The story has been well told: During the pandemic, the safest refuge was outdoors. But if mountain climbing, spelunking and being out on the water away from crowds did not float your boat, then your most challenging alternative may have been golf. From the pre-pandemic year of 2019 to 2024, golf’s popularity grew by 38%, and total rounds played in the U.S. reached 545 million, a record-setting number. In the first full year of the pandemic, 2020, the number of golf rounds played in the U.S. jumped 13%, according to the National Golf Foundation. Overall, on-course participation nationwide increased by two million, the majority of that coming from beginners.
If you are having trouble in 2025 snagging a tee time the day before you want to play, blame it on the pandemic. If you have noticed a green fee increase every year since 2021, same culprit. If your former four-hour round is consistently longer than four and a half hours, COVID’s to blame for that too. (I recall my first 18-hole round when I shot a 115 and putted everything out, even the one-footers, before I knew better. The adult foursome behind my group of 14-year-olds was livid.)
The beach inside the gates of DeBordieu ColonyAs green fees have risen at public golf courses, the pandemic’s effect has been even more profound at private country clubs. According to Golf Operator Magazine, initiation fees at many private clubs have tripled in the last five years, with those clubs that formerly charged $5,000 to $20,000 now assessing $50,000 and more. Monthly dues, the operating lifeblood of all private clubs, followed suit, rising from the mid hundreds to well over $1,000 per month. And despite the higher tariffs, private club waiting lists are now the rule rather than the exception.
What is a retired couple to do if their pre-retirement assumptions about private club fees are no longer valid? (That same quandary faces younger families working remotely and planning to move to a community where excellent golf is available inside the gates or conveniently nearby.) The quick answer for all parties on the move is that you have enough exciting options to find the one that works for you, from both social and financial standpoints.
I wrote and published Glorious Back Nine: How to Find Your Dream Golf Home in 2020. What I wrote then about the thought process behind which type of country club to choose is as accurate today as it was back then. Only the price tags have changed. In the book, I identified tangible and intangible reasons for paying more to join a private golf club inside the community where you choose to live rather than opting for daily fee golf just down the road. Here are the tangible reasons:
The chief intangible reason for joining a private club is what I call the “Cheers Bar” effect. Remember the theme song to that overwhelmingly popular show? It ended with, “You wanna go where everybody knows your name.” Of course you do because that means you will be treated with care and respect that cannot be duplicated at most public facilities. Staff at public courses tend to come and go, but the staff at well-run private clubs stick around long enough to get to know your name. Their bosses insist on it.
Your first calculation in deciding whether a private country club is right for you is literally a calculation, a financial one. For those who feel strongly that private club membership is a must, I suggest folding the initiation fee into the total cost of the golf community home you are going to buy. Unless you join an equity club that will return your initiation fee when you leave the club – fewer equity options these days – you can kiss the initiation fee goodbye. But the monthly dues will be a significant part of your budget, and the most important component of your financial calculations to decide whether the private or public option is right for you.
Many of the metropolitan areas in the Southeast, the territory I cover, feature a mix of private and public clubs, and some of the public clubs will feature golf that is as high quality as many of the private clubs. The green fees at the best of the public courses can top out at $100 or more; that provides a good start for comparing the costs of a private club you are considering with the best public golf in the area. Consider the following comparison from my own experience. (I am not a member of either club but I know them well.)
The railroad ties are decidedly Dye at DeBordieuMyrtle Beach, SC, offers more quality golf per square mile than virtually any other area in the nation. Of its 80-plus golf courses within 60 miles, only a half dozen are private and half of those are located at the far south end of the Grand Strand. Debordieu Colony in Georgetown, SC, features a Pete Dye golf course and a three-mile Atlantic Ocean beach inside its guarded front gate. The layout is one of the best on the Grand Strand, and it shows off most of Dye’s iconic flourishes, such as railroad ties separating green from pond and his signature pothole bunkers wedged into fairways and beside greens. When I last reviewed DeBordieu a little over a decade ago, the initiation fee for a full golf membership was $30,000. Today, the club is charging new members $91,000 and annual dues are $8,640, or $720 per month, which seems super-reasonable given the quality of the club and its robust initiation fee.
