Southern State of Golf
A podcast dedicated to all things Golf in the South - courses, resorts, logos, food, travel, & more! Follow @SSofGolf on social media and email your favorite southern golf things to John at southernstateofgolf@gmail.com.
Southern State of Golf
What Every Traveling Golfer Needs to Know About Myrtle Beach
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Join us as we chat about Myrtle Beach's diverse golf scene, top courses, and hidden gems perfect for a buddy's trip. Plus, a couple of suggestions on places to stay, eat, and make the most of your golf getaway.
*Cover 📸 from Myrtle Beach National website
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Welcome to the Southern State of Golf Podcast. Hi, I'm your host, John. And today is a great day. A, because I'm getting to record a podcast. And B, it's a great day because I'm in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina recording a golf podcast. So what could be better than that? Well, I'm sure there's a few other things. Could be, I guess it could be an Augusta National recording a podcast, but we won't go there right now. But today we're excited. I'm excited to be joined by Robbie from the Best Ball Family podcast. We're going to talk all sorts of different stuff today and focus on Myrtle Beach. Robbie, how are we doing today?
SPEAKER_00I'm great, man. Thanks for uh thanks for letting me sit in with you.
SPEAKER_01Oh, man. Well, thank you so much for joining. This was a perfect opportunity. We're recording this on the Thursday of the open, the start of the open championship. And of course, you know, the Best Ball family, they just, you know, the whole story podcast just dropped their open championship uh you know preview. You and Jonathan rocked it. How how are you feeling about your, you know, I know it's early in the the first day of the open. How are you feeling about the all the prognostications and things that y'all talked about?
SPEAKER_00Um I I I don't think any of our picks uh well, I haven't looked lately. Uh I don't think any of our picks have like completely bombed, but you know, we're we we make fun guesses. Uh I don't know, there definitely won't be the right guesses, but you know, I I think Jonathan said, why not, you know, why don't we just pick Scotty? And I think anytime you pick Scotty, you're pretty safe. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01I absolutely. Now I I just did a quick peek, and by the time this comes out, this this person may be a non-factor. But if you were to tell me who is Jackson Suber, I can't tell you I could have told you much about him. Do you know much about Jackson Suber?
SPEAKER_00Didn't he um didn't he play like Ole Miss or something like that? Like he's a relatively young guy.
SPEAKER_01Yes, you that is correct. And the only reason I know because I just looked it up very, very quickly. I would like to tell you that I knew that. But no, and I like the open I will say I will fully say the open championship is my second favorite major behind the masters.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I I just I love it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I I mean I love it that you can turn on watch live golf early in the morning on certain days. And I remembered last year, matter of fact, while I was on beach in Myrtle uh on vacation in Myrtle Beach, I was watching Scotty Scheffler just tear it up. And so to watch the open championship while here on vacation these last few days, I think it's just a treat.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01You know, I I I love it very much. Now what you know, what was you and Jonathan's, and we'll we'll move into the main part of it. But what were your thoughts about the course itself or or just the open championship there? Do you have any particular thoughts about the course?
SPEAKER_00It makes me want to go play it or just play any any Lynx golf, right? Like I I I know you've uh gone over to Ireland, played a couple of spots, um, and I've I've been able to play Karn and then obviously the old course and uh Castle course, but it makes me want to go play more Lynx golf. Like I just I love it. I love the uncertainty that uh you might hit a good shot and you get a bad bounce or roll, uh, or you might hit a bad shot and somehow it it finds its way into a decent spot. And yeah, just the elements uh being able to be creative with it. So that's that's what I love watching. Uh, you know, the course Royal Burkdale looks amazing. I remember watching Speith, you know, what 11 years ago, whatever it was. Um, and watching that tournament, obviously they've changed the course a good bit since then. But yeah, it just it makes me want to go play more Lynx golf.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Royal Burke, really anytime the open championship, I I love just seeing the the the I love the the pot bunkers, even though nobody ever wants to. I don't know why why do people like the pot bunkers even though those are the one spots nobody wants to be in? Why would I I guess it just looks so different? It's cool. Uh you see professionals struggle mightily. I mean, just the you know, I watched about 30 minutes earlier and it just seemed like everybody was getting in them and couldn't advance the ball. I I don't know. I wonder why why do people why is that a big thing with people and the the the pot bunkers there?
