The mist hasn’t burned off yet when you pull onto Granddaddy Drive. Through the haze, the white columns of the plantation clubhouse materialize like something from another century — because it is. The circular fountain, the dormer windows, the twin chimneys reaching into the fog. You haven’t hit a ball yet and already this round feels different. Every course on the Grand Strand traces its lineage back to this place. Pine Lakes Country Club opened in 1927, before the hotels, before the neon, before anyone called this stretch of coast “the Golf Capital of the World.” It earned that title. This is where it started.
This Pine Lakes golf review is about more than yardage and green speeds. It’s about playing a course that changed everything — and discovering it still delivers nearly a century later.
History That You Can Feel on Every Hole
Robert White, the first president of the PGA of America and a Scottish-born architect, designed the original course in 1927. The man who helped organize professional golf in America chose this coastal lowland for his canvas — longleaf pines, natural lakes, sandy soil that drains like Scotland’s linksland. The course opened as part of the Ocean Forest Club, built by Greenville textile magnate John T. Woodside, who saw something in this quiet stretch of coastline that nobody else had imagined yet.
The clubhouse earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The wooden floors still creak in the right places. Chandeliers hang from the original crown molding. Framed photographs of Babe Zaharias and Patty Berg line the hallways. And in the Snug Pub, under a glass case, sits a framed copy of the first issue of Sports Illustrated — because on April 30, 1954, publishing magnate Henry Luce sent 67 Time-Life executives to Pine Lakes to map out the vision for a new sports magazine. They played golf, argued about formats, and launched what became America’s most iconic sports publication four months later.
You’re walking through that same clubhouse on the way to the first tee. The history isn’t behind glass — it’s under your feet.
The Course: Robert White’s Design, Restored
Pine Lakes underwent a major restoration in 2021 under architect Craig Schreiner, expanding the greens by 20 percent and regrassing them with Sunday bermudagrass. The bunkers were rebuilt to reflect Robert White’s original naturalistic intent — irregular edges, sandy faces that catch the light, the kind of bunkering that looks carved by wind rather than machines. The result is a course that feels both historic and modern, with conditioning that matches the pedigree.
At par 70 and 6,675 yards from the championship tees, Pine Lakes isn’t designed to beat you up with length. It tests you with positioning. Water appears on a dozen holes. The fairways wind through mature pines and hardwoods that frame every shot but rarely strangle it. There’s room to swing, but the greens are guarded by bunker complexes and water features that punish lazy approaches. The back nine has more elevation change than you’d expect from a coastal course — enough to turn a flat 7-iron into a full 6, which catches first-timers every time.
The Holes You’ll Remember
Hole 3 — Par 4, the early teeth. One of the toughest par 4s in Myrtle Beach, and it shows up before you’ve settled in. Water borders the right side of the green, and the approach demands committed iron play. Make par here and you’ve earned it.
Hole 8 — Par 3, 187 yards. Golf Digest once rated this among America’s most beautiful holes, and standing on the tee, you understand why. The green sits across a pond framed by towering pines, Spanish moss draped from every branch, the morning light reflecting off the water. It’s the hole you photograph. But it’s also the hole that eats your scorecard if you don’t commit to the right club in the coastal breeze.
Holes 12–14 — The toughest trio on the Strand. Three consecutive par 4s that demand everything: accuracy off the tee, precise iron play, and patience. The 13th plays like a par 4.5 — uphill, into the prevailing wind, with a green that’s hard to hold. The 14th follows with a dramatic downhill tee shot through a corridor of trees and an uphill approach over water. If you navigate these three at even par, you’ve played some of the best golf of your trip.
Hole 14 — Par 4, the signature view. That downhill tee shot through the pines opens up to reveal the Myrtle Beach skyline in the background — high-rise hotels shimmering in the distance while you stand on a fairway that’s been here since 1927. Old meets new in a single frame. It’s the most photographed view on the course for good reason.
The Clam Chowder Tradition
Every course has a signature hole. Pine Lakes has a signature soup. The clam chowder tradition started in 1981 when food and beverage manager Shirley Poulter introduced cups of hot chowder to golfers at the turn. For decades, a beloved staffer named Perry “Big Dog” Bellamy would hand you a steaming cup as you walked off the green — chowder in the fall, mimosas in the spring. Health regulations eventually moved the tradition indoors, but the chowder is still on the clubhouse menu, still made from the same recipe, and still the only mid-round meal that qualifies as a Pine Lakes pilgrimage.
Order a cup between nines. Sit in the dining room where the chandeliers are original and the paneling smells like a hundred years of cigar smoke and good stories. No other course on the Grand Strand offers anything close to this.
Course Details at a Glance
- Location: 5603 Granddaddy Drive, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
- Holes: 18
- Designer: Robert White (1927); restored by Craig Schreiner (2021)
- Par: 70 | Yardage: 6,675 from the tips
- Greens: Sunday Bermudagrass | Fairways: Bermuda
- Price Range: Moderate ($70–$120+ depending on season)
- Drive from 601 Hillside Dr N: ~25 minutes south via US-17
- Part of: Founders Group International
Tips for Playing Pine Lakes
- Book the earliest tee time you can get. The clubhouse in morning fog is worth the alarm clock. The greens are truest before the sun bakes them, and you’ll have the course to yourself for the first few holes.
- Play Holes 12–14 with patience. The temptation is to attack, but these three par 4s reward smart play over power. Stay in the fairway, take the extra club, and accept that par is a good score.
- Order the clam chowder. This is non-negotiable. Between nines, walk into the clubhouse and get a cup. It’s part of the experience.
- Spend time in the clubhouse. The History Hall, the Snug Pub with the Sports Illustrated first issue, the photographs of golf legends — give yourself 20 minutes before or after your round to walk through. No other pro shop in America has this kind of backstory.
- Take extra clubs on the back nine. The elevation changes are sneaky — holes 12, 13, and 14 all play longer than the yardage card suggests. Trust the extra iron.
Who Should Play Pine Lakes?
Anyone who loves golf should play Pine Lakes at least once. If you appreciate the history of the game — the architects who shaped it, the courses that defined regions, the clubhouses where deals were made and magazines were born — this is required playing. But it’s not just a museum piece. The 2021 restoration brought the conditioning up to modern standards, and the Robert White layout still tests your game in ways that feel timeless rather than outdated.
Pine Lakes is especially good for a group’s first day. The course is playable enough to shake off travel rust, but distinguished enough to set the tone for the entire trip. When someone in your group asks “what was the best course we played?” — the Granddaddy has a way of entering the conversation even after four more days of golf.
Explore every option for your trip in our North Myrtle Beach golf course guide, and let the trip planning guide help you build the itinerary around the courses that matter most.
The Granddaddy Earned Its Name — Now Come See Why
That plantation clubhouse materializing through the morning mist, the creak of wooden floors in a dining room where Sports Illustrated was born, the clam chowder between nines, the toughest three-hole stretch on the Strand — Pine Lakes isn’t just a round of golf. It’s the round that started everything, and it’s still the one your group will talk about at dinner. Our condo at 601 Hillside Dr N in Ocean Keyes is about 25 minutes from the first tee, with three bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a patio where the evening air carries just enough salt to remind you that the Granddaddy sits less than half a mile from the Atlantic.
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Nearly a century of golf, and Pine Lakes still has something no other course can offer. I’d love to hear which hole got you — for most guests, it’s the 8th.
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