The Grand Strand has more than 90 golf courses packed into 60 miles of coastline, which makes Myrtle Beach less a golf destination and more a golf numbers game — the trick is knowing which handful of layouts are actually worth the green fee instead of just the closest one to your hotel. The dive bar scene is exactly as unpretentious as you'd hope for a beach town built around cheap golf packages.
- Caledonia Golf & Fish Club $129 Mike Strantz, 1994, and consistently ranked one of the top public courses in South Carolina. Champion Bermuda greens under a canopy of live oaks.
- True Blue Golf Club $89+ Caledonia's sister course, also Strantz, also a top-5 public layout in the state — and usually easier to get a tee time.
- Pine Lakes Country Club $100+ "The Granddaddy" — the first golf course ever built in Myrtle Beach, 1927, less than half a mile from the Atlantic.
- 357 Coastal Raw Bar Myrtle Beach Low-key insider spot with local oysters, lobster rolls, and a beer garden running 90 taps deep.
- Dirty Don's Myrtle Beach A couple blocks off the ocean, chill coastal energy, and the Dunkin' Pot — a seafood boil built for a table that just came off 18.
- Sara J's Murrells Inlet Started by an actual fishing family, rarely on a tourist's radar. The diver scallops are the reason to go.
- Drifters Saloon Myrtle Beach A locals' staple since 1998 — 22 big screens, pool tables, darts, a bowling/golf machine, and a kitchen that runs till 1 a.m. 19th hole pickWednesday: Yuengs & Wings, 75-cent wings. Karaoke starts at 9.
- Jake's Dive Bar Myrtle Beach Cozy neighborhood spot, eclectic decor, cold beer, run by owners who actually know your name by round two. 19th hole pickWhatever's cold — just time it for $2 Tuesdays.
- Patty's Dew Drop Inn Surfside Beach Tucked into the Surfside Industrial Park. Cold beer, pudding shots, exactly the kind of place that doesn't show up on a tourist map. 19th hole pickA pudding shot. Just get one, you'll understand.
Myrtle Beach International (MYR) sits right in town with direct flights from most East Coast hubs — about as easy as golf-trip logistics get. Go in spring or fall: you'll dodge both the summer crowds and the worst of the humidity, and green fees drop noticeably in the shoulder season.