SPEAKER_00I I think I I like pot bunkers because I mean bunkers are supposed to be penalizing. And, you know, a lot of the courses that you and I play on, like you hit it into a bunker, and more often than not, you're you're gonna have a decent enough lie. You know, I'm thinking like fairway bunkers. You'll have a decent enough lie to where you you can probably advance the ball, maybe even get it on the green. So it's it's not gonna kill you too bad unless you're just, you know, a a bad bunker player from, you know, middle of the uh from a longer distance than next to the green. But you know, I think the the nice thing about pot bunkers is they're they're they have strategically placed them in places where balls might roll out and roll into them. And then yeah, they are penalizing because you probably can advance them and you might have to go sideways. I know that was my experience. I got into a couple of them uh on the old course, and you know, it's kind of like, all right, well, I hit it here. Let's go sideways. And so it it makes it makes it fun. I I I like them. I think I wish there was more like it, but our courses are not like their courses.
SPEAKER_01No, no, they're not. Um, I do remember the one pot bunker I did get when I was in Ireland, and it was the one where the my caddy uh it was a it was the beach hole in Port Monica that's one of their more famous holes. And the caddy's like, oh, let me video you getting out of this hole. And I knew he thought I was I had no shot. Honestly, I thought I had no shot. It was one of those where I had to go down on one knee on the side of the bunker, the right foot was down completely in it, and I'm just throwing up some Hail Mary of a swing down and just praying it came out. It was my best shot of my whole trip, whole trip. And I I absolutely love it because I don't have many, I don't have many bunker shots to brag about, which is a fantastic transition to one of the round of golf I just played here in Myrtle Beach, and that's where we're gonna talk a lot in Myrtle Beach. And one of the courses I played here was the Thistle Golf Club, which is actually just in North Carolina. It's actually a Scottish feel type of golf club that has 27 different holes. And I say transition because they do have it had a British open, Scottish, and British pot bunker feel too some of them. You know, they had the nice little ridges or lines in it. Well, I got into one of them bad boys, and I was actually really close to having my best round ever. And I could have I had one, I did, I had my second best round ever, which was a 98 in full disclosure. Please don't throw up too many people. But I I got a 10 on a par five. I got an ad I got a 10 on a par five, and I had one bunker I got into, it took me three shots to get out of. And it was it was just bad, bad, bad news. Um but the Thistle Golf Club, you know, I think is one is one of those uh it's a golf club, like I said, in North Carolina, just right across the border that I I remembered playing 20 years ago. And I can't say that I remembered much about it other than just thinking it was a really cool, you know, you know, golf club. And just getting an opportunity when I came back to where we stay at, we stay in the North Myrtle Beach area at a place called Kingston Plantation, which is it's near the the outlets there. And so it's about a 30-minute drive from where we're at to where the Thistle Golf Club is. But I just think it was a really, really good place to play. And like I say, with 27 different holes, I think they did close down one of the nine while they redo it. Um Robbie, I think you may said you may have played it. Do you have any recollections of what you remember of it?