Caledonia Golf and Fish Club, in Pawleys Island, SC, is located less than 10 miles north of DeBordieu and shows up on national lists of the best public golf courses in America, most recently at #70 nationwide on Golfweek’s list of “Best Courses You Can Play.” The magazine also ranked Caledonia, and its companion course True Blue, at #4 and #5, respectively, within the golf-rich state of South Carolina. Caledonia and True Blue were designed by the late Mike Strantz whose legendary Tobacco Road and Tot Hill Farm, both in North Carolina, are among the most memorable and talked-about layouts in America. With an annual Caledonia/True Blue membership you will pay $40 each time you play, just $30 in the off season (see annual fees below). It is a great deal for anyone who lives most of the year in the area. If you choose not to purchase a membership, green fee rates range from around $100 in the off season (summer and winter) to $200 in-season (spring and fall).
The following is my back-of-the-napkin calculation of the relative costs of joining DeBordieu compared with Caledonia/True Blue. You can run the same rough exercise with private and public golf clubs in areas you are considering for a golf home. I suggest that my clients consider an initiation (joining) fee part of the cost of the home they buy; a country club membership, after all, hastens integration into the social life of the golf community. And if you are targeting a golf community for your future home, quality golf and an active social life should be high on your list of preferences.
| Club Name | Joining Fee | Monthly Dues | Cost per Play | 16 times per month |
| DeBordieu | $91,000 | $720 | $0 | $720 |
| Caledonia | $2,299* | $192** | $40 | $640 |
*Caledonia’s joining fee – what it calls “membership access” – is a one-time initiation fee.
**The monthly dues amount is calculated by dividing the club’s annual fee of $2,299, for a single member between the ages of 35 and 75, by 12. (Senior member annual rate is $1,699.) Membership applies both to Caledonia and its sister course, True Blue. The major difference between the cost of play at the private DeBordieu and the public Caledonia/True Blue, for those who play four times per week, is in the initiation fee. Other costs are comparable.
The view from behind the 18th at Caledonia Golf & Fish ClubFor sure there are other private clubs in the Myrtle Beach area that charge lower initiation fees than does DeBordieu, and since all homes for sale in the gated beach community are now listed at $1 million and up, the assumption is that most residents there can afford the fees. There are also other fine public golf courses in the area that do not charge the annual fee that Caledonia does, but their green fees are higher than $40 per play.
In the end, those who don’t have to worry about the relatively steep tariffs at a private club will lean toward the built-in camaraderie, excellent course conditions, a long list of amenities and the upscale treatment by staff and consider the initiation fee no big deal. However, for those with a more modest budget, and who are confident they will be able to build a social network within their new golf community without membership, a top-ranked public course nearby will be a viable option.
Virtually every hole at True Blue golf course is a sandscapeA recent article at TopRetirements.com ranked the most inexpensive states for cost of living. West Virginia ranked 51st – the District of Columbia was also ranked on the full list – and Mississippi at 50th. I responded to the list with the following published comment:
When I see a ranking list like this, I recall the story of two friends dining in a restaurant, and the one says, "Isn't this food horrible?" And the other responds, "Yeah, but it is the cheapest restaurant in the area." If you have any health issue, or expect you might someday, you'd be nuts to consider any of the states at the top of the cheap-living list. According to the Commonwealth Fund, every one of the top five states is toxic when it comes to healthcare. Commonwealth's 2025 Scorecard on State Health System Performance ranks Mississippi dead last, actually 51st because the District of Columbia is also graded. The most affordable state, West Virginia, is ranked fifth to last. Oklahoma, the fourth most affordable state is also the third most dangerous to your health. Texas, renowned for its zero state income tax, holds down the second worst position for healthcare (and, perhaps, disaster preparedness). Rounding out the top 5 cheapo states, Alabama is ranked 42nd for healthcare and Kansas 33rd. Arkansas, by the way, makes the top five cellar-dweller list for healthcare at position #4. Sharp TR readers might have deduced a common trait among these unhealthy states, besides how much you'd save living there. (Not going to make the obvious political statement here.) But what is truly surprising is that the performance of virtually every Sunbelt state is in the bottom half of the Healthcare Scorecard. I can report that virtually all are located in the Sunbelt, a magnet for retirees because of the weather climate. But the climate for healthcare is a different story.
