Hot Spot – Myrtle Beach’s Grand Strand
STORY BY NICK NICHOLAS
Myrtle Beach was once known as a honky-tonk town, but recently has been polishing a more refined image.
South Carolina’s beachfront magnet to affordable golf and family vacations has been rolling out a plush green carpet to attract sophisticated home owners. For those who may still be skeptics, hear us out, because the rustic Grand Strand, extending from Georgetown, South Carolina, to Southport, North Carolina, has more and more lavish neighborhoods with luxurious addresses positioned next to panoramic views of stunning fairways.
Since 1995, Prince Creek, with South Carolina’s first Tournament Players Club; Grande Dunes; Barefoot Resort; Thistle Golf Club; and Rivers Edge Golf Club & Plantation have upgraded Myrtle Beach’s image. During this period, recent renovations and/or expansions to Wild Wing Plantation, Tidewater Plantation, Brunswick Plantation and Golf Resort, St. James Plantation, and Ocean Ridge Plantation have also greatly elevated the area’s stature among potential high-end home buyers.
Add to the mix DeBordieu—one of the oldest coastal communities on the East Coast—and the Grand Strand boasts a significant amount of prime golf communities.
“Myrtle Beach as a whole is starting to diversify,” says Michelle Sutton, vice president of marketing at Grande Dunes. “Not only in housing but the city as a whole is starting to see the pull of the affluent market.
“There is competition of late that we didn’t have in the early days. Grande Dunes is blessed to have 2,200 acres and a huge amenity package. We have a lot more to develop and we’re moving forward. I certainly think we have been able to open that door and educate folks to the level of affluent [market] Myrtle Beach has.”
To some extent the transformation has been a case of addition by subtraction, as the number of courses has been trimmed back to support new developments. But the Grand Strand is still a golf cornucopia, featuring more than 100 courses.
Home owners in the area can sample most of those layouts, and they can also enjoy a variety of Myrtle Beach outdoor activities besides golf. Sixty miles of public beaches traditionally dominate the summer calendar. And there is plenty to do away from the waves.
You can watch the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, the Class A farm club of the Atlanta Braves. There are plenty of parks, from state parks to water parks to the new Hard Rock Theme Park and its monster roller coaster. There are a multitude of open-air and indoor shopping venues and the popular Restaurant Row that links Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach.
Or, for Grand Stand home owners, you can simply relax closer to home and enjoy the amenities at one of the highend communities.
Grande Dunes is located in the heart of Myrtle Beach— between open-air shopping venues Broadway at the Beach and Barefoot Landing—bordering the Intracoastal Waterway. The large development continues to progress with single-family homes, luxury villas, and condominiums.
This development anchors to a 130-slip marina, resort and private golf courses, and several miles away a 25,000-square-foot Mediterraneandesigned Ocean Club where members enjoy pool-side relaxation, fine dining, and Atlantic Ocean breezes.
Roger Rulewich, a disciple of Robert Trent Jones, is the architect of Grande Dunes’ unique Resort Course. The layout stretches more than 7,600 yards from the championship markers with seven holes featuring waterway views. Two-time British Open champion Nick Price is codesigner of the relatively new private Members Course bordered by Mediterranean-themed homes beginning at $1.25 million.
Grande Dunes’ Golf Village consists of six neighborhoods with homesites starting at $289,000 and 2,000-square-foot homes beginning at $1 million.
The area’s newest upscale development is Thistle Golf Club, less than 10 miles across the North Carolina border, a 406-acre development where wildlife continues to enjoy protected natural surroundings. Only a handful of the 145 planned homes are completed at this low-density development that features 27 holes of golf. The lone other addresses within this gated community will belong to owners of 55 planned cottages.
The course, with a Scottish links ambience and relaxed 12-minute interval tee times, is currently open to the public but plans are for the Thistle to go private with a fully-refundable $45,000 initiation fee.
Staying put in North Carolina, both St. James Plantation and Ocean Ridge Plantation offer large multi-golf course developments. Between the two there are 135 golf holes for public play, another 18 on the way and 18 designated for members only on a Michael Nicklaus (Jack’s youngest son) design, the Reserve Course at St. James.
Salt air is in every breath inhaled at St. James Plantation. This community in Southport prides itself on water activities, blessed with a beach club adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, a massive park next to the Intracoastal Waterway complete with St. James’ deep-water marina, not to mention two outdoor pools and one indoor pool.
