After a week of voting, Sun News readers selected their favorite Myrtle Beach area golf course to play at during 2024.
With about 80 votes cast, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Pawleys Island received the most and finished with 12 percent of the total ballots cast, marking its inclusion as part of The Sun News’ Best Of The Beach.
A Mike Strantz-designed course, Caledonia was only one of nine courses the late creator either developed or re-modeled during his career. However, since opening in 1994, the course has developed a strong reputation for quality golf in the Grand Strand area.
The course is known for its 18th-hole finish, which skirts around a water hazard on the right with the clubhouse in full view. Fellow golfers often sit in the rocking chairs on the clubhouse’s back patio to watch as players approach the green to conclude their round.
In 2024, Golfweek Magazine ranked Caledonia as the third-best public golf course in the Myrtle Beach area, the highest ranking any Grand Strand course received.
Fellow designer Tim Cate lauded Caledonia as one of Strantz’s best works, adding that his courses set the standard for future golf course designers.
“Some of the creativity and ingenuity of the Mike Strantz work is just unparalleled, even with some of the best architects today that are doing some of that same style,” Cate added. “Hardly anything did anything like that.”
Considering his resume, Cate is a good judge of quality golf courses. He helped create Thistle Golf Club in Sunset Beach, N.C., and Bald Head Island Club, which Golfweek Magazine each as two of the 20 best North Carolina public golf courses in 2024. Cate is also working on the Sea Trail Golf Resort redevelopment project to revitalize the property’s three courses.
Head Golf Professional at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club Marc Guertin did not return a request for comment before publication.
The Dunes Golf & Beach Club, the host of the inaugural 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic, finished with the second most votes. In the 2023 readers poll, the Dunes Golf & Beach Club received the third most votes.
Tidewater Golf Club of North Myrtle Beach received the third most votes after finishing second in the 2023 reader poll. Myrtle Beach’s Prestwick Country Club garnered the fourth most votes after winning the 2023 Sun News reader poll.
There was also a three-way tie for fifth place in the readers poll. Grande Dunes Golf Club of Myrtle Beach, Thistle Golf Club in Sunset Beach, N.C., and Pine Lakes Country Club of Myrtle Beach all received the fifth most votes.
The Sun News reader vote is not intended to be a scientific poll.