Lest you think the Commonwealth Fund might be unfair to the states they rank lowest, USNews & World Report ranks Mississippi #50, West Virginia 49th and Oklahoma 48th.
You will find a few excellent hospitals in the Southeast to consider in your relocation plans. They include MUSC Health University Medical Center in Charleston, SC, recognized as the #1 hospital in the state for many years; Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC, the #1 hospital in the Charlotte region according to some sources; and the Mayo Clinic-Florida in Jacksonville, FL. On a personal note, I once made an unplanned visit to the ER in Georgetown Memorial Hospital in Georgetown, SC and received great treatment. Georgetown is about 50 minutes south of Myrtle Beach.
Thanks for reading,
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
One of my favorite websites for “real” information about retirees and their preferences is TopRetirements.com. Recently, the site’s editor John Brady published a group of comments by readers about their searches for homes. I thought some of those comments were worthy of elaboration and response. (I have done some light editing on the questions.)
This is my favorite piece of advice because failure to have “The Talk” before your search commences is the root cause of all failed searches. A move to a community that turns out to be the wrong one for you and/or your partner is an even worse failure than not finding one at all, given the tumult and expense of moving. In the book I wrote a few years ago, Glorious Back Nine: How to Find Your Dream Golf Home, I envisioned the following kitchen table discussion:
Her: “Hon, let’s get serious about selling the house and moving to the Carolinas. We’ve talked about it long enough.
Him: “You’re right. Where do you want to move to?”
Her: “Hmm, good question.”
At the very least, you must nail down the type of area you both agree on – mountains, near ocean and beach, on a lake or some other topography. If you don’t agree on the type of location, your search could be endless and expensive. (It’s a big country out there!) Because of each spouse’s personal preferences or hobbies, you will have some modest disagreements about a final location. In that case your marriage will be tested mightily, in the same way couples describe what it is like to hang wallpaper together. If, for example, he likes golfing and she likes gardening, find a community with a good golf course and a home with a backyard or community plot for gardening – and some local restaurants and entertainment venues you can enjoy together.
You shouldn’t have to travel to find out the distance from your community of interest to a shopping mall; you can do that online with Google Maps or any other map program. But when you do visit a community, insist on a meet-up with local residents; the best communities offer access to “Ambassadors,” typically a couple that will have dinner with you, give you a personal tour of the community and answer all your questions. My experience is that Ambassadors are not shills for the community; they tend to answer even tough questions directly and honestly…as long as the questions aren’t subjective, such as “Are people friendly here?” (Answer: People are friendly everywhere, if you are.) And if you are serious about the community, insist on copies of the HOA documents, such as by-laws and master deed. (See below.)
Amen to that! Many HOAs have the richly deserved reputations typically reserved for state and federal bureaucracies. They are often run by people who think their retirements should be filled with making decisions on behalf of others. Most state laws give HOAs way more power than they deserve. Read the HOA documents closely for the community you are considering and pay particular attention to definitions of things like “common elements,” which are the responsibility of all members of the association to pay to maintain. Our own neighborhood HOA decided that all residents should pay for damages incurred to our neighbors’ “limited common elements” (second-floor porches); that resulted in a $14,000 assessment for each household but a benefit only for those with the problem. Fighting the unfairness of that was a losing battle because the state law gave the HOA the power to impose the assessment on everyone and, surprise, the board members all had damaged porches.
