Myrtle Beach #Golf Course Holes Rated The Best?

Approximately fourteen million visitors, snowbirds included, vacation in sunny Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, each year, eager to enjoy the one-hundred plus golf courses and sixty-mile beach which has made The Grand Strand famous world-wide.

On The Green Magazine recently sent out a survey to their subscribers asking which golf holes were their favorites - the ones which gave players "the most golfing enjoyment".

Which golf hole was the overall favorite?

Glen Dornoch hole number 16, a long par-4 which requires focus as the views of the Intracoastal Waterway will distract and the tight green will require an accurate finish.

How can you score par or better here?

GlensGolfGroup.com says, "your drive needs to avoid a small pond on the left, as well as fairway bunkers strategically placed on both the left and right...

Hit as close to the bunkers on the right as possible, and you’ll be in the best position to go for the green. Go over the crest and you’ll either have a severe downhill lie or end up in a catch basin bunker midway down the slope. Either way, you’ll need a spectacular shot to reach the green in two from there."

Glen Dornoch - 16th Hole

For out-of-towners who may not know the best golf courses to play and for those golfers who are "locals" but haven't yet played all one-hundred or so golf courses offered in Myrtle Beach, here are the top-three holes. Golf for Beginners has also listed the golf courses with the most multiple holes chosen as favorites.

On The Green 18 - Reader's Choice Top Three Golf Holes:
Glen Dornoch #16
Caledonia #18
Rivers Edge #9

Where Glen Dornoch's spectacular views are water and salt marsh, Caledonia's eighteenth hole borders this Plantation's rice field.

Caledonia 18th hole

According to the PGA.com website, the eighteenth hole of any golf course is probably the most important as, "It's the lasting impression golfers have as they leave their round, it's the hole they are looking forward to as they pull up."  How true.

Considered to be one of PGA's "Dream 18", Caledonia's 18th is a par-4, 383-yard hole with water down the right side which cuts into the fairway in front of a large green. The kicker is that, on any given day, there might be a grandstand of folks watching your approach shot, which can make that final iron shot a real tester.

Shallotte, North Carolina, just north of Myrtle Beach, is the location of the third top reader's choice golf hole. The signature ninth hole at River's Edge is a 570-yard, par-5 has it all...views, blind tee shot, frustrating with the question of "go for the green or lay up?"

Rivers Edge 9th hole

Here are a few of the Golf Courses with Multiple Holes Chosen as Favorites:
Heather Glen - 9 holes
Tidewater - 8 holes
The Witch - 7 holes

For the complete Reader's Choice list, visit onthegreenmagazine.com.

None of these golf courses, in my opinion, should be taken on by beginners unless it is for a friendly round and the others in the foursome know that you can pick up your ball at will. I don't believe in giving up, just moving on at a reasonable pace of play.


Have you played golf in Myrtle Beach? Do you agree/disagree with the reader survey? Voice your opinion on this blog, on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and LIKE us on Facebook.



photo credits: glensgolfgroup.com, golfcarolina.com, thegolfcourseguru.com

How to Experience the Feeling of an Eagle - Guest #Golf Blog

Eagle 2 - a golf blog written by Fred Poli, a financial adviser who also teaches and trains in that industry. Bio below but, for now, please enjoy Fred's article!

It had been a fairly bad round. Lately, I just had not been playing as much golf as I would have liked. 

I managed to par the par-3, 17^th and hit my best drive of the day right down the middle on the eighteenth, a short par-4. My playing partner also hit driver but pulled it into the water on the left hand side of the green. 

Classic risk reward hole. As I sized up my twenty-five yard chip, he joked about my straight forward eagle. Bad joke... I have never had an eagle. Never. 

Then a strange serenity came over me. 

I saw the chip. 

I addressed the ball and put a good stroke on it. It never looked like missing. 

Eagle two, 18^th hole  - Indooroopilly Golf Club, East Course.

Just like that, things change. That’s golf, the greatest sport in the world. 

Why? 

I have thought about that a lot. It’s many things. 

It’s the only sport in the world where you can take it up at any age and basically play until you can no longer stand.  It’s the only sport in the world where people of any standard can compete on the same “arena”. It’s the only sport in the world where if you break a rule, calling a penalty on yourself is considered the norm. It’s wonderful exercise. It’s a great social activity. It can be equally enjoyed by both genders. And so much more.....

The thing I love most about golf is the mental challenge. I have learned more about myself playing golf than through any other pursuit...and I did not take the game up until I was fifty years old. 

Yes, we have opponents. Yes, I am competitive, but golf is a battle with yourself...at least that is what I always believed. Now, of course, I have come to learn that it is not a battle but a learning process that never ends; a perfect partner to everything else that you have going on in your life.

To think that I almost gave up in the beginning because, like all great things in life, there are prices to pay.

Golf has two main obstacles. 

Firstly, it’s very time consuming to learn and to play it. That is an issue for a later article.  Secondly, it’s a very difficult game to play well.

Fortunately, David Capaldo, teaching pro at Kingswood Golf Club, taught me how to play this wonderful game. This is a must because for every Bubba Watson there are millions of golfers who will never enjoy the game because they simply don’t learn the fundamentals of hitting the ball.

So, if you have a set of old golf clubs collecting dust, or even if you have never played, get out there, book some lessons. I want you to experience the feeling of an eagle. I am still soaring.

Are you a golf beginner? Have you thought of quitting the sport but, after a miraculous shot or round kept playing to stick with, and enjoy, the game? 

Let us hear your story either here on Golf for Beginners blog, on @Golf4Beginners on Twitter ...and LIKE on Facebook. 

Fred Poli BIO:

Fred has a Diploma in Counselling and Communication from the Australian College of Applied Psychology and as much as he has learned in this field, he feels that his best life teacher has been the game of golf. 

Mr. Poli took up the game at age fifty and is fortunate to play in one of the best golf areas on earth, the so called “sand belt” of Melbourne Australia wher he is a member of Kingswood Golf Club and plays off 19. 

Photo credit: playaroundgolf.com, http://www.indooroopillygolf.com.au