Land lovers are not ignored. Walking and bike riding trails pave the way to hours of pleasure and exercise, and there are four courses, one of which has 27 holes. The private Reserve Course is the newest.
A wide range of custom homes are available, from $395,000 to more than $1 million. Lots begin at $175,000.
At Ocean Ridge Plantation, local architect Tim Cate next fall introduces Jaguar’s Lair, the fifth resort course at the community where two additional conventional residential neighborhoods will be developed. It’s the only five-course facility on the Grand Strand. Cate has designed the first four courses at Ocean Ridge, including upscale layouts Tiger’s Eye and Leopard’s Chase that arguably fall in everyone’s Grand Strand “must-play” list.
Located along Highway 17, this gated community has a broad range of luxury homes to choose from, ranging from the mid-$400,000s to $1.5 million.
Ocean Ridge offers more than golf. There is a beach club, fitness trails, and ample picturesque routes to paddle kayaks and canoes.
Coastal Communities, which developed Ocean Ridge Plantation, also has Rivers Edge Golf Club & Plantation, located in nearby Shallotte, North Carolina. Arnold Palmer’s design team routed one of the area’s most interesting layouts—there is the heroic par-five ninth and a demanding finishing stretch—on a terrific piece of property.
Buy a luxury townhome from the $400,000s or custom homes beginning at $500,000 and you’ll be hypnotized by a natural setting as well as the Rivers Edge course.
Other worthy communities include Barefoot Resort, Brunswick Plantation, DeBordieu, Prince Creek, Sea Trail Plantation, Tidewater, and Wild Wing Plantation.
These magnificent seven are conveniently positioned through the Grand Strand’s 70-mile stretch, offering something for everyone.
Potential home owners can choose from the secluded south end (DeBordieu, Prince Creek), an on-thego central portion that includes Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach (Barefoot Resort, Tidewater, Wild Wing Plantation), or a rapidly growing north end (Brunswick Plantation, Sea Trail Plantation).
DeBordieu is the owner of a rich history, both figuratively and literally. This once was home to one of the world’s largest rice-producing regions. Today DeBordieu has a multitude of striking multi-million-dollar addresses, a Pete Dyedesigned private course with his patented testy layout, and a laid-back environment with six miles of marshes and private beaches.
Eighteen different neighborhoods are within the gates at Prince Creek and its TPC Myrtle Beach. The newest of the lot is the Players Village and its luxury condos. One of the amenities a buyer receives—prices range from the low $300,000s to high $400,000s—is a membership at the semiprivate Tom Fazio/Lanny Wadkins TPC course where Tom Watson captured the lone Senior Tour Championship played on the Murrells Inlet course. That’s a $15,000 value. Home owners pay annual dues ($2,000) and cart fees.
Wild Wing Plantation was once Myrtle Beach’s first fourcourse venue. But less is more here, as the now 27-hole facility has used the space once occupied by the other courses to develop a community with its own clubhouse devoted to an enormous amenity package including three swimming pools, tennis courts, day docks, fitness center, and basketball court.
Barefoot Resort and Tidewater have both upgraded North Myrtle Beach’s status.
Barefoot Resort is a village-within-a-community scheme in North Myrtle Beach, with available homesites, contemporary single-family homes, condos, villas, and townhouses. On property are courses designed by renowned names in golf: Tom Fazio, Pete Dye, Davis Love III, and Greg Norman. A minute’s drive across the bridge above the Intracoastal Waterway awaits a day’s worth of shopping at Barefoot Landing and entertainment from stars of country music performing at the Alabama Theater or rock and roll legends blasting away at the House of Blues.
Just up the road in Cherry Grove awaits Tidewater and its natural surroundings with some of the Grand Strand’s most daunting and scenic holes. The community has been built up to 12 neighborhoods, each unique with more than half devoted to single-family dwellings and homesites.
More than 2,000 acres make up Sea Trail Plantation and its three 18-hole courses. Fairway home sites begin at $276,000 compared to wooded area home sites beginning at $125,000. Homeowners enjoy one of two private swim and fitness centers that have pools and tennis courts along with extensive trails for biking and running.
Brunswick Plantation is a 27-hole facility in Calabash, North Carolina, a few minutes drive north of the South Carolina border. What makes the 1,750-acre development unique is the Brunswick House where property owners are treated like royalty in their own clubhouse to enjoy numerous activities, such as tennis, swimming, and exercise.
The Grand Strand has a reputation for tempting tourists. The affluent market is starting to see the attraction, too.
Nick Nicholas writes about golf and travel from his home in New York City.