If that were true, most people would stay where they have lived for decades and gotten used to the hot days and bugs. There are plenty of warm climate locations that are free of mosquitoes and other bugs. As for hot and sticky days, air conditioners help.
Excellent advice, doc. Not everyone can rent for a month or two but at least they should spend a long weekend courtesy of a reasonably priced Discovery Package offered by many communities. (Discovery Packages are designed to treat you like a resident/club member and make sure you leave with a good understanding of what you are in for – or a firm resolve to look elsewhere.)
These comments remind me of the couple I worked with years ago whose specific guidelines were “two-bedroom home and a hotel nearby.” When I asked why, they responded that, “We love our children and grandchildren, and we want them to visit often. But we don’t want them staying under our roof. Retirement is for relaxation and not a lot of noise.” In other words, move for yourself, not your kids. You earned it. When our own children were pre-school, we spent many summer weeks on the Carolinas coasts. When it came time to consider a second home, we chose a condo in a golf community that appealed to my son and me for the golf but was just six minutes away from an Atlantic Ocean beach, a strong incentive for my wife and daughter. (Note: We are perfectly content these days to have our kids and their kids stay with us, but when it gets noisy, I do understand the need for some privacy.)
Sorry, but state income taxes can be a fool’s gold. Florida charges no income tax, but its overall cost of living is slightly above the national average because of high property taxes and homeowner and flood insurance rates. Focus on total cost of living, which comprises property and sales taxes, the price of gasoline and other goods and services, and whether senior citizens receive a financial break from the state and local governments. You also can and should put a price on convenience – such as distance to supermarkets and other necessities – and on your health today and in the future (proximity to hospitals and doctors who specialize in whatever ails you -- or might ail you in your retirement years).
Many couples believe that the hard work they have done in their careers and family-raising requires a move to a new location and better climate. But the town/area they have lived in for decades should be a top contender for their retirement years, especially if they have friends, family, trusted doctors and other services in the area; those are as fundamental to their health and happiness moving forward as 70 degrees in January. Vindicate the hard work you have done by at least considering remaining in place and traveling the world. As Bob Dylan once wrote/sang, “Don’t go mistaking paradise for that home across the road.”
Thanks for reading,
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
Happy New Year to everyone. To start the year, I am providing about double the content of a typical Home On The Course newsletter. I hope the information is useful to you.
The latest migration reports are in from major U.S. moving companies, and peoples’ reasons for moving to some states are hard to divine.
I looked at reports from Atlas Van Lines, published just before the end of the year, and UHaul and United Van Lines, which were reported in the last couple of weeks. Respectively, the most net migrations by state were to Arkansas, South Carolina and West Virginia. That is a bit of a head scratcher: Those three states rank low in terms of employment, their economies and the quality of their public-school systems – data that cover the reasons why most people relocate. Of course, “closer to family” is another top reason. (Source: USNews & World Report)
At #36 of 50, South Carolina ranks slightly higher than the other two states in “employment” (availability of jobs). It also ranks 33rd in its “economy, which beats out Arkansas (40) and West Virginia (48). Arkansas (38th) is modestly better than South Carolina (42) in terms of its schools, while West Virginia ranks a paltry #48. (Note: A Newsweek “quality of life” ranking placed West Virginia in 49th place, just behind Mississippi.)
The mountainous West Virginia – what John Denver described as “almost heaven” in his famous Country Roads – is, indeed, a beautiful state, but behind its skin-deep beauty are obviously some fundamental issues. Yet those reading this who think the grass is greener in, say, South Carolina and Arkansas may not have done their due diligence in terms of insurance costs and the rising likelihood of natural disasters. Hurricanes that have made landfall in South Carolina and the consequent flooding have helped push insurance rate increases up by double digits in each of the last few years. And although Arkansas may not make national headlines for tornadic activity, it suffered 52 tornadoes last year, an average of one every week, its highest number in more than a decade.
