A Myrtle Beach golf trip is the easiest good golf trip in America: 80-plus public courses along 60 miles of coast, packages from roughly $450 per golfer for three nights and four rounds, and a season that barely stops. Go in spring or fall for the best conditions, or winter for the lowest prices.
That’s why so many buddies trips end up here, and why a few golfers turn their noses up at it. Myrtle Beach is not Pebble Beach and doesn’t pretend to be. It’s a golf machine: the courses, condos, package operators, pancake houses and late-night bars all run on the assumption that you’ve come to play 36 holes, eat too much and do it again tomorrow. For a group of eight with mixed handicaps and mixed budgets, nowhere in the country does it better.
The Grand Strand is also only the top of a longer story. Drive two hours south and you’re in Charleston, with Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course about 45 minutes beyond. Another two hours and you’re at Harbour Town on Hilton Head. Keep going and you reach Sea Island, Georgia. This page covers the whole coast as one golf corridor, starting with Myrtle Beach and working south. It’s the hub for all our Carolina and Georgia coast guides, so each section points to a deeper page when you need one.
Prices here were checked in September 2026. Myrtle Beach green fees move by season, day of the week and time of day more than almost anywhere else, so we give tiers and ranges rather than rack rates that are wrong by the following Tuesday.
At a glance
- Courses: more than 80 championship courses on the Grand Strand, or 90-plus depending on who’s counting and whether you include the North Carolina side.
- Package cost: about $450–$700+ per golfer for 3 nights and 4 rounds with lodging; $300+ at the budget end, $800–$1,200+ for premium courses and oceanfront rooms (Myrtle Beach Golf, May 2026).
- Best time: March to May and September to November for conditions; December to February for the lowest prices.
- Getting there: Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) is ten minutes from the beach, with nonstop flights from many East Coast and Midwest cities, many of them seasonal. It’s also a realistic drive from a large slice of the eastern US.
- How you’ll play: almost always in a cart. Caddies are rare, which keeps costs down.
- Farther south: Charleston and Kiawah Island (about 2 hours from Myrtle Beach), Hilton Head (about 3.5 hours) and Sea Island, Georgia (about 5 hours).
Is Myrtle Beach good for a golf trip?
Yes, especially for groups. It has more public golf in one place than anywhere else in the US, courses at every price, cheap condos that sleep eight, and package operators who handle tee times. What it lacks is a true bucket-list course. Come for volume and value, not a once-in-a-lifetime round.
The honest case for Myrtle Beach rests on three things.
Choice. With more than 80 courses in an hour’s drive, you can build a four-round trip without repeating an architect, and you can mix a $250 round at a course like Caledonia with an $80 round somewhere perfectly pleasant. Few destinations let a group split the difference that easily.
Logistics. The whole town is set up for golf groups. Condo complexes have golf bag storage. Package operators book tee times at dozens of courses on one invoice. Most courses run cart golf with fast tee sheets, and 36-hole days are completely normal. Replay rounds on the same day are often sold at a steep discount.
Price. Because courses compete with each other for package business, a round that would cost $180 in Scottsdale in March might cost $110 here. Outside the spring and fall peaks, it drops further.
The case against is mostly about ceilings. There’s no Pinehurst No. 2 or Bandon here. The best Myrtle Beach courses are very good, but the average course is a well-kept parkland layout with pine trees, water and houses along the fairways. Some groups find four days of that a bit samey. The town itself is loud, and in summer it’s full of families and heat. If the point of your trip is one great course, go elsewhere. If the point is golf with friends at a price everyone can afford, this is the default for good reason.
Our buddies golf trip guide covers how to organise the group itself: who books, how deposits work and how to set up the games.
The Grand Strand by area: where the courses are
The Grand Strand is about 60 miles of coastline, and on a four-day trip you don’t want to spend two hours of each day in a car on Highway 17. Pick a base near the courses you most want to play. The coast breaks roughly into four golf areas.