SPEAKER_00Not really. No, uh like you, I think the last time I played it was probably 20 years ago. My my family, we used to go up to like Sunset Beach, and my my dad and my uncle uh would get out and play most mornings, and my cousin and I would be able to sneak out with them every now and then to to join them. So I I gosh, it's been maybe not 20 years, might be like 30 years at this point. Um, but it's it's been a while. But yeah, uh from what I remember, it was a fun course.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was. It's got, like I say, three distinct nines. It's got the Cameron course, it's got the Mackey course and the Stewart course. And they were, you know, it's it's just a really fun thing. It's designed by a guy named Tim Kate, who's done a lot of different designs, mainly in the southern U.S., a lot in the the Myrtle Beach area. And I can't tell you that I actually knew a whole lot about the guy before kind of researching this a little bit, but he's done a lot of uh courses in the area, but it is certainly a fun, fun, a fun place to play. It's you know, when you if you were to Google best search, you know, or is it now I AI or is it now ChatGBT, what's the best courses at Myrtle Beach? I'm still saying Google the best course, but when you Google the best courses at Myrtle Beach, it's usually somewhere in the in the top 10 or five-ish area. So I would highly recommend it to anyone. Um, it's one of those where, you know, on vacation, I didn't I didn't set out to this this was a family vacation, so I didn't strategically plan well in advance which course I was going to play. It was just one of those things I went on the golf pass app, just looked at different tea times, and it had a reasonable, uh reasonable price. So I've got the I got to play 18 and it was just a little bit over, I think about $105. Um got a got an early enough tea time. That's the thing here in Myrtle Beach. If you get anything before 10, it's certainly pricier. Once it gets that afternoon, it's a little bit more. And then if you go like two o'clock and onwards, you can actually get a good deal if you want to go play a 98-degree, you know, weather heat.
SPEAKER_00But I want a hundred dollars. It feels much hotter than that.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. I was, you know, that was one of the reasons at the last minute we decided to I decided to play. I I got it down to I think it was 90. I mean it was a cool 90. I don't, I didn't even look at the heat index. I didn't want to do that myself. I I certainly sweated, I had the electrolytes pumping and rolling. And once again, we talk a lot on this show is golf is people. And I got paired up with three other people. They were from the Maryland area. They were just a real treat to play with. I mean, they were just they were good, fun people to play with. They were just, they were in town, family vacation. I love that. I I I'm still on a very I got a very good track record of only getting partnered up paired with good people.
SPEAKER_00Now let me let me ask you this this question. Do they know that you have a golf podcast?
SPEAKER_01They did at the end of it. Okay. Um they did at the end. I don't try and well, of course, part of it too is if I'm miserable playing, I don't want to shit tell anybody. If I'm such a, you know, can you imagine telling somebody you've got a uh you've got a coaching podcast if you're a terrible coach? But you know, if you have a terrible round playing golf, it maybe it is a little it maybe that is, but no, I did tell. I just um, you know, it you know, they they they were nice enough. I I'd be curious if they ever actually listened to it, because I do encourage them to listen to it, but I don't ever I you know one thing I I do regret is when I do these, like I wish I would have had, hey, do you mind if I share more specifics about you, some of the things we talked about, because I don't like to put other people's business, but they were just wonderful, wonderful people to play with. And and I do like that very much so.
SPEAKER_00Well, I I guess you could say if if you played golf, if you're from Maryland, played golf at uh Thistle on July 16th, and and John says hello. There you go.
SPEAKER_01And which also what I which I also, hey, reach out. I'd love to hear from you. Anybody wants to reach out to us on the podcast, just shoot me an email, southernstateofgolf at gmail.com. I love getting emails from listeners. I matter of fact, just before came on this, I've got a I got an email from a gentleman that heard our episode we did on Old Town Club in Winston-Salem. He was a member at Old Town Club. He just he he said, thank you for coming out, playing the course. You know, hey, appreciate the kind words about the course. It meant the world to me, uh, the the gentleman's email. And I'm certainly going to reach back out to him. I I love hearing that. I love hearing people's thoughts of different things. So, hey, please reach out to me. Hit us up on Instagram too, SS of Golf, and then uh email southernstate of golf at gmail.com. I'd certainly love to hear any and all feedback. And hey, if you've got a different take on the Thistle Golf Club, hey, please let me know as well. I I love it. First of all, what I did not do, what I wish I did, was take more time there because they've got a beautiful pro shop, clubhouse, dining area, outdoor area. You know, I did I got in, played, and went back um to where we were staying. But I would highly encourage anybody to go out there and and go play. Now, Robbie, when you think of Myrtle Beach golf, what comes to mind first for you?