United Van Lines reported significant net migration to the cities of Wilmington, NC, and Myrtle Beach, SC, both at 80%. Yet late last year, North Carolina’s insurance companies asked for a 50% increase in property insurance rates in the Wilmington area; and Myrtle Beach residents are already paying 2 ½ times the national average for property insurance, a total of $4,820. And that does not factor in extra flood insurance required for those homes deemed at risk for flooding by insurers and FEMA. (See article below.) Those realities should make some retirees think twice about where to retire.
Some of the other states ranked in the top 10 for in-bound traffic are equally surprising. The Atlas Van Lines report lists Rhode Island (#2), Maine (7) and Connecticut (8) among the top 10. As recently as three years ago, the news media in Connecticut, where my wife and I maintain our primary home and where we raised our children, were shouting about people leaving the state. But with an economy ranked by USNews at #17 and public schools ranked #8, the headlines have quieted. (Note: I know from personal experience in the Hartford, CT, area that the state’s #3 rating nationally for the quality of its healthcare is more than justified.)
The van line reports are more interesting than they are conclusive. They measure only the locations to which they move customers, a vast minority of the numbers of people moving across the nation. But they do raise questions about what kind of research people undertake before they make consequential moves, and what their motivations might be. They can’t all have relatives in West Virginia.
*
As a related footnote that things may not be exactly as they seem in West Virginia, it might surprise some to learn that John Denver’s Country Roads was written mostly by a lyricist from Massachusetts and that the line “Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River” describes the area immediately to the east and west of Interstate 81; the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains are in Virginia, not West Virginia. It is entirely possible that the song refers to “west Virginia,” not West Virginia, a credible notion since Denver and his lyricist never set foot in West Virginia.
Remember the old joke that, someday, because of California earthquakes, people living in Las Vegas would eventually own beachfront property – on the Pacific Ocean? The unspoken corollary, of course, was that those currently living beside the ocean would become homeless, or worse.
Although the beachfront-property-in-Vegas riff is still a far-fetched joke, what is happening on the coasts of the U.S., and in other areas vulnerable to much more than earthquakes, is no laughing matter. As they pay out more and more claims for damages caused by natural disasters, insurers are raising rates significantly and, in a troubling number of cases, dropping their coverage altogether.
If you are unlucky enough to own a home in a high-risk location, you likely have felt the pain already. But if you haven’t received a letter from your insurer yet, imagine that you might lose your insurance on a home because of the risk of hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, tornadoes or other potential disasters. Not only could you be forced to self-insure a home that would cost hundreds of thousands to replace, but anyone who might buy it from you would have trouble finding a mortgage company to lend them money if an insurance policy can’t be written for the house.
For some homeowners who hold mortgages, the story is just as bad. Take, for example, Mike Patterson, a teacher in California whose insurance saga was covered by the San Francisco Chronicle. His longtime federally backed insurance policy was cancelled through no fault of his own.
“…[Patterson’s] longtime insurer, California Casualty of San Mateo, was downgraded by a credit rating agency,” the newspaper reported. “As a result, his federally backed mortgage lender would no longer accept his insurance.”
Patterson had no choice but to sign up for coverage from California’s insurer of last resort, the state-backed FAIR Plan.
“Now he pays just over $1,400 for insurance through the FAIR Plan,” according to the Chronicle. “That’s double what he used to pay to get just a fraction of the coverage, and unlike his old insurance, it covers only issues caused by fire.”
Folks who live in the bucolic areas of western North Carolina could not have imagined that natural disasters would cause them to lose their homes, or that they were not covered in total by their insurance policies. And from a hurricane…400 miles from the point of landfall on the Florida coast? Yet the after-effects of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in August last year where the panhandle of Florida bends to the west, caused billions of dollars in damage and ruined the fortunes of many of western North Carolina’s residents.
