Golfweek has released its list of the top public-access courses in every state for 2024, and the Myrtle Beach area dominates the lineup in South Carolina.
The market accounts for an impressive 13 of the top 20 Best Courses You Can Play in the golf-rich Palmetto State.
Courses on this list allow public access in some fashion including daily green fees, or through a resort or affiliated hotel. So the course can be played without a membership.
Headlining the Grand Strand’s honored courses is Caledonia Golf & Fish Club at No. 3.
It is followed by No. 4 The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, which recently hosted the PGA Tour’s inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic, No. 5 True Blue Golf Club, which like Caledonia is designed by the late Mike Strantz, No. 8 TPC Myrtle Beach, No. 9 Tidewater Golf Club, No. 10 Legends Resort’s Moorland Course, No. 11 Myrtle Beach National King’s North Course, No. 13 Legends Resort’s Heathland Course, Nos. 14 Grande Dunes Resort Course and the Barefoot Resort Dye Club, Nos. 16 Heritage Club and Prestwick Country Club, and No. 20 Barefoot Resort Love Course.
The only courses ahead of Caledonia in SC are No. 1 Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, which has hosted a pair of PGA Championships and a Ryder Cup, and No. 2 Harbour Town Golf Links, which has hosted the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage for more than 50 years.
Across the state line in North Carolina, Golfweek ranked Bald Head Island Club, which is largely private, as the No. 8 course and Thistle Golf Club in Sunset Beach as the No. 9 public course.
The Best Courses You Can Play ranking is created by Golfweek’s nationwide network of hundreds of raters. The course ratings panel members evaluate and rate courses on 10 criteria on a 1-10 points basis. They also file a single, overall rating on each course, and the overall ratings are averaged to produce Golfweek’s best course rankings.
Golfweek’s Top 20 in SC
1, Kiawah Island Ocean Course, Kiawah Island
2, Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head Island
3, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, Pawleys Island
4, The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, Myrtle Beach
5, True Blue Golf Club, Pawleys Island
6, Sea Pines Resort Atlantic Dunes, Hilton Head Island
7, Sea Pines Resort Heron Point, Hilton Head Island
8, TPC Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet
9, Tidewater Golf Club, North Myrtle Beach
10, Legends Resort Moorland Course, Myrtle Beach
T11, Myrtle Beach National King’s North Course, Myrtle Beach
T11, Kiawah Island Golf Resort Osprey Point, Kiawah Island
13, Legends Resort Heathland Course, Myrtle Beach
T14, Grande Dunes Resort Course, Myrtle Beach
T14, Barefoot Resort Dye Club, North Myrtle Beach
T16, Heritage Golf Club, Pawleys Island
T16, Prestwick Country Club, Myrtle Beach
T16, Kiawah Island Golf Resort Cougar Point, Kiawah Island
19, Palmetto Dunes Robert Trent Jones Course, Hilton Head Island
20, Barefoot Resort Love Course, North Myrtle Beach
