True Blue - Hole #14

Waccamaw Trail Lands Five Courses On SC'S Top 30 You Can Play

By Brian Weis

The 2017 list of the "Top 30 Courses You Can Play In South Carolina" was released this week by the South Carolina Golf Course Rating Panel. The panel consists of 128 members from across the state who are avid golfers with a high familiarity with the SC's 350-plus courses. Narrowing it down to the top 30 is no easy task, but the results are in. The Myrtle Beach Region placed 13 courses in the top 25, more than any other region, and five (5) of those are on the Waccamaw Golf Trail. They include Caledonia (3), True Blue (7), TPC Myrtle Beach (11), Pawleys Plantation (14) and Heritage Club (23).

Caledonia and True Blue are both designs of the late Mike Strantz. Both courses have previously earned national recognition from GOLF Magazine, Golf Digest, Golfweek and Golf World. TPC Myrtle Beach is a Fazio-Wadkins design that hosted to SENIOR TOUR Championship in 2000 and is home to the Dustin Johnson Golf Academy. Pawleys Plantation is a challenging Jack Nicklaus signature design. Heritage Club is a Dan Maples built upon a former rice plantation that abuts ancient rice fields and the scenic Waccamaw River.

TOP 30 COURSES YOU CAN PLAY
1. The Ocean Course (Kiawah)
2. Harbour Town Golf LInks (Hilton Head Island)
3. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club (Pawleys Island)
4. Tidewater Golf Club (North Myrtle Beach)
5. The Dunes Golf & Beach Club (Myrtle Beach)
6. Orangeburg Country Club (Orangeburg)
7. True Blue Golf Club (Pawleys Island)
8. Wild Dunes Links Course (Isle of Palms)
9. May River Golf Club at Palmetto Bluff (Bluffton)
10. Turtle Point (Kiawah)
11. Tournament Players Club Myrtle Beach (Murrells Inlet)
12. Grande Dunes Resort Club (Myrtle Beach)
13. Barefoot Golf Resort - Dye Club (North Myrtle Beach)
14. Pawleys Plantation (Pawleys Island)
15. The Walker Course (Clemson)
16. Osprey Point (Kiawah)
17. Furman University Golf Course (Greenville)
18. Heron Point (Kiawah)
19. Barefoot Golf Resort - Fazio Course (North Myrtle Beach)
20. Barefoot Golf Resort - Love Course (North Myrtle Beach)
21. Country Club of South Carolina (Florence)
22. Mount Vintage Plantation (North Augusta)
23. Heritage Club (Pawleys Island)
24. Seabrook Island - Ocean Winds Course (Seabrook Island)
25. Prestwick Country Club (Myrtle Beach)
26. Pametto Dunes - Jones Course (Hilton Head Island)
27. Pine Lakes Golf Club (Myrtle Beach)
28. Palmetto Dunes - Hills Course (Hilton Head Island)
29. Palmetto Dunes - Fazio Course (Hilton Head Island)
30 (tie) Cougar Point (Kiawah) and Seabrook Island Club - Crooked Oaks Course

More Information:
www.waccamawgolftrail.com/

Revised: 05/02/2017 - Article Viewed 12,205 Times

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.