Many of the people affected by flooding from hurricane Helene had no idea that their homeowner’s insurance did not cover water damage. In the world of insurance coverage, property damage from wind, for example, is covered in most policies but not damage from flooding. My wife and I pay for a separate flood policy on our condo in South Carolina. It is backed by FEMA and covers flooding that destroys the items people depend on for their survival, such as refrigerators, utilities and other essentials. We carry a separate policy from State Farm that covers furniture and other personal property. The State Farm policy premium in 2024 was $894. The FEMA-backed policy was $1,111. (Note: In 2024, our personal policy premium decreased by a few dollars; the flood policy increased by more than 10%.) Those two policies do not even cover any structural damage or destruction of our two-story condo, which is one in a building of six units. Through our condo association we paid yet another $5,540 last year to cover the potential total loss of the condo. This year we will pay $6,130, an increase of 10%.
Our condo is almost a mile from the Atlantic Ocean as the gull flies and, despite some past hurricanes that damaged our golf course, the condo has suffered no flooding in 24 years. But Pawleys Island, SC, is not Asheville, NC; we expect hurricanes and are under no illusion that some might be especially damaging. The folks near Asheville had to be cruelly shocked by the ravages of a hurricane from so far away.
Insurance companies do not factor that you paid all your premiums on time for decades or that you never filed a claim. Given the increasing numbers of natural disaster claims that they must cover, they can make the case to state review boards that they need to raise their rates. If they deem the risk to your home has increased sharply, they can even drop your coverage; there is not much you can do about it. Insurers have fled states like California and Florida, which have responded with some assistance for the suddenly uninsured. Florida, like California, set up what is essentially a state-run insurance provider to cover at-risk residents whose insurance companies had left the state. The premiums are typically higher than what the homeowners were used to paying, but at least they have coverage. Yet the payouts for any future catastrophic hurricanes might exhaust funds in the state pool, lead to higher rates for those in the state plan and, potentially, lead to higher taxes for all of the state’s residents. (Note: Florida levies no state income tax but the money to fund such shortfalls will have to come from somewhere.)
As I write this, wildfires are raging outside of Los Angeles, leveling trailer homes and mansions alike. Many of the expensive homes are covered by California’s FAIR Plan whose ramifications, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, “could well be felt across California. Most obviously, the massive losses that insurers face could translate to increased rates for people across the state — particularly in the areas affected by the fires but also beyond…The [FAIR] plan has an estimated $24.5 billion in exposure across 15,300 residential and commercial policies in the ZIP codes impacted by the Southern California wildfires,” according to a Chronicle analysis of FAIR Plan data. Last summer, the FAIR plan held reserves of $385 million to pay for claims, according to the Chronicle.
A year ago, the bureau in North Carolina that represents insurance companies argued for rate increases that ranged from 4% in parts of the mountains to 99% in some beach areas. Increases in big cities like Raleigh, Charlotte and Greensboro that are popular with retirees and young families alike were expected at approximately 40%. Yet that was before most of the western part of the state was devastated by Hurricane Helene. In Buncombe County, which comprises Asheville, the rate-increase requests before Helene were for 20.5%. Residents of western North Carolina will almost assuredly have to prepare for more dramatic increases in the coming years.
With natural disasters hogging the headlines across the U.S., are there any safe havens left? The map below pinpoints both the hotspots and the relatively safe spots across the land. Note that, in general, the highest risk locations are where retirees relocate for sunshine year round; and the lowest risk areas, like New England, are from where retirees have emigrated to avoid cold winters.
I also asked the following of ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence program: “Create a short article that identifies the places in the U.S. that are safest from the ravages of disasters, including hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires and other natural disasters. List at least 10 places that are considered safe and where property insurance rates reflect those conditions.” Note that the 10 “safest” cities are almost exclusively northern; only Charlotte, NC, is in what is typically labeled “The Sunbelt.”
Here are the 10 towns that the program deemed safest, with some short rationales for the choices:
In early August 2023, my wife, my kids, grandkids and I spent a wonderful week on Lake Lure in North Carolina. That picturesque lake, where much of the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed, lies downriver from the town of Chimney Rock, which was decimated by flooding from Hurricane Helene last October. One local official put it this way to NBC News:
“…15 businesses were destroyed and 26 more were damaged. On the south side of town, 15 homes were obliterated and 14 more were damaged. Five bridges, including a footbridge, were razed. Three miles of Main Street, which is also known as U.S. Highway 64/74, were completely torn apart.”