North Strand: North Myrtle Beach, Little River and Cherry Grove. Barefoot Resort’s four courses sit here, along with Tidewater, one of the most scenic courses on the Strand, which runs along a marsh and the Intracoastal Waterway. Glen Dornoch is nearby. Base yourself here if the group wants a slightly quieter feel than central Myrtle Beach, with the Brunswick County courses just over the North Carolina line.
Central Myrtle Beach and Carolina Forest. This is the heart of the package market: Myrtle Beach National’s three courses (including King’s North, with its island-fairway par 5), Pine Lakes (the “Granddaddy”, open since 1927), Grande Dunes, the Legends complex and the Dunes Golf & Beach Club. The airport is here, as are most of the big condo towers. It’s the best base for groups who want to split their rounds between north and south.
South Strand: Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island and Litchfield. For many golfers this is the best golf on the Strand. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and True Blue, both designed by the late Mike Strantz, face each other across the road in Pawleys Island. TPC Myrtle Beach, Pawleys Plantation, Heritage Club, Litchfield and River Club are all within a few miles. The South Strand is quieter and a little more upmarket, and the restaurants in Murrells Inlet are better than the ones on Ocean Boulevard.
Brunswick County, North Carolina: Sunset Beach, Ocean Isle and Calabash. Technically not Myrtle Beach, but 20 to 40 minutes from North Myrtle Beach and often included in packages. Ocean Ridge Plantation’s four “Big Cats” courses and the Sea Trail and Thistle courses are here. Rates are often a bit lower than equivalent Myrtle courses.
A rough rule for a four-day trip: pick one area as a base, play three of your four rounds within 25 minutes of it, and accept one longer drive for the course everyone wants. Our guide to where to stay in Myrtle Beach for golf compares condos, golf resorts and oceanfront hotels by area.
Getting to Myrtle Beach and getting around
Flying. Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) is the easy option: it sits right in the middle of the Strand, about ten minutes from central Myrtle Beach and 30 to 40 minutes from either end. Nonstop service comes from a long list of East Coast, Midwest and Canadian cities, but a good share of it is seasonal and a lot of it is on low-cost airlines, so check what flies from your city in your month before assuming a nonstop. Fares into MYR spike around spring break and Easter, and so do the budget carriers’ bag fees.
Alternative airports. If MYR fares look silly, Wilmington (ILM) is roughly 1.5 hours from North Myrtle Beach, Charleston (CHS) about 2 hours from Pawleys Island, and Charlotte (CLT) about 3.5 hours from central Myrtle Beach. Charlotte is the big one: American’s hub means nonstop flights from almost everywhere, often cheaper, and the drive is straightforward. For a group of eight, saving $150 a head on flights more than pays for the van and the gas.
Driving. A huge number of Myrtle Beach golf trips start in a car. From Raleigh it’s roughly 3 hours, from Charlotte about 3.5, from Richmond around 5, from Atlanta about 6, and from Washington, DC about 7 on a good day. For groups within that radius, driving is almost always cheaper, the clubs travel free, and nobody has to think about a 50 lb bag limit. The downside is the last hour: traffic on US-17 and the Myrtle Beach bypass roads can be heavy on summer weekends.
Getting around. You need wheels. Courses are spread along the whole Strand, and taxis and rideshares are fine for dinner but impractical for golf with clubs. For four golfers, a large SUV or minivan works if everyone packs light. Eight golfers need two minivans or a 12-passenger van, which the big rental companies at MYR stock but don’t have in unlimited numbers during peak weeks. Reserve the van when you book the package, not the week before. A couple of local shuttle companies run golf-group transfers if nobody wants to drive after the 19th hole, and on a trip with a lot of evening beers that isn’t a bad use of money.
