The trip that turns into a move
The same story seems to play out over and over.
It starts with a buddy trip. Four guys, a package deal, 36 holes a day. The next year it’s eight guys. A few years later they’re coming down every spring and every fall, and somebody starts picking up real estate brochures on the way to the airport.
Then one of them retires. Or gets tired of shoveling. Or does the math on what he spends to come here twice a year and decides he’d rather just live here. And before long, the guy who used to fly in for the trip is the one picking up his old buddies at the airport.
If you’ve been coming to Myrtle Beach to play golf for years and you’ve caught yourself wondering what it would be like to stay, you’re in good company.
Why golfers fall for the Grand Strand
The sheer number of courses. There are around 85 courses along the Grand Strand. You could play a different one every week for well over a year and not repeat.
The variety. Waterway holes, marsh and lowcountry layouts, parkland courses lined with live oaks, and designs from some of the biggest names in the game. Every trip feels a little different.
Golf all year. Winters are mild enough that the courses stay busy in January. Up North, your season ends in October. Here, it doesn’t.
It’s built for golfers. Practice facilities, golf shops, club fitters, instructors, leagues, and tournaments for every skill level. The whole area runs on golf.
From visitor to local: what changes
Playing Myrtle Beach as a resident is a different game than playing it on a trip.
You play when the visitors don’t. Golf trips cluster in spring and fall. Locals get the quieter weeks: summer mornings, winter afternoons, weekdays when the tee sheet is wide open.
You stop paying vacation prices. Many courses offer local rates, resident cards, and memberships at prices that would surprise someone used to buying a package. [Add one or two local-rate examples once verified.]
You find the courses locals play. Trip packages steer you toward the same well-known names. Once you live here, you learn which courses are always in great shape, which ones are bargains in the off-season, and where the locals actually play.
You play on a whim. No flights, no hotel, no 36-hole marathons to get your money’s worth. Nine holes after lunch because the weather’s nice. That’s the real luxury.
Your buddies come to you. The trip doesn’t end. You just become the host.
Golf next door
At Lauderdale Bay Estates, golf isn’t a drive away. You can see it from the dock.
Arrowhead Country Club sits directly across the Intracoastal Waterway. It’s a 27-hole public facility with three nines (Cypress, Lakes, and Waterway), designed by four-time major champion Raymond Floyd with Tom Jackson. It’s Floyd’s only design on the Grand Strand, and one of only a handful of area courses that play along the Intracoastal. Golfers have known it for years as one of the best-conditioned courses in Myrtle Beach.
And the rest of the Strand is right up the road. The community sits right on Highway 17, the road that runs the length of the Grand Strand and connects you to nearly every course along it. North to Little River and the North Myrtle Beach courses, south to Surfside, Murrells Inlet, and Pawleys Island: they’re all minutes away. If Myrtle Beach is the golf capital, Highway 17 is the main street, and Lauderdale Bay Estates sits right at the gateway.
Why living near the courses beats living on one
Lauderdale Bay Estates isn’t a golf course community, and for a lot of golfers that’s exactly the point.
Golf course communities often come with higher HOA fees or mandatory club memberships, whether you play five times a week or five times a year. And you end up playing the same 18 holes over and over.
Here you get:
- A low HOA with no mandatory club dues [confirm the amount]
- The freedom to play anywhere on the Strand: Arrowhead one day, a course down in Pawleys the next
- Waterfront living on the Intracoastal, with sunsets over the water and over the course across the way
- A home built for the coast: single-story, all-brick Mediterranean homes that won’t eat up your tee times with maintenance
You spent years coming here to play all these courses. Living here, you keep all of them, not just one.
Ready to make it permanent?
Next time you’re down for the trip, come take a look. Lauderdale Bay Estates is a few minutes from the airport, so it’s an easy stop on the way in or out. Phase II homesites are available now.
Questions? Call Ashley Taylor at Native Homes Realty, 843-215-9379