SPEAKER_00I mean, there's a lot of golf. Um, I did, so I I might have a little different opinion. So in college, I was a sports business major at Carolina, and I one of my internships was with Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday. And so I spent the summer at the beach, and and you know, they're the organization that uh planned many people might be familiar with the uh World Amateur Handicap Championship. And so it's you know, average golfers like us to have a handicap and they broke them up into different flights. And I think, you know, at the time we we had probably 65 to 70 courses that were being used for all the different flights for the the that week. And so yeah, I spent the I spent the summer at the beach and helped plan and set up that tournament, and we we did a number of other ones. So I, you know, I being from South Carolina, have gone to the beach a lot, uh, or gone to the Myrtle Beach area a lot. I say a lot. Probably average once a year. And and a good bit of those times you get to play some golf. So there's it's a lot of pre-courses. I and I think a lot of people think of Myrtle Beach kind of in that one little tiny area. But when I think of Myrtle Beach golf, I think, like you're talking about being a thistle. I think of it stretching all the way up to like Shallote, North Carolina, and then all the way down to Paulys, where you have a couple of my favorites, Caledonia and True Blue.
SPEAKER_01I I'm with you. I'm gonna put you on the spot. You probably know this being the golf aficionado you are. How many different golf courses are there in that in that area? Would you say is the Little Beach Grand Strand area?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's changed. It it probably I mean, it used to be around 100 uh in that in that area. I think it got about 90, but gosh, you know, with with housing developments and and you know, people wanting to move to the beach and stuff. And just there was a time where golf was kind of dying off uh from when I did my internship to to even now, um, where they closed down a bunch of courses because it's expensive and you're at the beach and it's hot. And uh yes, you can get year-round play, but there's just so many options that not all of them could keep a full T-sheet. So I, you know, there might be 70 in that range now, somewhere in the I did look it up, but it was about 80 is what is is what what the uh what the Google said.
SPEAKER_01Uh we're about eight. Gotta trust Google. Yeah, you gotta trust Google. So I'll go with that. But you're right. I mean, I even remembered Waterway Hills. I don't know if you remember that golf course where you you got to take a little gondola ride over the over the river. Um, but that one's closed down now. And um one thing I will say about the Myrtle Beach area talking to some people down here is like this year, the spring and summer has been really dry. And you can just see like we're we're at a Kingston plantation. Every time we go in and out, I see Arcadian shores golf course, and it just it it looks dry. Um, and and there was parts of thistle. Now the grains were fantastic, they did a great job of keeping those water, but there were parts of the fairway that were just they were they were burned up. It was just really, really dry. I mean, has been super, super hot. But yeah, it's um, I mean, you know, me and you just talk like oh, they closed down some golf courses. I mean, they still got 80. I mean, that's still a lot of really good, and almost all of them are public golf courses. I can there is, I guess in the area that you've got the Grand Dunes Members Club, which I've never played before. I don't know anything about that. And outside of that, I'm not entirely sure what other private purely private golf courses there are in the area.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, you you have the TPC Imrtle Beach, which um, you know, typically reserve for TPC members. Um, most of it is public golf, which is uh when you're on vacation or or wanting to do like what I think you might talk about here in a little while, a buddy's trip, like it's a good spot to go to.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah. And so I know you've mentioned a couple of your favorites. Do you have any couple of favorite courses in the area? I know you've mentioned Caledonian True Blue, which certainly are mine. What would you got any others or even those you want to talk about more that are your favorite?