The best Myrtle Beach golf courses, by tier
Here’s the practical way to think about Myrtle Beach courses: by what they cost and what you get. The table below groups well-known public-access courses into three tiers. Prices are typical spring and fall ranges for an 18-hole round with cart, based on 2026 rate sheets, package pricing and published aggregator data. They are not quotes. Summer, winter, twilight and package rates are usually lower, sometimes by half.
| Course | Area | Architect | Typical peak green fee (with cart) | Walking / caddies | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caledonia Golf & Fish Club | Pawleys Island | Mike Strantz (1994) | Premium, about $200–$300+ | Cart golf; forecaddies rare | Book early for spring; popular in packages |
| True Blue | Pawleys Island | Mike Strantz (1998) | Premium, about $150–$250 | Cart golf | Often paired with Caledonia |
| Dunes Golf & Beach Club | Central Myrtle Beach | Robert Trent Jones Sr. (1948) | Premium, limited outside access | Cart golf | Private club; limited public or package tee times, so ask early |
| TPC Myrtle Beach | Murrells Inlet | Tom Fazio with Lanny Wadkins (1999) | Premium, about $150–$250 | Cart golf | Package or direct |
| Tidewater | Cherry Grove / North Myrtle Beach | Ken Tomlinson (1990) | Upper mid, about $130–$200 | Cart golf | Package or direct |
| Barefoot Resort (Dye, Fazio, Love, Norman courses) | North Myrtle Beach | Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Davis Love III, Greg Norman | Mid to upper mid, about $100–$200 by course | Cart golf | Resort guests often get better times |
| King’s North at Myrtle Beach National | Central | Arnold Palmer | Mid, about $100–$175 | Cart golf | Package staple |
| Pine Lakes | Central | Robert White (1927) | Mid, about $100–$175 | Cart golf | Package or direct |
| Heritage Club | Pawleys Island | Dan Maples | Mid, about $90–$150 | Cart golf | Package or direct |
| Legends (Heathland, Moorland, Parkland) | Central | Tom Doak (Heathland), P.B. Dye (Moorland) | Value to mid, about $70–$140 | Cart golf | Legends has its own on-site lodging and packages |
| Glen Dornoch | Little River | Clyde Johnston | Value to mid, about $80–$140 | Cart golf | Package or direct |
| Arcadian Shores | Central | Rees Jones (1974) | Value, about $60–$110 | Cart golf | Good budget round |
A few thoughts on the tiers, since the table can’t carry opinion.
If you only play one premium course, make it Caledonia. It’s a short-ish course on an old rice plantation, lined with live oaks and Spanish moss, and it finishes with a par 4 over water to a green right beside the clubhouse porch, where everyone waiting for lunch watches you hit. It’s the course people talk about on the drive home. True Blue, across the road, is bigger, wider and wilder: huge waste areas, strategic angles and more room to be creative, which suits some golfers more.
The Dunes Club is the history lesson. It opened in 1948, it hosted the Senior Tour Championship for years, and it now hosts the PGA Tour’s Myrtle Beach Classic. The par-5 13th, “Waterloo”, bends around Lake Singleton. As a private club it has limited tee times for visitors, so if it’s on your list, ask your package operator or the club about access well ahead.
Tidewater is the best-looking value. Holes along the marsh and the Intracoastal make it feel more expensive than it is.
The mid-tier is where Myrtle Beach wins. Courses like King’s North, Pine Lakes, Heritage Club and the Barefoot courses are what most packages are built on, and they’re consistently well kept. Nobody flies home disappointed by them.
Value courses are fine for a second round of the day. If the group is playing 36, schedule the premium course in the morning and a value course for the afternoon replay.
We rank more courses, including private clubs that allow package play and the best new renovations, in the best golf courses in Myrtle Beach.
How much does a Myrtle Beach golf trip cost?
Most groups spend about $450 to $700 per golfer for a three-night, four-round package with shared lodging, then another $400 to $1,000 on flights or gas, food, drinks and a rental car. A realistic all-in figure for a four-day trip is roughly $1,100 to $1,700 per golfer.
