The future of the shuttered Carolina Shores Golf & Country Club in Brunswick County may be taking shape.
Property owner Philippe Bureau intends to submit a rezoning and redevelopment proposal to the town of Carolina Shores, N.C., this afternoon, July 31, 2025, that would result in the building of 120 homes.
The 6,755-yard Tom Jackson design opened in 1974 and has been the centerpiece of the town of Carolina Shores, N.C., which was founded in 1998 when it split from Calabash, N.C..
But Bureau and his wife closed the course without prior notice last November.
“During Covid and after Covid it was a struggle,” Bureau said. “As a small independent golf course with no real estate to help fund the golf course during that period, we were just struggling, and we were tired of the struggle. We’ve been approached for years about selling it and we held on as long as we wanted to.”
Bureau said he has a letter of intent to sell the 156-acre property to an entity that will redevelop it, pending rezoning approval that would allow for single-family homes.
Bureau said he can’t divulge the proposed buyer due to a confidentiality agreement that is in effect until the property is rezoned.
He said the redevelopment plan he is submitting would result in 120 homes over about 25% of the property, which would primarily be contained between the clubhouse and portions of holes 9, 10, 14 and 18.
Bureau said the proposed lot sizes would match those of the existing homes they are adjacent to, and there are multiple lot sizes in the existing residential development.
The remaining 75% of the property would remain open space in some form, he said, and significant work on stormwater drainage would be done in concert with the county to mitigate flooding issues in the area.
“We’re going to work with the county to fix part of the stormwater problem in southeast Brunswick County by using the open property and being able to retain water during horrific storms, so it’s all really good for the community,” Bureau said. “. . . With growth they’re always concerned, and it’s a problem that should have been taken care of decades ago.”
The golf course property is zoned as a Conservation Recreation District (CRD). CRD zoning “is intended to preserve Carolina Shores’ essential open space areas.”
Housing can be conditionally built within a CRD, however, according to the town’s code of ordinances, which reads: “Conservation zoning may be incorporated into surrounding developments. Large lot zoning for single-family residential development is conditionally allowed as an effective way to preserve natural and community open space resources.”
Bureau said the current zoning allows for one lot per acre, which is extremely large for a residential development.
“If we went that route, then we’d have to use up the entire golf course and there would be no open space, and it wouldn’t solve any problems that the community has,” Bureau said. “. . . The underlying thing is it is either good for the community because we can help solve some problems or we develop the whole golf course, and that’s just not what we want to do.”
Carolina Shores Town Administrator Chad Hicks said the town’s staff has up to a month to review the rezoning request before sending it to the planning board, which will then pass it along with a recommendation to the Carolina Shores board of commissioners. The commissioners will hear public input and vote.
Bureau plans to share the plans with Carolina Shores town residents and field questions along with experts who created the rezoning request from 1-5 p.m. on Aug. 5 at the Southwest Brunswick Branch Library in Calabash.
Carolina Shores G&CC had been an inexpensive local course with its primary customers being members and area residents, and its clubhouse included a pro shop and bar & grill that was open to the public. The property included a pool and tennis courts.
The tight layout was cut through hardwoods and pines.
Bureau has been in the Myrtle Beach golf market for more than two decades and took over Carolina Shores in 2011 after being director of golf at the four-course Ocean Ridge Plantation from 2005-08. He made initial improvements to the course and clubhouse when he took over.
There has been pushback from the community to any redevelopment of the course, which began even before the course was closed.
A petition on Change.org posted by a resident titled “Prevent Rezoning of the Carolina Shores Golf Course for Residential Development” has garnered more than 1,800 signatures since July 2024.
Resident Zachary Ferguson spoke Thursday to some in the community’s frustration with the idea of redeveloping all or parts of the golf course.
“. . . Several of those residents who own those properties supported the course even when the course was in terrible shape,” Ferguson said in an email. “The owner has been in and around golf for a long time and I was hopeful that he would like to see the sport continue to grow in our community and sell to a buyer who was willing to keep the property a golf course. Carolina Shores Golf & Country Club provided the town with recreational opportunities and created a unique natural feel, with wildlife and great serenity that is very uncommon in current developments. To add new houses on this property, they are taking away from what makes Carolina Shores such a great place to live.”
Carolina Shores is the latest of nine-plus courses to close in Brunswick County over the past 24 years.
The others include Marsh Harbour Golf Links (early 2000s), Ocean Harbour Golf Links (early 2000s), Ocean Isle Beach Golf Course (2005), two 18-hole courses at Angels Trace Golf Links (2006), Calabash Golf Links (2010), Brierwood Golf Club (2017) and Farmstead Golf Links (2021), which had holes in both North Carolina and South Carolina. Additionally, nine of 36 holes at The Pearl Golf Links closed in 2020.
Angels Trace was expected to be turned into the fifth course at Ocean Ridge Plantation, and though nine holes were designed and cleared, the course was never fully built.
