After 25 years, my wife and I are selling our vacation condo in Pawleys Plantation, Pawleys Island, SC, leaving behind a fabulous golf course, one of the best beaches on the east coast, good friends and lots of inter-generational memories.  This month, I recount what we will miss most, and what memories future owners of our condo might begin to build.

In Praise of Pawleys Island, South Carolina

Since 2000, my wife Connie and I have owned a three-bedroom, three-bath condominium in the Woodstork Landing neighborhood of Pawleys Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC.  Our son was 11 years old and our daughter eight when we purchased the end unit of a six-unit building that had not been built yet.  We have used it as a vacation home over the last 25 years.  Our two children are now in their 30s and with children of their own – our sixth grandchild was born in early October.  The kids live in northern Vermont and Vero Beach, FL, with a child by a previous marriage, my son, living with his wife and two children in New Jersey.  As you can imagine, our travel plans have changed significantly over the last decade and the condo is under-utilized as a vacation stop as we travel up and down the eastern seaboard to celebrate births, birthdays and major holidays.

In the coming weeks, we will put our condo up for sale.  Although my wife and children agree that it is not smart to spend for something that we cannot use much anymore, the memories make this an emotional decision for all.  My son Tim has been obsessed with golf since I stuck a plastic club in his hand when he was four.  He had his first birdie at a course in the Myrtle Beach area before he turned 10 and his interest in coastal golf course layouts stoked his interest in golf architecture.  When he was 11, he and I won our flight at the huge Myrtle Beach Father & Son Classic.  (Truth be told, his age qualified him to play from the front tees and that was a deciding factor in our victory.)  Every summer Tim competed against kids his age in the Pawleys Island area’s junior golf program.  I am certain there is a straight line between his golf experiences in the Myrtle Beach area and his currently successful career as a golf writer for GolfPass, a division of The Golf Channel. 

My daughter Jennie and my wife Connie were smitten with the beach at Pawleys Island since the first time they laid eyes on it.  The beach is a mere six-minute drive from the front gate of Pawleys Plantation and, except at the height of the beach season in mid-summer, parking within steps of the beach is easy, and free.  (All beaches in South Carolina are open to the public.  Even when parking is at a premium, you can find a spot on some beautiful beach along the 25-mile stretch between Pawleys Island and Myrtle Beach.)  Jennie did not inherit her fine swimming abilities from me; she earned it swimming in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Pawleys Plantation clubhouse pool, a mere three-minute walk around the pond from our condo.

Pawleys Plantation par 3 13th hole, the “shortest par 5 in Myrtle Beach.

Signature Golf, Nicklaus Style

The 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course at Pawleys Plantation was opened in 1988.  As was typical back then, properties had barely been offered for sale yet; the course was the lure to attract buyers for the adjacent properties. Hurricane Hugo, which severely damaged Charleston, caused flooding and downed trees in Pawleys Island in 1989; I played the golf course a few months after and it had drained well and showed no signs of damage. 

In the time since, trees and other flora around the golf course and the community have grown substantially.  Today, as you drive through the community’s guarded gate and toward the golf course, you are struck by the effects of the landscaping.  Live oaks and other trees form a canopy over many of the side roads; those dramatic live oaks are also a feature of Nicklaus’ layout.  In the middle of the par 4 9th fairway, for example, a huge live oak tree, dripping with Spanish moss as well as danger, beckons you to tee it high and hit it high over the top.  Doing so will kick the ball down the fairway at least 50 yards farther than if you take the more conservative approach left or right of the tree (or under it, if your worm burner is working well).

Despite warnings in the pro shop and on the scorecard, the Nicklaus layout is not to be trifled with, even though it was softened four years ago mostly with the elimination of a few acres of sand.  But the bunkers remain tucked up against most of the greens, and what remains of sand in the fairways can gobble a slightly wayward shot and spell bogey or worse.  Because of the tilt of the greens and those adjacent bunkers, the pin positions determine the degree of difficulty for individual holes in ways you won’t encounter at many other courses.  At the long par 4 8th hole, for example, a pin on the right side of the green brings bunker in front and lake to the right into play if you are too aggressive.  I’d estimate that particular pin position adds an extra half stroke in difficulty compared with a flagstick at front left. 