Here’s how that breaks down for a typical group of eight flying in for three nights and four rounds in spring, using the Myrtle Beach Golf package calculator ranges from May 2026 plus our own estimates for the rest.
| Line item | Per golfer | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Golf package: 3 nights lodging + 4 rounds with carts | $450–$800+ | Course tier, condo vs hotel, season; groups of 8 price a little lower than groups of 4 |
| Flights | $200–$450 round trip | Origin city, nonstop vs connecting, how far ahead you book |
| Golf bag fee (if flying) | $90–$110 round trip | First or second checked bag; free with status or airline cards |
| Rental car or van, shared | $40–$80 | Group size; a 12-passenger van split eight ways is cheap |
| Food and drink, 4 days | $200–$400 | Pancakes and seafood buffets are cheap; steakhouses and bar tabs are not |
| Replay rounds, range balls, extras | $0–$150 | Afternoon replays are often discounted |
| Total | About $1,100–$1,700+ |
Driving changes this a lot. A group of four driving from Charlotte, Raleigh or Richmond splits gas and skips airfares and bag fees, which can bring the all-in figure under $900 per golfer in shoulder season.
The package calculator’s own figures are useful for sanity-checking quotes. For 2026 it put 2 rounds at about $300–$500+ per golfer, 3 rounds at $350–$600+, 4 rounds at $450–$700+ and 5 rounds at $600–$1,000+. Group size matters a little: roughly $550–$900+ per golfer for a group of four, dropping to $400–$750+ for 12 or more, because condos and multi-tee-time bookings get cheaper per head.
The full breakdown, with budget, mid-range and premium example trips, is in Myrtle Beach golf trip cost. For how Myrtle Beach compares with Scottsdale, Florida and the big resorts, see our general golf trip cost guide.
Myrtle Beach golf packages: how they work
A Myrtle Beach golf package is lodging plus pre-booked tee times, sold at one per-golfer price. That’s it. The packaging is what makes Myrtle Beach different from most destinations: dozens of operators and hotels sell them, and courses allocate tee times specifically for package business.
The mechanics:
- You choose the lodging. Condos (two to four bedrooms, often with golf bag storage and a kitchen) are the usual choice for groups. Hotels and golf resorts cost more per person. Oceanfront adds a premium.
- You pick courses from the operator’s list. Each course usually carries a surcharge on top of the base package price, so the premium courses add $50 to $150 or more per golfer per round.
- The operator books the tee times. For groups, that means consecutive times: two times for eight golfers, three for twelve.
- You pay a deposit per golfer and the balance a few weeks before arrival. Cancellation terms vary a lot, so read them.
- Carts are usually included in Myrtle Beach package rates. Check anyway.
What packages are good for: saving money on the golf, having one person deal with tee times, and getting times at courses that save their best slots for packages. What they’re not good for: flexibility. If the forecast turns ugly or someone’s back gives out, changing a pre-paid tee time is harder than calling the pro shop.
Should you book direct instead? For a group of four playing two rounds, booking tee times directly with the courses and finding your own rental is usually about as cheap and more flexible. For eight or more golfers playing four or five rounds, a package almost always wins on price and saves a lot of admin.
Our Myrtle Beach golf packages guide compares package types, what to ask before paying a deposit, and the traps in the fine print.
When is the best time for a Myrtle Beach golf trip?
Spring (March to May) and fall (September to November) give the best conditions and the highest prices. Winter is the cheapest, with playable days in the 50s and 60s°F. Summer is hot, humid and cheap, and many courses aerate their greens in early summer, so ask before booking.
A season-by-season view:
- Spring (March to May). Peak season. Courses are green, highs run from the 60s to low 80s°F and the town is full of golfers, especially around Easter and the Canadian spring break weeks. Book courses and condos three to six months ahead for March and April weekends.
- Summer (June to August). Highs are usually in the upper 80s to low 90s°F, humidity is high, and afternoon thunderstorms are routine. The beaches are full of families, while the courses are quieter and cheaper. Golfers who play early and take the afternoon off do well. The main catch is greens aeration, which many courses schedule in early summer; a freshly punched green is miserable to putt on for a week or two.
- Fall (September to November). The other peak, and in many golfers’ view the best. The heat breaks in late September, conditions are excellent into November, and the Bermuda grass is at its best. It’s also hurricane season until the end of November, with the peak risk in August through October. Trip insurance is worth a look for September bookings.
