The Golf Daily report.

A dry week on the Grand Strand. Monday tees off in the low 60s under full sun and tops out near 80, with no rain in the forecast through Friday. Thursday and Friday push into the mid 80s, so book early times those days and carry water. A front arrives Saturday with wind near 20 mph, and Sunday morning starts in the 40s, the first real sweater morning of the fall. Fairways are in their best shape of the year now that overseeding is nearly finished across the Strand. One more reason to feel good about the trip: the PGA Tour's Myrtle Beach Classic just handed $225,000 to eight local charities, so the golf here gives back to the town that hosts it.

If your group has one must play, make it the first morning. Everyone is fresh, the greens are at their quickest and nobody has a sore back yet. Save the course you are least sure about for the last day, when a rough round stings less. Tee times are set eight minutes apart, so a 7:30 start has you off the back nine by late morning and sitting down to lunch while the afternoon wave is still on the range.

Spring and fall are the seasons everyone asks about, and they book up first. Tee sheets open a full year out, and the popular courses go in the spring months long before the trip. If you want Caledonia, True Blue or the Dunes Club in April, call us the autumn before. If your dates are flexible, early March and late November give you nearly the same weather at a lower rate.

Summer golf here is better than its reputation. Yes, it is hot, but the courses are quieter, the rates drop, and a 7 am tee time is finished before the real heat arrives. Play early, eat a long lunch, hit the beach or the pool, and let the afternoon storms pass. The groups that enjoy July most are the ones who treat golf as the morning and the ocean as the rest of the day.

The Strand runs sixty miles from Pawleys Island to the Brunswick courses in North Carolina, and the mistake first timers make is zigzagging across it. Group your rounds by end. Stay on the south end for Caledonia, True Blue, Pawleys Plantation and TPC Myrtle Beach. Stay in North Myrtle for Tidewater, Glen Dornoch, Barefoot and the Brunswick layouts. A Golfmaster will order the courses so the drives are short.

Rent the car, and if there are more than four of you, book the van early. Taxis are scarce, rideshares thin out at 6 am, and the courses are spread out. Spring vans go fast. Four golfers, four bags and a cooler fit in a full size SUV; eight golfers do not, no matter how the bags are stacked.

The courses here drain well, and a rain delay is usually an hour, not a day. If the radar looks bad, do not cancel from the hotel. Call the course or call us. Most of the year a morning shower is gone by the time your group is on the range, and the course that looked washed out at breakfast is playable by nine.

Pick your tees with honesty and the trip gets better. Most courses here carry four or five sets, and the back tees on a Dye or a Fazio layout are a different sport from the middle ones. A good rule for a buddy trip is to play the yardage you would enjoy on a Saturday at home, then move up one more set on the day after the late night.

Mixed groups are easy here. Nearly every course has forward tees that keep the fun in it for a beginner, and the resort layouts have wide fairways and room to miss. Pair the strong players with the newer ones rather than splitting them. The round goes faster, the beginners learn, and the clubhouse bar afterwards is a better story.

Your spouse does not play? That is fine. Non golfers pay the lodging rate only and nothing for the golf. If they want to ride along in the cart, the course charges a cart fee and that is the whole bill. The oceanfront resorts keep the non golfers happy with a pool, a beach and a walk to breakfast while the group is on the course.

Afternoon golf is the best value on the Strand. Rates drop after noon on most courses, replay deals are common, and in the long daylight months you can start as late as 2:30 and finish in good light. Plan one morning round and one afternoon round on the same course, eat between the two, and you have played 36 holes for not much more than the price of 18 at the busiest hour.

Most courses here overseed in the fall so you play green grass all winter. For a few weeks in October or early November, while the new seed comes in, a course can look thin. I check the overseed dates when I build your trip, and if a course you want falls in that window I tell you before I book it. Play it anyway, or I find you one nearby in full shape that week. Your trip, your call.

Winter golf here is a secret the regulars keep. December through February mornings start cold but most days reach the 50s and 60s by the back nine, the courses are quiet, and the rates are the lowest of the year outside the holidays.

A package nearly always beats booking the pieces yourself. The lodging and the golf are priced together, the tee times are held for the group, and if a course closes or a flight runs late there is one phone number that fixes it. Most groups play three to five rounds on a trip. Four is the sweet spot: a round a day with an arrival afternoon and a departure morning left free.

Groups of twelve, twenty or forty are an ordinary week for us. The tee sheet takes a big group in back to back times off both the first and the tenth tee, the condos sleep four to twelve, and the courses will set up a scoring sheet for your game. Give us your headcount and dates early, especially in spring, and the rest is one call.