SPEAKER_00I mean, those those would be the favorites, um, just because, you know, I love a good Mike Strant's course and I've I've had the privilege to go down there. We'd we've taken a group from church. Uh, we used to do a big trip and like I think we did it for about 12 years, and and half the time we went up and stayed in that calabash area uh of North Carolina, right above the uh border, and then half the time we've stayed in the Lichfield Pauli's Island area and just kind of played True Blue Caledonia a lot. Um I'm big fans talking about Shalot, I'm big fans of River's Edge, um, which is an incredible course. Uh, if if you haven't played it, you absolutely need to go up there and play that one. Um, yeah, it's uh it's great. Um, you know, Pine Lakes, um, I think that's where like the the deal or the idea for Sports Illustrated started. And it's a it's a pretty cool course. Um, you know, I like all of them. The Legends courses. Um I I think those are great because they have multiple courses there, and typically the the deal you can get, you can get breakfast, a couple drinks, and maybe even lunch or something um with it. And they've got some some new stuff coming. They got a par three course coming uh here soon.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, and that was one of the things I was gonna bring up. Like that's the one of the only new courses. There hadn't been a new course in the area in a long time, but as you once again, another perfect segment by professionals such as yourself there. Talk about that a lighted par three course that's gonna be a part of the legends. I I I'm a huge fan of par three courses and short courses. And you know, they're gonna call it the Piper, um, which is expected to open up later in this fall. Uh and that's really here in the Myrtle Beach, they've they've got two Par 3 courses that I know about, um, Tupelo Bay, which is more in the southern part, and then uh the area, which is also in the southern part of Myrtle Beach. Have you played the Aerial? I think it's the Aerial Par three course. It's right next to the airport. It used to be an it was another name before that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was called something else back uh back in the day when I played it, but uh that's been a while ago.
SPEAKER_01But no, I'm I'm really excited about the see the piper there at the at the Legends. I got to play the Legends last year, and I can see that, you know, as we talk a little bit about buddy strip, like that'd be the type of place where you can go stay and pay one price and get you a number of meals in a number of different places. I know Legends also invested in their practice facility as well. They got some top tracer uh attached to some of their uh driving range, but I'm I think Myrtle Beach needs more of that. And I think they need a few more par three courses. Um near where we stay at is the cane patch driving range that's up there in the north Myrtle Beach area. Used to have a par three course attached to it, but the the par three is not uh it's not anymore, so to speak, down there. But I th I do think the par three would be something really, really good. Some of my favorite courses, now in the area, I I'm a big fan of Tidewater up in the the northern part. I just think that is we did a whole episode on that.
SPEAKER_00I have never played it. I I've been there and and have followed them, been a big fan and know a lot of people that have, but uh ashamedly, I I I'm saying I have never played Tidewater.
SPEAKER_01Well, just like I'm ashamed that I've never played River's Edge. It's just one of those that I've all I've wanted, it's been on my short list, even up here. It was like it was on my short list to to play, but it just I've not ever had a chance for it to work out. Um I keep hearing great things about uh River's Edge, but Tidewater's awesome. Um, you know, the one I want to play, I have not played, is the uh the Dunes co Dunes Club, you know, of course, where they have the uh the PGA tour event. Now, have you played that one before? I have not. I've wanted to, but I will I will admit, you know, anytime I I look, when I go down and look, okay, Dunes Club. Oh, they got one team, because it is a it is a, I guess you want to call it, it's a private club, but they do open up their uh tea times for I think Monday to Thursday. I don't know if one of those days is off. But then you go in, okay, I get you 2 p.m. on Tuesday for 265. 265 is A is pricey. 265 and it'd be 95 degrees plus the the heat index. I just I haven't been able to pull the trigger on that yet. Um, but it does look really nice. I would certainly love to do it for sure. Um, you know, a couple other courses I I really like. I mean, I'm I'm a fan of all the barefoot courses there. Love, you know, die. I I I I think they do a really good job with their things. And of course, being right there where you've got barefoot landing, a lot of different places to stay. You know, you've played a couple of the barefoot courses, haven't you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but again, it's it's been a while. But yeah, no, you're talking about perfect location uh right there in that North Normal Beach area. Like great for a buddies trip, and and you can tackle a number of courses right there, uh, very close. Now don't have to drive too much.
SPEAKER_01No, and you know, let's good way to transition into talking about buddies trips. I mean, I and just trips in general that are focused on golf. You know, I just recently got back from trip in Pinehurst a a few weeks ago, and which was a fantastic trip. I I I loved it. It was awesome. But then, you know, Myrtle Beach is one of those in the south that people talk about as being a great buddies trip destination. But I think there are so many differences between Pinehurst for a number of reasons and Myrtle Beach. When you think of Myrtle Beach as a destination for a guy's trip, what do you think about? What comes to mind for you?