- Winter (December to February). The cheapest time to play, often dramatically so. Highs are typically in the 50s°F, with some pleasant 60s days and the occasional frost delay. Bermuda fairways go dormant and brown unless overseeded, which bothers some golfers and not others. For a budget trip or a group that just wants to play, it’s excellent value.
Month-by-month rates, weather and crowd notes are in the best time to golf in Myrtle Beach.
A sample four-day Myrtle Beach golf itinerary
Here’s how a sensible four-day, five-round trip might look for a group of eight based in central Myrtle Beach or the South Strand. The idea is to front-load the premium golf while legs are fresh and put the long drive on the day with the shortest round.
- Day 1 (arrival). Fly into MYR by noon, pick up the van, drop bags at the condo, and play an afternoon round at a mid-tier course close to the airport, such as King’s North or Pine Lakes. Dinner in Murrells Inlet on the MarshWalk.
- Day 2 (the big one). Morning round at Caledonia, with a proper lunch on the porch afterward. If the group wants 36, take the discounted replay or cross the road to True Blue in the afternoon.
- Day 3. Morning round at TPC Myrtle Beach or Heritage Club. Afternoon off: beach, pool, or a lazy lunch. Then the group dinner.
- Day 4. Drive north for a morning round at Tidewater or one of the Barefoot courses. Evening in North Myrtle Beach.
- Day 5 (departure). An early round at a value course near the airport, or skip it and sleep. Flights home in the afternoon.
That’s five rounds with one 36-hole day, which is about right for most groups. The ones who try six rounds in four days tend to play the last one badly and resent it.
The Grand Strand also likes to call itself the miniature golf capital of the world, a claim nobody seems inclined to dispute, and that matters more than you’d think on the evening of day three. Nobody takes the Hawaiian Rumble or Mayday Golf seriously, but the putting contests get unexpectedly competitive.
Is Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head better for a golf trip?
Myrtle Beach is better for groups, budgets and volume, with around four times as many courses and much cheaper packages. Hilton Head is better for couples and families who want a quieter, prettier island with one famous course, Harbour Town, and green fees that often run twice as high.
The two get compared constantly because they’re both on the South Carolina coast, but they’re very different trips. Hilton Head has roughly two dozen courses, most inside gated “plantation” communities like Sea Pines and Palmetto Dunes, and a lot of them private. It’s quieter, greener and more expensive. The island has strict sign and building rules, so there are no neon mini-golf volcanoes, and the evenings revolve around bike paths and seafood rather than bars.
Choose Myrtle Beach if you’re bringing eight guys and a spreadsheet. Choose Hilton Head if you’re bringing a spouse who doesn’t play, or if Harbour Town is the reason for the trip. Or do both: a week-long coast trip with three nights in each is very doable.
The full comparison of courses, costs, lodging and non-golf options is in Myrtle Beach vs Hilton Head golf.
Hilton Head: Harbour Town and the Lowcountry
Hilton Head Island sits at the southern tip of South Carolina, about 3.5 hours’ drive (roughly 220 miles) south of Myrtle Beach. The easiest airport is Savannah/Hilton Head International (SAV), about 45 minutes away. Hilton Head’s own small airport (HHH) has limited service.
Harbour Town Golf Links is the reason most golfers come. Pete Dye designed it with Jack Nicklaus consulting, and it opened in 1969. It’s short by modern standards, tight and heavily tree-lined, with tiny greens. The final holes run out along Calibogue Sound toward the red-and-white-striped lighthouse that appears on every RBC Heritage broadcast. It hosts that PGA Tour event every April. The 2027 tournament is scheduled for April 12–18, and the course is closed to public play around tournament week.
Harbour Town moved to dynamic pricing in 2026, with no fixed rack rate. Published samples from April 2026 reporting ranged from about $378 for a July round to about $651 for a round in early September, with June mornings around $414. Guests of the Sea Pines Resort typically get better access and rates. Book as early as the resort allows, especially for spring and fall.