The remnants of buildings torn apart by the flooding were carried down the Rocky Broad River to the circa 1927 dam that protects Lake Lure (photos below). The old dam held, but water carrying the flotsam and jetsam of the destroyed town overflowed the top and sides of the dam and turned beautiful Lake Lure into an unimaginable trash receptacle. Chimney Rock is located in Rutherford County, NC. A FEMA map detailing hazard risks across the country describe the Rutherford County risk as “relatively low.” (You can check out your own county here.)
Lake Lure, summer 2023
Lake Lure, October 2024
Most of the homes around Lake Lure sit at elevations well above the river and the lake. However, some were affected by reported mudslides. While watching my grandson on a putting green next to the community center at Lake Lure, I struck up a conversation with a retired couple who extolled the virtues of living in the community, including the climate. On reflection, it is a sad reminder of the Bob Dylan line: “Don’t go mistaking paradise for that home across the road.”
Think about it. If you love golf, when are you more relaxed and have more fun than on a buddy golf trip? A golf vacation is a time to dream, not only of a perfectly struck approach shot or a long putt for birdie, but also of how you might make the magic last for pretty much a lifetime. Making that dream a reality might be easier than you think – with a little help from your friends…er, buddies.
Since Myrtle Beach, S.C. is among the meccas for buddy golf in America – 80-plus golf courses, fair prices for golf and lodging, and easy to get to from major metropolitan areas – I am going to use it as an example of how a foursome might pool its resources, buy a modestly priced home and then use it, pretty much forever, as a group as well as with their families. In effect, four buddies with a dream can set up their own private timeshare in a golf community with all sorts of additional golf options within a short drive.
First the setup. For your next buddy golf trip, choose courses that are tucked inside residential communities – most courses in the Myrtle Beach area fit that description. Use one of the real estate sites like Realtor.com or Zillow and search the current listings for sale in those communities. Set a total price, to be split four ways, that will be modest for you and your buddies. In round numbers, I suggest condominiums and the occasional single-family homes that are priced at $400,000 and lower, making each friend’s investment $100,000 or less. Of course, there will be carrying costs that include taxes, homeowner association fees (if applicable) and, naturally, fees for golf. Virtually all golf courses along Myrtle Beach’s Grand Strand are accessible to the public but check if there are membership plans as well; you will be surprised at how modestly priced they are. Better yet, membership in one course often confers reciprocal play at many other golf courses in the area. (See reference to Founders Group International below.) A membership may be the smart way to go if, for example, you and your buddies intend more than one visit together annually, and if your families and you will visit at other times of the year.
You may get some pushback on the home front at first. Imagine that you return from your buddy golf trip and pose to your family the idea of investing in a home with your friends. “Who are you,” your spouse might respond, “and what have you done with my husband/wife?” (Note: More and more women are going on buddy golf trips, so this scenario could certainly be reversed to feature women golfers.) You might respond that the beaches on the Grand Strand are beautiful, accessible to all and within minutes of most any golf community you choose. Myrtle Beach is a resort town and exists to entertain families, not only with its beaches but also with plenty of activities for kids (aquarium, minor league baseball, a zoo at the famous Brookgreen Gardens). And dozens of the area golf courses offer a “Kids Play Free” program during the summer months. (I saved a lot of money in green fees for my nine-year old golf-obsessed son in the 1990s.) In short, the idea of a home in a golf community will mean much more to the family than simply golf for golf-obsessed daddy or mommy.