SPEAKER_00Um I think you can probably get great value for your buddies' trip in Myrtle Beach. Um, because there are so many golf courses um that you can choose from, so many uh places to stay, options to stay, and obviously food everywhere. So you probably get your best bang for your buck on your buddy's trip if you go to somewhere like Myrtle Beach, over a Pinehurst, over, you know, you know, a Capit Citrus or something like that. So uh if you want to maximize your golf and and have some good food and stuff without breaking the bank, that would be that would be kind of what comes to mind first.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I that was my first thoughts. Um absolutely. And I would also say it's a great spot if you want to take a buddy's trip somewhere, but maybe you got one or two people that want to just tag along the trip but not necessarily play golf. Now, I I can't speak to those idiots um who wouldn't want to play golf. Um hopefully I didn't offend too many people. But if you're listening to a golf podcast, you can't really be offended.
SPEAKER_00You're probably not one of those, I'm gonna come and go shopping people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But it, you know, Myrtle Beach has got a lot of different things for other people. It could be even one of those to where let's say you can't quite pull off just a you and a buddies trip, but maybe you've got your buddies and their families, they'll all go somewhere together. And, you know, the guys can go play golf during the day where the rest of the family can go to the beach for shopping. You're probably I I don't recommend people trying to pull that off in Pinehurst. Um, I don't know if others who aren't, you know, first of all, Pinehurst was fantastic, awesome, love it. Same with Cava Citrus Farms and Stream Song, those would be great. But if you're not in the golf, you're kind of limited on some of the things that you can do. Whereas Myrtle Beach, you've got a lot of different options.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, plenty of options. I I will say on something like Pinehurst, uh, my wife came with me once, uh, just for a couple days, and she loved it. I mean, obviously good food, but the little town of Pinehurst is awesome. She didn't do it, but they do have the spa there as well. So I uh I I would recommend that for a couple's trip because yes, there'd be a lot of golf, but I think I think the wives would have fun as well.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well, I will say the the food in Pinehurst was we talked about a little bit on our episode, which I was really surprised at how good it was. You know, we didn't have a bad meal any place. Um and as I thought more and more about that trip, you know, the meal that I probably thought, I hope this comes out the right way, the most average out of all, that I didn't think it was average, was necessarily at the deuce. You know, I thought the food that we had, it was, I thought it was really good. But the other places we had, I we actually thought were a lot better. Um, but you know, here in Myrtle Beach, you know, you've got all sorts of different food options in different places. Now, Rob, do you have a favorite spot in Myrtle Beach you like to eat? Or is there a go-to spot for you?
SPEAKER_00Uh, I mean, you know, there's fried seafood places up and down. So uh that that used to be probably something I would enjoy more, but not as much. There, there is a place that, uh, and it's funny, it's not seafood, it's the River City Cafe. And there's a couple of spots. There's a couple spots for, but man, I started going there in college when I did that internship to uh a couple of different locations, and just it's love, I love it, man. Great burgers, great food. Um, highly recommend River City Cafe. I think they got multiple locations, or at least they used to.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there used to be one. I remember up at Barefoot Landing. Um you know, and you're right. That's there, there's so many of those little spots like that are that are really good. There used to be, it's not anymore. It used to be a place called Cheeseburger in Paradise. I think it was kind of the unofficial Jimmy Buffett type place before he actually had Margaritaville that was created in Broadway, you know, at the beach. But there were so many really good, I mean, there's some great breakfast places here. Like I'm a huge, I'm a I'm a huge breakfast guy, um, probably too much so on trips. But Dino's, which in the North Myrtle Beach area. I still remember uh, you know, one year going to Dino's for breakfast and looked over, and there was Dan Patrick sitting over there, and this was right after the Monday after the Masters Blowfish event that was at Barefoot, and he just happened to be over there. I wanted to harass him. I did not do that, but you know, there's a lot of other just really good uh little Johnny Dean waffles, which I think is really good. I I'm gonna go on a little bit of this ought to be a commercial, ought to figure out a way to get money from them. But have you ever been to Parlor Donuts before? I think so. Parlor Donuts went because they there's uh a chain. I think there are some in Charleston, some in uh Myrtle Beach. I think there's one in Greenville. And man, I just had some the other night. It was so good. I'm I'm I'm I love donuts, probably more so than I should ever admit.
