GolfStyles Washington Likes Myrtle Beach ... A Lot
http://www.golfstyles.net/images/200709scBlackmoor.jpgAs I keep checking to see whether GolfStyles Media Group has its Carolinas Edition (both print and Web) fully up and running (no such luck yet), I did come across this good article by Chris King from its Washington Edition: “South Carolina – A Coastline Where the Game is Great.”
Here’s an excerpt that gives a glowing review of the Grand Strand golf scene:
In a country fortunate enough to have a full range of the Earth’s geographic and natural splendors, nothing holds the allure of the beach. The Rocky Mountains are majestic and the Grand Canyon breathtaking, but they don’t attract people in droves like the pounding surf and gentle breezes of our nation’s ample coastline.
South Beach, Laguna Beach and even Daytona Beach are among the most popular sand-based destinations, and rightfully so, but I had the good fortune of living in an area that made better use of its relatively limited coast line than any state in the union – South Carolina. From Myrtle Beach to Charleston to Hilton Head, when most people think South Carolina, they think vacation.
When I think of the Palmetto State, I think of a great place to call home. But unlike the countless people that vacation there each year, that big pond to the east some call the Atlantic, wasn’t the primary attraction. I’d much rather spend my free time slicing golf balls into parallel fairways and pulling what little hair I have left out over my inability to make short putts. Mix those factors with an aversion to cold weather and Myrtle Beach was the perfect home.
The Grand Strand, as it’s affectionately known, bills itself as the Golf Capital of the World, and in spots it seems to have more golf courses than K Street has lobbyists. Though market forces – primarily the realization that housing developments are more profitable than golf courses – have reduced the number of layouts in recent years, the Myrtle Beach area remains the home of the traveling public golfer in America.
Myrtle Beach has long had a blue-collar reputation, at least by the standards of the well-heeled golf crowd, and that characterization is accurate as long as the phrase “blue collar” carries the positive connotations it deserves. The Grand Strand is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation, fueled, at least in part, because it’s an area that offers a high standard of living and quality of life at an affordable price.
It’s also a golfer’s dream for those exact same reasons. Local rates and competition among courses conspire to make playing the game a very cost friendly proposition for visitors and residents. A well-placed friend could make it virtually free.
With miles of neon signs and an abundance of fast food restaurants, the area has occasionally been sneered at by the game’s elite, but the loss is theirs. The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, Tidewater Golf Club and Caledonia Plantation, just to name a few, are courses that can stand beside any of their more highly regarded brethren with no reason to blush.
But Myrtle Beach is an area that shouldn’t and doesn’t run from its reputation. The entertainment options, on and off the course, are vast, and it doesn’t take a seven-figure salary to buy a nice retirement home on the Grand Strand ...
For more information on GolfStyles Media Group's publications, visit their Web site.
There are no comments posted. Add yours below.