I looked at the latest listings for homes in some popular and reasonably priced Myrtle Beach golf communities. All listings are at least 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and are priced under $400,000. If you would like some specific help with identifying a golf home for you and your buddies, or just you and your family, please
Mike Strantz was one of the most creative golf architects in the history of the game but, at his death at age 50, he left only a limited number of designs that bear his particular – some might say “peculiar” – stamp. Although Tobacco Road in the Sandhills of North Carolina stands out as his most unusual layout, True Blue is unique as well. From above, the bright green misshapen fairways appear to have been laid down over acres of sand, so much sand, in fact, that cart paths run through most of the waste bunkers. It sounds more intimidating than it is, and given the wide fairways and huge greens, hit the ball straight and you can score well. (You can strike most shots easily from the tamped down sand.)
True Blue. Golf Club, Pawleys Island, SC
The condos adjacent to the golf course won’t win any creative design awards, but they are comfortable and among the most reasonably priced along the Grand Strand. This listing features three bedrooms and three baths over 1,400 square feet and terrific views of the golf course from the screened in deck. Priced at $359,000.
Myrtlewood and its 36 holes of golf – the Palmetto and Pinehills courses – is one of the oldest clubs in the Myrtle Beach area and is centrally located within just of few miles of dozens of other golf courses. The Palmetto, designed by the respected Ed Ault, was the first on the Grand Strand to be built beside the Intracoastal Waterway, and the entire length of the finishing hole runs along the water. Pinehills is the product of another renowned designer, Arthur Hills, who produces layouts that golfers love for their playability without being routine or boring.
I played the Pinehills course last summer, my first round at Myrtlewood since 1969 before any homes were built beside the courses. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the condo buildings have been designed with as much care as the golf courses were, not the usual “stack-a-shacks” that are eyesores on many layouts.
A three bedroom, two bath unit with lake views from its lanai and close access to Myrtlewood amenities is listed at the super-reasonable price of $298,000. Myrtlewood is one of the Founders Group International courses; therefore, Myrtlewood members have reciprocal access to the 22 other FGI courses, which include Pawleys Plantation, Grande Dunes, Kings North and TPC Myrtle Beach.
Some golf courses are more notable than their designers. Such is the case with Tidewater, one of the most entertaining layouts in the Myrtle Beach area. It was designed by Ken Tomlinson, a Columbia, SC, attorney and “amateur” golf architect whose only solo effort gained national recognition in 1990 as the best new public golf course in America from Golf Digest and Golf Magazine. Described by at least one reviewer as the [Kiawah Island] “Ocean Course without the blind shots,” Tidewater is as unique a layout as its designer.
Tidewater Golf Club, North Myrtle Beach, SC
There are relatively few condos in the Tidewater community that have been listed in recent years at under $400,000, but this one – at $399,900 – offers views of a pond and the Intracoastal Waterway. The three-bedroom, three-bath condo is an end unit, giving you total privacy on one side, and is offered almost fully furnished (except for a grandfather clock and some kitchen appliances).
With its four golf courses designed by some of the most notable architects working today, a foursome of buddy golfers would hardly have to stray off campus to find any other challenging and entertaining rounds of golf. The layouts by Norman, Fazio, Love III and Dye provide one of the widest range of experiences in one place on the Grand Strand. And the resort’s central location means shopping, entertainment, restaurants and the Atlantic Ocean beaches are within minutes.
Barefoot Resort, Love III Course, Myrtle Beach, SC
This three bedroom, two bath condo is located in the Harbor Cove section of the resort and features views of the inland waterway from the master suite, a large balcony overlooking the Greg Norman golf course, and a transferable golf club membership. It is listed at $389,900.
The Crow Creek Golf Club is celebrating its 25th year in operation. It was designed by Rick Robbins, who cut his teeth working for the Nicklaus organization in China before going out on his own in 1991. He is credited with designs all over the world, including in his native North Carolina. He designed the golf course at Compass Pointe in Leland, near Wilmington, NC. (I played Compass Pointe shortly after it opened in 2016, and Robbins drove out in his golf cart to have a chat with me about his easygoing layout. Nice guy, solid golf course designer.)
This first floor, three bedroom, two bath unit is close to the golf course as well as the clubhouse and pool. It is priced at a reasonable $283,500.
Thanks for reading,
Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC
