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Davis Love Course at Bearfoot Resort |
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The 60 mile stretch of Route 17 from Southport, North Carolina to Georgetown, South Carolina known as “The Grand Strand” features over 125 golf courses, 70,000 rooms and 1,600 restaurants. Many have said they have “done” Myrtle Beach but you could take several trips to the stretch of coastland and never see it all.
Golfers can take several approaches to visiting the golf Mecca. You can take the whole family and take advantage of not only the great golf but also the theme parks and beaches. It can be a nice get away for the couple that likes to play golf together and still spend some time at the stores and restaurants. The way most take the approach is from the “golf orgy” perspective.
Spring is a hot time for the golfers that are going through cabin fever, but you will pay a premium for that need to hit the links. Greens fees drop a bit during the summer months when the mix of tourists start to include more families. Most courses offer discounted second rounds played at the same property. One of the best resorts to take advantage of this offer is the Barefoot Resort and Golf Club.
The Barefoot Resort opened in 2000 on the west side of the Waterway. Approaching from Route 17, it's just beyond Greg Norman's Steakhouse. Two of the greatest modern designers in Tom Fazio and Pete Dye, and two of the greatest players Greg Norman and Davis Love III have created the best four-pack of courses of any resort on the Strand. The property is also offers numerous golf villas and a massive hotel.
The most visually appealing of the four layouts is Fazio's, which is lined by handsome, if daunting, fairway bunkers and native grasses on nearly every hole. Water hazards exist on 15 holes, but are only a real factor on about half of those.
Dye's offering, the only semi-private course of the four (the other three are fully accessible), is the most visually intimidating. The course is loaded with hazards and can play to 7,343 yards, by far the most challenging course at the resort.
The Love course, which typically receives the most, is the most forgiving off the tee, but on many holes the fairways tighten as they approach the often crowned, making a good iron game essential. This course features faux ruins of an antebellum plantation house.
Perhaps the most underrated course is Greg Norman’s. The course doesn’t get as much publicity only because it's a bit less picturesque and not quite as mature as the others. Lined by endless barren waste areas, it sometimes has the feel of a desert course, with the exception of the few holes that play along the Intra-coastal Waterway.
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