Beyond Harbour Town, Sea Pines also has Atlantic Dunes (redesigned by Davis Love III) and Heron Point (reworked by Pete Dye). Palmetto Dunes has three resort courses by Robert Trent Jones, George Fazio and Arthur Hills. There are several more good public options on the mainland in Bluffton.
The full island guide is our Hilton Head golf trip page. Current Harbour Town pricing patterns, packages and the best times to book are in Harbour Town Golf Links green fees.
Kiawah Island and Charleston golf
Charleston is about two hours (roughly 95 miles) south of Myrtle Beach, and the drive down Highway 17 through Georgetown and the Francis Marion National Forest is pleasant enough. Charleston International Airport (CHS) is well served from most major US hubs. Kiawah Island is about 45 minutes south of the city.
The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is the big one: a Pete and Alice Dye design with ten holes right along the Atlantic and the other eight running parallel to them, fully exposed to the wind. It hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup (the “War by the Shore”), the 2012 PGA Championship won by Rory McIlroy, and the 2021 PGA Championship, where Phil Mickelson became the oldest major champion at 50. The resort says it is only the fourth course to have hosted each of the PGA of America’s major championships.
Ocean Course green fees are among the highest on the East Coast. The resort doesn’t publish a 2026 rate on its course page. Older published figures (2021) put non-guest rates in the high $300s to mid $400s, and more recent secondary reports suggest peak rates around $600, with resort guests paying less. The Ocean Course has historically required walking with a caddie for much of the year, and a caddie tip of $100 or more per bag is customary. Confirm current rates and caddie rules directly with the resort before budgeting.
The resort has four other courses, which make a Kiawah trip workable without spending Ocean Course money every day: Turtle Point (Jack Nicklaus), Osprey Point (Tom Fazio), Cougar Point (Gary Player) and Oak Point (Clyde Johnston). Most guests stay at The Sanctuary hotel or in resort villas.
In and around Charleston, the public golf is better than most people expect. Charleston Municipal was renovated and reopened with a lot of praise earlier this decade and remains one of the best-value rounds in the state. Wild Dunes on Isle of Palms has a Tom Fazio links course near the ocean. Patriots Point Links in Mount Pleasant has harbor views, and there are solid daily-fee courses in the suburbs. Charleston is also the best food city on this whole coast by a distance, which matters to the non-golfers.
Our Kiawah Island Golf Resort guide covers all five courses, packages and villas. Ocean Course rates and tee time strategy are in Kiawah Ocean Course green fees, and the city’s public courses are in Charleston golf trip.
Sea Island, Georgia
Sea Island, on the Georgia coast between Savannah and Jacksonville, is the most exclusive stop on the corridor. Golf is limited to guests of the resort’s three hotels (The Cloister, The Lodge and The Inn at Sea Island) and members. You can’t just book a tee time as a visitor. Jacksonville International (JAX) is roughly 75 minutes’ drive away, and Savannah is a similar distance north.
There are three courses. Seaside, originally laid out by Harry Colt and Charles Alison in 1929 and reworked by Tom Fazio in 1999, is the famous one: a firm, windswept course along St. Simons Sound that hosts the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic each November. Plantation is a parkland course redesigned by Rees Jones, and Retreat was reworked by Davis Love III, who lives nearby and has long been tied to the resort. The Golf Performance Center at Sea Island is one of the best-known coaching facilities in the country.
Sea Island doesn’t publish full rates openly. Figures cited in secondary sources put peak green fees around $325 for Seaside and $235 for Plantation, though those may be dated. The resort says guests under 19 pay no green fees, which makes it a surprisingly reasonable family golf trip if you’re already paying for the rooms. Room rates are the real cost, and they’re high.
The full access guide, including how to combine Sea Island with Kiawah or Jacksonville-area golf, is in Sea Island golf. For how Sea Island and Kiawah compare with the other great American golf resorts, see the best golf resorts in the US.
