Prestwick Country Club

Prestwick Country Club is the South Carolina Golf Course Owners Association's 2025 Course of the Year, a recognition that validated what regular Myrtle Beach players had quietly understood for years. This is a Pete Dye and P.B. Dye collaboration from 1989 that operates as a semi-private facility, maintaining private-club conditioning standards while accepting public tee times. The combination of Dye design pedigree, elevated maintenance, and public accessibility puts Prestwick in a category that few Grand Strand courses occupy.

The design carries the Dye signatures without excess. Railroad ties appear selectively rather than pervasively. Bunkers are deep and purposefully placed, defending specific angles of approach rather than ringing every green. The routing moves through a residential community, but the housing recedes from awareness on most holes, screened by mature trees and thoughtful corridor design.

At 7,086 yards from the tips with a slope of 140, the course presents a substantial test. The middle tees at roughly 6,400 yards offer a more proportional challenge for most visitors, and you should not feel obliged to play further back than your game supports.

The semi-private model is central to the experience. Membership limits daily public access, which means the course carries less traffic than comparable public facilities. Pace of play benefits directly. Four-hour rounds are common on weekday mornings, a luxury on the Grand Strand. Conditioning also benefits, with greens maintained to speeds and consistency that approach private-club standards.

South Carolina's 2025 Course of the Year, open to the public, flying under the radar. Pete Dye design, semi-private conditioning, and the kind of pace-of-play discipline that the Grand Strand rarely delivers at this price.