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<p><em><strong>By Ian Guerin</strong></em></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Call them underrated, undervalued or even under-appreciated.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">We call them five of the Grand Strand’s “Best Bang for the Buck.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">A number of golf courses in and around Myrtle Beach are seemingly custom-made for those coordinating a trip on a budget. All the while, no one is left feeling like it was a trek to play a handful of bottom feeders.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Price is taken into consideration &#8211; it has to, right? &#8211; but this isn’t a list of the cheapest courses in the area. Instead, these are ones where you drive away from the clubhouse knowing it was worth every dollar.</span></p>
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<figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://mbn-admin.travelboommarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LOBA_Drone_680x380.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9497" style="width:471px;height:263px" width="471" height="263" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LOBA_Drone_680x380.jpg 680w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LOBA_Drone_680x380-300x168.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 471px) 100vw, 471px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong><span style="line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.mbn.com/courses/long-bay-golf-club" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u>Long Bay Golf Club</u></a>, Longs </span></strong><em><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">(pictured, right)</span></em></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Long Bay’s difficult design and reasonable price tag can make it that much more rewarding. Jack Nicklaus combined significant elevation changes with pot bunkers and shallow greens, creating virtual depth issues on every hole.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Players can concentrate on those trouble spots because of great turf and low traffic. Simultaneously, they can focus on the picturesque setting, one highlighted by the linear pond up the left on No. 9, the waste-bunkered No. 10, an island green on 13 and dogleg around the aforementioned pond on the finishing hole.</span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.mbn.com/courses/the-legends-heathland" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u>Legends Golf &amp; Resort Heathland Course</u></a>, Myrtle Beach</span></strong></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Twenty-five years after Heathland opened, there still isn’t a course in the area that matches this one.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">On the canvas of land that was sitting here, architect Tom Doak separated Heathland from the adjoining Parkland and Moorland tracks by giving it a Scottish feel. Instead of massive trees &#8211; save for Nos. 5 and 6 &#8211; thick rough just off rolling fairways makes missing your target costly.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Oh, and did we mention the crosswinds? The par-71 Heathland is known for the prevalent breeze, one that can affect every single shot off the tee.</span></p>
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<figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://mbn-admin.travelboommarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LITC12A.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9499" style="width:277px;height:416px" width="277" height="416" srcset="https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LITC12A.jpg 400w, https://admin.mbn.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/LITC12A-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 277px) 100vw, 277px" /></figure></div>

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<p><strong><span style="line-height: 1.6em;"><u><a href="http://www.mbn.com/courses/litchfield-country-club" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Litchfield Country Club</a></u>, Pawleys Island </span></strong><em><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">(pictured, left)</span></em></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Litchfield isn’t the oldest course around. But after nearly 50 years, it’s relevance to the Waccamaw Golf Trail and the sport’s growth in the area is undeniable.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Consistency can have that effect.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Dogleg after dogleg made up for a fairly small amount of usable space for Willard Byrd’s design. At the same time, wide landing areas and less-than-scary distances (regardless of tees) were built into the old rice plantation.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">That’s how the course opened in 1966, and it’s how it remains today.</span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="line-height: 1.6em;"><a href="http://www.mbn.com/courses/myrtle-beach-national-west-course" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><u>West Course at Myrtle Beach National</u></a>, Myrtle Beach</span></strong></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">About the only thing holding back the perception of the West Course is the fact that it shares the neighborhood with the highly esteemed King’s North.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Most believe it would be just fine as a freestanding plot.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Locals have used West as their home course for decades. They appreciate extremely reliable conditions that don’t ebb and flow with the seasons. Hot or cold, the surface under your golf shoes is going to be about the same.</span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Arnold Palmer threw in a few quirks &#8211; the par 3 No. 18, for instance &#8211; helping carve out the course’s stellar reputation.</span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="line-height: 1.6em;"><u><a href="https://www.mbn.com/courses/myrtlewood-golf-club-palmetto">Palmetto Course at Myrtlewood Golf Club</a></u>,&nbsp;Myrtle Beach</span></strong></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">We&#8217;ve loved Palmetto for a long time &#8211; thanks to its no-nonsense approach to the game, a very friendly price tag and a finishing hole along the Intracoastal Waterway. </span></p>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">But that affection level has only risen in recent years. Renovations to the course&#8217;s drainage and cleaning up some bunkers was nice, and a full-scale greens revitalization was even sweeter. They&#8217;re bigger than they&#8217;d been in the two decades prior, and a switch to Sunday Bermudagrass means they roll as true as you&#8217;d hope on courses that cost two-three times as much to play.&nbsp;</span></p>
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<p><em><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">Ian Guerin is a DJ and freelance writer living in Myrtle Beach, S.C. His golf game ebbs and flows like the Atlantic, and he once did the worm after breaking 90 at a top-100 course. You can follow him on Twitter @iguerin.</span></em></p>
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Five “Best Bang for the Buck” Golf Courses in Myrtle Beach

Courses in this Article

Legends Resort - The Heathland Course

Litchfield Country Club

West Course at Myrtle Beach National

Long Bay Golf Club

Additional Myrtle Beach Golf News