Planning a whole-coast Carolina-Georgia golf trip
With a week and a rental car, you can play the best of the whole corridor. Here’s one way to do it, driving north to south and flying into Myrtle Beach and out of Savannah or Jacksonville.
| Nights | Base | Rounds | Drive to next base |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Pawleys Island / South Strand | Caledonia, True Blue, TPC Myrtle Beach | About 1.5–2 hours to Kiawah |
| 2 | Kiawah Island | The Ocean Course, Osprey Point or Turtle Point | About 2 hours to Hilton Head |
| 2 | Hilton Head (Sea Pines) | Harbour Town, Atlantic Dunes | About 2 hours to Sea Island |
| 1 | Sea Island (if staying at the resort) | Seaside | About 75 minutes to JAX |
Seven rounds in seven nights with four hotel changes is a lot of packing. If that sounds tiring, cut it to two bases: Myrtle Beach for value golf and Kiawah or Hilton Head for one premium stay.
Budget honestly for this version. Premium lodging at Kiawah, Sea Pines or Sea Island often costs more per night than a whole Myrtle Beach package costs per person for three. A coast trip built around the Ocean Course, Harbour Town and Seaside can easily reach $4,000 to $6,000 per golfer before flights. The same week spent entirely in Myrtle Beach might cost a third of that. Neither is wrong; just don’t plan the first on the budget of the second.
If you’re flying with clubs and moving between multiple bases, shipping them from home to the first stop and on from there can be less hassle than hauling them through four hotel lobbies. Our guide to flying with golf clubs compares the options.
Myrtle Beach golf trip tips most groups learn the hard way
- Book the Saturday tee times first. In spring and fall, Saturday mornings at popular courses go early, and the package operators get them before you do.
- Don’t base yourself at one end and play at the other. Highway 17 traffic between North Myrtle Beach and Pawleys Island can take an hour in season. Plan by area.
- Ask about replay rates at check-in. Many courses sell same-day replays cheaply, but not all advertise them.
- Check the aeration calendar if you’re going between May and August. A good package operator will tell you; a cheap one won’t.
- Get a condo with a ground-floor golf bag room or elevator access. Eight travel bags up three flights of stairs is a bad start.
- Watch the pace-of-play rules. Many courses run tight schedules with frequent tee times, and marshals do push slow groups, especially on 36-hole days.
- Keep one afternoon free. Somebody will want to go deep-sea fishing, or sleep, or just not play. The whole group will be happier for it.
- Don’t fly home on the last morning with a 7 a.m. tee time. Everyone says they’ll make it. Everyone plays badly, rushes and nearly misses the flight.
Every guide to Myrtle Beach and the Carolina-Georgia coast
This page is the hub. Each guide below goes deeper on one part of a coast golf trip.
Planning a Myrtle Beach golf trip
- Myrtle Beach golf packages: how they work, what they cost, what to ask
- The best golf courses in Myrtle Beach
- The best time to golf in Myrtle Beach: month by month
- Myrtle Beach golf trip cost: budget, mid-range and premium trips
- Where to stay in Myrtle Beach for golf
- Myrtle Beach vs Hilton Head golf
Hilton Head
- Hilton Head golf trip: Harbour Town, Sea Pines and the best Lowcountry courses
- Harbour Town Golf Links green fees
Kiawah Island and Charleston
- Kiawah Island Golf Resort: all five courses
- Kiawah Island Ocean Course green fees
- Charleston golf trip: the best public courses
Georgia coast
- Sea Island golf: Seaside, Plantation, Retreat and how to get access
Frequently asked questions
How many golf courses are in Myrtle Beach?
Visit Myrtle Beach describes more than 80 championship courses on the Grand Strand and, elsewhere, more than 90. The difference depends on whether you count the Brunswick County, North Carolina courses just over the state line and some shorter or private layouts. Either way, it’s the biggest concentration of public golf in the US.
How much does a Myrtle Beach golf package cost?
For 2026, the Myrtle Beach Golf package calculator put a three-night, four-round package with lodging at about $450 to $700+ per golfer. Budget packages start around $300, and premium packages with top courses and oceanfront rooms run $800 to $1,200 or more. Winter and summer are usually cheapest.
What is the best month for a Myrtle Beach golf trip?
