Three Hammock Coast Golf Trail courses ranked in Golfweek’s Best of 2024

Three Hammock Coast Golf Trail courses ranked in Golfweek’s Best of 2024

South Carolina’s Hammock Coast® offers golfers unique courses that are some of the best in the country, complete with award-winning designs and scenic beauty.

In fact, Golfweek recently ranked three of the area’s courses, which are part of the Hammock Coast Golf Trail, among the best public-access courses in the state.  Yes, Caledonia Golf and Fish Club and True Blue Golf Club, both in Pawleys Island, and Tournament Players’ Club (TPC) in Murrells Inlet made the list of the annual Best Courses You Can Play in every U.S. state. For the complete story, click here.

Bob Seganti, general manager for Caledonia and True Blue clubs, said he is excited that those two courses made the list once again. He also serves as the chairman of the Georgetown County Tourism Management Commission, which oversees the marketing efforts for South Carolina’s Hammock Coast®.

“We are thrilled to again have our two Mike Strantz designed courses, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and True Blue Golf Club, ranked in the top 5 of the Best Public Courses in South Carolina,” Seganti said. “To share that top 5 with The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, Harbourtown in Hilton Head and our neighbors at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, all PGA Tour and major golf championship sites, is pretty humbling.”

Seganti said Caledonia and True Blue are popular choices for golfers, from beginners to professionals.

“The quality of the architecture and the commitment of our local ownership group to provide the financial resources to continually refresh and improve the golf courses makes them popular,” he said. “The late golf course architect Mike Strantz was considered a genius and although he only designed nine golf courses, they are all prominent golf courses and considered architecturally unique in the world of golf.”

TPC Myrtle Beach is a golf resort located off South Carolina Highway 707 in the Burgess community near Murrells Inlet in the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area. The Tom Fazio designed championship golf course is a member of the PGA Tour’s Tournament Players Club network.

“TPC Myrtle Beach invites you to test yourself against the greats of golf who have made their mark on this difficult 18-hole, par 72 undulating course,” said Kevin Willamson, PGA head golf professional at TPC Myrtle Beach. “Tom Watson, Lanny Wadkins, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, and Ray Floyd number among the golf legends who have pitted themselves against the complexities of this Tour-caliber course.”

Golfweek is a golf magazine and digital media outlet based in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is part of Gannett’s USA Today Network. The annually updated Best Courses You Can Play ranking is judged by a nationwide network of raters. The hundreds of members of Golfweek’s course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

Here are this year’s best public-access golf courses in South Carolina:

1. Kiawah Island Golf Resort (Ocean), Kiawah Island

2. Sea Pines Resort (Harbour Town Golf Links), Hilton Head Island

3. Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, Pawleys Island

4. The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, Myrtle Beach

5. True Blue Golf Club, Pawleys Island

6. Sea Pines Resort (Atlantic Dunes), Hilton Head Island

7. Sea Pines Resort (Heron Point), Hilton Head Island

8. Tournament Players’ Club (TPC) Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet

9. Tidewater, North Myrtle Beach

10. Legends Golf Resort (Moorland), Myrtle Beach

For a more detailed list, click here.

About the Hammock Coast Golf Trail

The Waccamaw Golf Trail was formed in 2007 as a cooperative marketing non-profit organization to promote golf in northern Georgetown County. Throughout the existence of Waccamaw Golf Trail, the marketing cooperative expanded to all areas of the county and the current 12 member courses. All marketing is done outside of the region to drive out-of-market golf trips by promoting award-winning golf courses and the beauty and experience of the beaches and South Carolina Lowcountry.

The newly named Hammock Coast Golf Trail features award-winning courses playing through moss-draped oaks and gently flowing tidal rivers and includes these courses: Caledonia Golf and Fish Club, Founders Club, Litchfield Country Club, Pawleys Plantation, River Club, Tradition Club, True Blue Golf Club, and Willbrook Plantation Golf Club in Pawleys Island; Wedgefield Country Club in Georgetown; and Blackmoor Golf Club, TPC, and Wachesaw Plantation East in Murrells Inlet.

The Hammock Coast Golf Trail will allow golfers to package the area’s best courses, restaurants and accommodations in one unforgettable trip.

“All of the Hammock Coast Golf Trail courses, whether they made the best in state list, are vital to the tourist, resort and local golfer,” Seganti said. “The two main drivers of tourism on The Hammock Coast are the world class beaches and world class golf.”

Mark Stevens, director of tourism development for the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce and South Carolina’s Hammock Coast®, said that golf is definitely a draw for many people visiting the area.

“When visitors experience all that our golf courses have to offer, they want to come back again and again,” he said. “We are very happy that three of our 12 courses made the Golfweek Best of 2024 list, but that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to golf on the Hammock Coast.”

Seganti said that all the golf courses on The Hammock Coast Golf Trail are public access properties.

“They each welcome everyone to dine, shop and play golf and many of these courses also have annual access memberships for those who play more frequently or live locally, but that does not restrict their public access status,” Seganti said. “All the courses are family friendly on and off the golf courses and many feature ‘locals favorite’ dining, retail shopping, wedding and event options.”

Comprised of six communities in Georgetown County – Murrells Inlet, southern Garden City, Litchfield Beach, Pawleys Island, Georgetown and Andrews – South Carolina’s Hammock Coast is one of the Palmetto State’s top tourist destinations. Buoyed by its large selection of vacation rental condos and homes and wide-open, pristine beaches, the Hammock Coast attracts visitors from across the nation, and many of them come to play golf.

By Clayton Stairs / tourism manager for the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce and South Carolina’s Hammock Coast®