and Fish Club is on the grounds of a historic rice plantation, and an avenue of 150-year-old live oaks leads to the clubhouse entrance. The tented outdoor event area can accommodate up to 400 guests.
The Marina Inn at Grande Dunes has event space for up to 700 guests, including the 5,100-square-foot Nautilus Ballroom, which can be used with the prefunction area, the outdoor loggia and the Grande Lawn. The resort also has a variety of smaller conference and meeting rooms. Eight of the 18 holes at the Grande Dunes Resort Course play along the intercoastal waterway.
The Tidewater Golf Club is one of the area’s iconic layouts, and the Dunes Golf and Beach Club was the city’s second golf course; the first was built in 1927 at the Pine Lakes Country Club and is today known as “The Granddaddy.” Though neither the Tidewater nor the Dunes has much event space, they “are without question our premier golf courses,” King said.
Southeastern West Virginia
Although they’re an hour’s drive apart, the sister resorts of the Greenbrier and the Resort at Glade Springs pair perfectly as complementary golf destinations in southeastern West Virginia.
When Jim Justice, owner of the Greenbrier and current governor of West Virginia, bought Glade Springs in 2010, he said the sister resort relationship offered both properties “the opportunity to present a broader range of options in price and quality to their many loyal guests and corporate clients.”
The 4,100-acre Glade Springs Resort has three 18-hole courses. The Stonehaven Course loops around both sides of Chatham Lake and through a forest of maple, beech, hickory and oak trees. The Cobb Course got its name from its designer, George Cobb; the newest addition, the Woodhaven Course, was completed in 2010 and offers players views of the gorge and mountains.
The resort has more than 19,000 square feet of conference space in the 48-guest-room inn and in the clubhouse. In the inn, the Glade Room has nearly 3,500 square feet for dinners with up to 330 guests; the Bright Ballroom is more than 3,300 square feet, and the 2,350-square-foot Woodland Room can be divided into three smaller spaces.
Planners can opt for themed events, such as an Appalachian Mountain Festival with quilt-covered tables, oil lanterns and buffets filled with West Virginia favorites. The resort’s team-building academy offers a variety of programs that range from full-day to two-hour options.
The historic Greenbrier resort has five courses, and the Old White TPC course reopened in July following a complete restoration for the 2017 Greenbrier Classic, a PGA Tour FedEx Cup Event. It is now open to public play. The Greenbrier’s conference facilities include more than 130,000 square feet of flexible meeting space with 40 breakout rooms and a 16,500-square-foot exhibit hall.
