The Myrtle Beach area’s nearly 100 golf courses are arrayed like emeralds up and down the Grand Strand’s 60-mile stretch of South and North Carolina coastline. Sometimes they come in clusters, with two, three or even four courses grouped close together.
One of those clusters is found at Legends Resort, which offers 54 holes in the heart of Myrtle Beach, just off the main east-west Highway 501. Stylistically, it offers a different look and feel than most other Myrtle Beach courses, such that many visitors – especially those who come to the area year after year – believe its three courses to be the most underrated around.
The Legends story begins with Heathland, the first course to open at the resort. It has particular architectural significance, as it is one of the earliest designs in the career of Tom Doak, now regarded as one of the greatest living golf course architects. Opened in 1991, Heathland draws direct inspiration from many of the great courses of the British Isles and places its links in a charming Carolinas setting. The open landscape lends itself to a course on a grand scale, with huge, undulating greens guarded by a variety of styles of bunkers, including tiny pots. The short par-5 sixth hole is inspired by the famous Road Hole at St. Andrews, nasty greenside hazards and all.
The second course to open at Legends was the Moorland layout, a P.B. Dye design. Of the three courses at the resort, it is currently the highest ranked, coming in at #9 on Golfweek’s list of the top publicly-accessible courses in the state of South Carolina. It occupies similarly open, rolling land as Heathland, but the trademark Dye shaping is a bit more muscular, giving it a more modern feel. And there are plenty of railroad ties, too, often ringing the water hazards that come into play on most holes.
The third golf course built at Legends Resort at Parkland begun by Tom Doak and finished by developer Larry Young. True to its name, it is the Legends layout where trees most come into play, although not so often as to make the golfer feel uncomfortable. Bold bunkering and green contouring here causes a number of holes to stick out in the player’s mind. One of these is number six, a par-3 whose green slopes dramatically from front to back, with a pond guarding the right and rear sides of the putting surface.
You can book rounds at all three Legends layouts and dozens more Myrtle Beach area golf courses through MyrtleBeachGolf.com.