Your enjoyment of a round at Pawleys is dependent on which tees you choose to play, as much as how you are striking the ball.  (Some of my more amusing moments in Pawleys Plantation came from sitting on our patio, which has a direct view onto the tee boxes of the par 4 15th hole. The very back tees at Pawleys carry a rating of 74.1 and slope of 144 (before a renovation five years ago, they were even higher).  It made me chuckle to see some of the swings on that back tee, knowing full well those optimistic birdie-seeking golfers had their wings clipped during the round.

The 18th hole at Caledonia Golf and Fish Club, view from the clubhouse dining area.

Dynamic Duo: Caledonia and True Blue

Pawleys Island is blessed with some of the best golf on the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach, which runs about 90 miles from Georgetown, SC to just short of Wilmington, NC.  Within a five-minute drive of our front gate, Caledonia Golf and Fish club and True Blue offer two of the most unusual golf experiences anywhere.  Both layouts were designed by the late Mike Strantz. Caledonia features lots of sand and water that serve both as challenges and eye candy.  You won’t find a golf course with more sand on and around it than True Blue, where half the waste bunkers – golf carts are permitted to drive through them – afford the kinds of lies you’d expect in the fairways.  The par 4 18th at Caledonia ends on a 100-foot-long green with the deck of the clubhouse dining area seemingly hanging over the back edge of the green.  With an audience, drinks in hand, looking down on you – literally and figuratively – that five-foot putt can look a bit longer. 

Pawleys Island may be a resort town – it claims to be the first one on the east coast – but it is situated very well for year-round living.  Four of the six couples in our building live there year-round, and my guess is that reflects the overall population of the 900-acre community.  Within five miles of our front gate, you have your choice of six supermarkets, including the Whole-Foods-like Fresh Market and a just-opened European chain store Aldi, which features a select discounted line of items.  Spring and fall are the high seasons for golf, summer for the beach, and winter for the hardy year-rounders (and a few hardy out-of-town golfers looking for bargain green fees).  Our family has spent late December weeks down there, and some years my son and I played golf in shorts and golf shirt and other years in heavy sweaters.  On the two or three days a year it snows in Pawleys Island, the snow is gone the next day in all but rare cases.

Restaurants in the area are plentiful, and some of them are quite good.  Check out Frank’s, Chive Blossom and Perrone’s for upscale dining; consider the buffet at Hog Heaven for t-shirt and cutoffs dining and some of the best fried chicken east of the Mississippi – all you can eat for $11.  Charleston is a little over an hour away and the city maintains, justifiably, one of the best reputations for dining on the east coast.

Healthcare: Good and Getting Better

Healthcare options in the Pawleys Island area are good and getting better every year.  Since 2000, we have had to call on the emergency room in Georgetown, eight miles away, for a few minor calamities.  The wait times were well within reason and the care as good as we are used to in the ERs of the Hartford, CT, area.  Some years ago, while in South Carolina, my left knee gave out.  I hobbled around for a couple of days before making an appointment with a local orthopedist.  He determined that a cortisone injection would give me relief but that I could very well require replacement in one or both knees within a couple of years.  His aim with the needle was true because that was 14 years ago, and I am happy to say that both my knees feel fine today, no replacements necessary.  I have returned to that doc for shots in my shoulder and wrist, each time to positive effect.  Most specialties in the area are part of the Tidelands Health system which spans Georgetown (Pawleys Island) and Horry (Myrtle Beach) Counties.