October is the best all-round month for many golfers, with warm, dry weather and good course conditions. April is similar but busier. For the lowest prices, go in January or February and accept cooler days in the 50s°F and dormant Bermuda fairways.
What is the best golf course in Myrtle Beach?
Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Pawleys Island is the most common answer, for its setting and its finish. The Dunes Golf & Beach Club and TPC Myrtle Beach are the other usual picks, and True Blue and Tidewater are close behind.
Can you walk the golf courses in Myrtle Beach?
At most Myrtle Beach courses, carts are the norm and are usually included in the rate. Some courses allow walking at certain times, but distances between greens and tees on housing-lined courses make it hard work in the heat. If walking matters to your group, ask each course directly when booking.
Is Myrtle Beach cheaper than Hilton Head for golf?
Yes, usually by a wide margin. Mid-tier Myrtle Beach rounds commonly cost $100 to $175 in peak season, and packages are widely available. Hilton Head has fewer public courses and pricier resort golf, and Harbour Town ran from about $378 to $651 in 2026 samples under dynamic pricing.
How far is Kiawah Island from Myrtle Beach?
About two to two and a half hours by car, roughly 120 miles, via Highway 17 through Charleston. Kiawah is about 45 minutes beyond downtown Charleston. It’s easy to combine the two in a week-long trip, with two or three nights in each.
Do you need to stay at Sea Island to play golf there?
Yes. Golf at Sea Island’s Seaside, Plantation and Retreat courses is limited to guests of The Cloister, The Lodge and The Inn at Sea Island, plus members. There’s no way to book a visitor tee time without a stay.
Two PGA Tour events bookend this coast in spring. The RBC Heritage at Harbour Town runs April 12–18, 2027, the week after the Masters, and the Myrtle Beach Classic is played at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club in May. Both are relaxed, affordable tournaments to watch, and both mean busier tee sheets and pricier rooms nearby. Our guide to attending golf tournaments covers tickets, timing and how to fit your own rounds around a tournament week.
Pinehurst is about four hours inland from the Grand Strand, and a lot of golfers combine the two into a longer Carolinas trip: value golf and beach condos in Myrtle Beach, then two or three nights in the Sandhills for Donald Ross courses you’ll remember for years. No. 2 requires a resort stay of at least two nights, but Mid Pines, Southern Pines and Tobacco Road are open to everyone. Our Pinehurst golf trip guide explains how access and costs work.
Sources
Primary sources and official pages, checked September 2026 unless noted.
- Visit Myrtle Beach, golf: visitmyrtlebeach.com
- Myrtle Beach Golf, package cost calculator (May 29, 2026): myrtlebeachgolf.com
- Kiawah Island Golf Resort, The Ocean Course: kiawahresort.com
- Sea Island, golf information: seaisland.com
- Sea Pines Resort, Harbour Town Golf Links: seapines.com
- Also consulted: Harbour Town 2026 dynamic pricing samples as reported by The Golf News Net (April 16, 2026); Kiawah Ocean Course historical rates and caddie rules as reported by GolfPass (2021) and later secondary reports; Sea Island green fee figures reported by The Brassie; 2027 PGA Tour schedule for the RBC Heritage and the Myrtle Beach Classic; aggregator green fee ranges for Myrtle Beach courses (2026), used as ranges only.
Image credits
| Image | Credit and license |
|---|---|
| Harbour Town Golf Links – 5111082035 (featured) | Photo by danperry.com, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| Myrtle Beach National – West Course No 3 | Photo by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| Arnold Palmer statue, Myrtle Beach National | Photo by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| PV-2 Harpoon – Mayday Golf North Myrtle Beach 2025-04-03 | Photo by Tcnottwins, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head – 5111728622 | Photo by danperry.com, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| Kiawah Island Golf Resort, Kiawah Island, South Carolina | Photo by Bill Showalter from Greeneville Tennessee, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| Sea Island Golf Clubhouse, vintage postcard | Photo by Boston Public Library, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. |
| River Club Golf Course No 1 | Photo by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. |