The top ten myths about Myrtle Beach golf. We discuss surcharges, golf carts, no shows, overbooking and other aspects of Myrtle Beach Golf.
1- Some Myrtle Beach golf courses make the package providers add a SURCHARGE to your Myrtle Beach Golf Package to play their course.
No, this not exactly correct.
The first Myrtle Beach Golf Packages got started in the late 1960’s. For the first couple of years, there were only a handful of golf courses available for the packages. The cost to play golf was about the same at each of these golf courses. The hotels just created a average price for golf and included all of the these courses in their packages. They knew the golf cost would average itself out over the year.
As Myrtle Beach Golf got more popular, better golf courses were being built. These newer golf courses were more expensive to built and to maintain. They had to charge more to play these new course. The golfers liked these new courses. They began to request the newer and more expensive golf courses. If you could get a new Chevrolet or a new Cadillac and the dealer was going to charge you the same price, which would you take? The average golf cost got out of balance. The package providers did not want to go up on their golf packages cost. So they kept the basic package cost the same, but limited your choice of courses. If you wanted to play the more expensive courses, they just added the difference in the green fee cost to your package. That is the so called SURCHARGE.
2- Myrtle Beach Golf Courses have mandatory golf cart usage to speed up play.
No, this is not true.
Economics was the reason for mandatory golf carts. As the Myrtle Beach golf courses became busier, most vacationing package golfers were wanting to utilize the golf carts. There were days when the courses would have more golfers wanting to rent the carts, than carts available. This created angry customers.
The golf courses figured out the maximum number of carts they needed for a full day and everyone wanted to ride. That was the number that they kept on hand. They had to pay rent on these carts whether they were used or not. Since most people wanted to rent the golf carts, they decided to make everyone ride, MANDATORY CARTS.
3- Myrtle Beach Golf Courses charge for no show, to make you play when you don’t want to play.
No, that is not true.
The golf courses do not charge you for not playing the round. They charge you for the tee time. The tee times are guaranteed tee times. The golf course agrees to allow you to tee off at a particular time. You agree to be there ready to play at a particular time. For this access you pay them a agreed upon amount. You are agreeable to this arrangement, because this guaranteed tee time allows you to make you golf vacation plans well in advance. You are not trying to find somewhere to play at the last minute. The golf course is agreeable to this arrangement, because they know how many golfers they are going to have in advance. They can make the necessary arrangements to make things go as smooth as possible. Most courses will give a refund or rain check, if play is upset by foul weather. Do not expect any sort of reimbursement if you partied to much and could not get out of bed.
4- Myrtle Beach golf courses intentionally overbook their tee sheets.
No, this is not true.
Myrtle Beach golf courses have set tee times. Usually they double tee, meaning they start simultaneously off # 1 and # 10 tees. Typically, there are 17 tee time available, in the morning, from 7:30 through 9:38 at eight minute intervals. They then close the tees to new golfers to allow the golfers that started on #1 to crossover to # 10 and the ones that started on #10 to crossover to # 1. The first golfers off of each side are expected to turn and be ready to start on the other side at 9:46 (2 hours and 16 minutes. A foursome should come off of # 9 and # 18 every 8 minutes. The afternoon rounds runs from 12:00 to 2:08. A round of golf is scheduled take 4 and 1/2 hours not much less, hopefully not much longer.
5- It took me six hours to play a round at Unnamed Golf Course in Myrtle Beach.
No, this is probably not true.
From the scheduled tee times above, one can see that an ideal round in Myrtle Beach takes 4 and 1/2 hours to complete. This may not always be the case. There have been times when a round takes five hours to play and even five plus hour rounds have been recorded in some extreme situation.
The Myrtle Beach golf courses set their tee times sheets up one year in advance for package providers to sell. They have no idea of what the weather conditions are going to be when the day actually arrives. They are going to sell the tee times expecting ideal weather conditions.
The most dreaded conditions for the golf course is rain / wet fairways. The golf carts can not go out onto the fairways. The golf carts must stay on the paved cart paths. They would just to do much damage to the turf. Having to restrict the golf carts to the paths adds 30 minutes to a round of golf. The Pro Shops hates having to keep the carts on the paths. But, on the other hand, the golf course would be closed, if it did not have cart paths the full length of the course. Golfers on package would miss a day of play, the golf courses would miss a day of revenue. What would you guys prefer to do? Sit in the hotel all day or spend an extra thirty minutes in the clean fresh air of Myrtle Beach playing golf and getting some needed walking exercise.
There are some courses that set their tee time sheets with 18 or 19 tee time slots. These courses are the abnormal and should be avoided, unless they make the cost worth the extra time it takes to play.
The time it takes a foursome to play starts when the first golfer hits his first shot and ends when the last golfer holes his last putt. Not when the starter sends you to the tee and when you get your first beer in the bar.
6- If a golf courses was in bad condition last month, last year, the last time you played there, it is going to be in bad shape the next time you play there.
No, this is not necessarily true.
Myrtle Beach golf is so competitive, not only with the other courses on the Grand Strand, but with the other resorts around the country. A course can not afford to be in poor condition for long. Grass is very resilient. Given the proper conditions and maintenance procedures it will respond in a very short period of time. Different people have different opinions on what are good conditions. What are fast or slow greens. It has a lot to due with what type of grass you are used to playing. If you have any doubts as to a courses condition, call the Pro, he will tell you the truth.
7- If the primary grass on the fairways and greens is a Bermuda Grass and the grass is brown it is DEAD.
No, this is not true.
Bermuda Grass will always turn brown and go into hibernation when exposed to the first killing frost of the cold season. It will begin to green up when the day time temperatures starts warming up. The grass will begin to grow when the nights remain above fifty degrees.
Most courses overseed the greens and fairways in the fall. This overseeding makes the golf courses green and lush. The overseeding is a very expensive operation. But without the overseeding, the course would be brown and appear dead.
From Mid February through the middle of may is the peak season for Myrtle Beach. Your golf courses better be green and in good shape or the competitive will bury you.
8- Myrtle Beach Hotel Golf Packages are the best way to go.
No, this is not always the case.
Myrtle Beach Hotels started the golf package business in South Carolina. But, this may or may not be the best option for your golf package. The hotels typically offer a standard hotel room with two queen beds in the same sleeping area. They include daily maid service and some times breakfast. Sometimes the room will have a kitchen area. They are typically oceanfront. There are off the ocean hotels available.
There is another options. The Myrtle Beach condo market has opened many new doors. You can rent a full two bedroom condo, usually for less than the hotel room per person cost. There are golf course condos as well as Oceanfront condos. These condos have separate bedrooms, living, dining and kitchen areas. These condos are equipped for full time living. The draw back for the condos is that you have to do the day to day picking up and cleaning. The up side is that you have more room and the ability to cook your own meals.
9- Myrtle Beach is the The Golf Capital of the World.
This may or may not be true.
Golf in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is as good as it gets. The Grand Strand offers over eighty golf courses for you to include in you golf package to the beach. We have golf rounds starting at $35.00 in the off season up to golf rounds costing over $ 200.00 in the peak season. You decide what you want.