Wonderland of Sculptures and Flowers

If Pawleys Island lacks anything that is important to most of us, it is what to do for entertainment when you are not on a golf course or the beach.  There are no movie theaters within 20 miles, and the only live performance theater, in Georgetown, presents sporadic local theater-company shows (and a rare art movie).  In terms of visual entertainment, the digital age has been a godsend for those who love Pawleys Island but would miss movies and big-city sporting events.  (Note:  Through a full-community agreement with cable provider Spectrum, we are billed less than $30 a month for TV, Internet and telephone, although additional payments are made through our HOA dues.). But despite the lack of near-city amenities, the area is blessed with one of the most impressive cultural attractions on the east coast – Brookgreen Gardens, a 9,000-acre sculpture garden with keen emphasis on both “sculptures” and “gardens.”  Brookgreen, as well as the big, beautiful beach at Huntington State Park across Highway 17, were donated to the state by Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington in 1931.  Archer was a major philanthropist and Anna a renowned sculptress.  There is even a zoo in Brookgreen Gardens where children can get close to the animals.  A one-hour boat trip through the marsh is both entertaining and informative about life on the former 19th Century rice plantation.

Have a seat: Just one of the hundreds of sculptures in Brookgreen Gardens.

What I particularly like about Pawleys Island is that virtually everyone you meet is from somewhere else.  Our next door neighbors hail from Connecticut – they bought the unit from our former Kentucky neighbors.  The others in our six-unit building are from New Jersey, North Carolina (by way of the Caribbean island of Eleuthra), Columbia, SC, and West Virginia.  The owners of Landolfi’s, a popular Italian bistro that arguably makes the best pizza AND cannoli in the area, are from outside Philadelphia.  A popular grocery store and Italian market is run by folks from New Jersey.  And a new meat purveyor in Pawleys Island is called New York Butcher Shoppe, although I have no idea where the owners are from.

Bargains Galore

A few words about shopping.  As with many tourist-dominated areas, Myrtle Beach has its share – some might say more than its share – of outlet shopping malls.  I have supplemented my own wardrobe with bargains I’ve stumbled upon while browsing in one of the area’s outlet malls.  My latest acquisition was a pair of Travis Matthew golf shoes that retail for around $140.  They cost me $80, and they are as comfortable and certainly as fashionable as any I have worn. For those inclined toward standard shopping malls with reliable department stores, Coastal Grand in Myrtle Beach is slightly more than a half hour from Pawleys Plantation, just a mile from Myrtle Beach International Airport.

It will be hard for our family to leave Pawleys Island, but I do not plan on a full separation.  I have made a deal with my wife and children that after we sell the condo, I will be pleased to arrange for a week or two in a Pawleys Island house, steps from the beach and a mere 10-minute drive to some of the best golf on the east coast. With grandkids involved now, Pawleys Island could very well become a multi-generational playground for our family for years to come.

Thanks for reading,

Larry Gavrich
Founder & Editor
Home On The Course, LLC

For most couples somewhere between comfortable and wealthy, the choice of golf club membership involves a social and financial calculation. Obviously, if you are moving to a golf community, you want to center your game and social activities around the club. But can you afford it? We do a back of the napkin calculation in this month’s Home On The Course.

In This Issue

• Comparing Two Top Clubs, 10 Minutes Apart, One Private and One Public
• U.S. States to Die For

Comparing Two Top Clubs, 10 Minutes Apart, One Private and One Public

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 Colony

As 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.

Private vs Public

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:

• Generally better maintenance of the golf course.
• Ability to get to know your fellow members much more quickly.
• The quality of the club’s staff.
• More respect for the golf course by its members who have a vested interest in maintaining excellent course conditions.
• Typically a long list of amenities, including pools, tennis and pickleball courts and an active clubhouse, things you won’t find at most public golf facilities.

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.

Are the Fees at a Private Club Worth 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 DeBordieu

DeBordieu vs Caledonia

Myrtle 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.

*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 Club

For 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 sandscape

U.S. States to Die For

A 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