SPEAKER_00I if you yeah, I think most people do, and they might most people don't admit it either.
SPEAKER_01No, and I I just absolutely did. I I I we went uh we went last night and I got some donuts, and I think I really want to go one more time before I leave again. And these aren't normal donuts, these are big punkin donuts. Um there's a maple, bacon maple one that was really good. There was a French toast one that was really good. I mean, I I I'll tell people if you got, you know, go look up, it's parlor donuts.com. There's a lot of different places around the southeast that if you're looking for a good donut that's a little different now, if you're the kind that likes a real just a simple donut, don't go there. If you're the type that you want the craziness in it, like there was one I looked at and I said, What is this? I thought it looked good. And they were like, it's a root beer float donut. I I didn't do that. I backed off the table. I was like, I can't do that. That was just a little too wild for me. Um, but yeah, so you just never know. When you come to a golf podcast, you might this is now a donut podcast. No, it's not a donut podcast, even though I might try to that could be the my next calling right there. Because I I can start.
SPEAKER_00We'll start another one. Where we have to go taste donuts everywhere and give and give them a lot of things.
SPEAKER_01Taste donuts and go on to play golf. I something like that. Donuts and golf. We'll do it. I I absolutely love it. But you know, one of the things too, the Myrtle Beach has this area, and I know they're they're starting to be bigger and bigger. They got a birdie house. I'm sure a lot of people have seen it on social media. You know, there's one in the Myrtle Beach area that I think is real like I I would imagine that would be such a fantastic thing for a buddy's trip. Like it's got six bedrooms, six and a half baths. They say it can, you know, it can house over 16 people. I had one of my assistant principals where I work. He's actually gone there on, it was a you know, a father-son type of trip with a bunch of fathers and sons that they stayed there. I mean, it's you know, it's 12 minutes from the Legends Golf Resort, 15 minutes from Myrtle Beach National. That's another one I haven't talked about. King's North Golf Course. Have you played there before? I I have not.
SPEAKER_00Have you played it? I did back. I mean, again, it's probably 25, 30 years ago now, but yes, I I played it. And that I I was thinking about it after I kind of rattled off a couple favorites. Uh, that is one that is a favorite. And they just renovated it. They spent a long time. It makes me want to go back now for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because it has the what the the island fairway um called the Gambler. At least that's right. Yes, yes, you're right. The ganger was Kenny Rogers. Yeah. I mean, that looks like such a fun course. That was another one I looked at trying to play, and for whatever reason, I just haven't played it. And so I think that's, you know, I could digress easily here in Myrtle Beach Golf, but there's so many really good golf courses. I don't know if there's one that's a clear cut better than all the rest type of golf courses, but there's just so many good ones. But, you know, like I said, you could do a great buddies trip. I mean, the birdie house. Now, the birdie house, you're you're going to spend a little bit of money, but I think it would be so much fun that it has a short game facility in your backyard and you know, a simulator lounge and with all these other different places. I just think that would be so cool. Have you ever done anything like that anywhere before?
SPEAKER_00Uh no, not like not like that. Uh I, you know, I did recently go uh to the dormy club up in North Carolina, and you know, the the house we were in or the cottage we were in, um, you know, it was nice, four bedrooms, big living area. But I know in like one of the houses, I think it's like the owner's house or cottage or whatever, it had a uh simulator in the downstairs. So I know a number of the people that were on that trip that were in that house stayed up longer or later than the rest of us.
SPEAKER_01I think that would cause me problems as well.
SPEAKER_00Um I mean, after a while, like you're just gonna mess up your swing, you're swinging so much, playing all day and then going back and doing that all night.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but that's I I just think that would be that would be just really cool. And that's why I think Myrtle Beach can provide these type of you know places to do stuff at. You know, even if you you weren't as highfalutin as to want to invest in a in a birdie uh birdie house type of atmosphere. One of the things, and I talked about this on a podcast episode a while back, they got uh pop stroke uh there in Myrtle Beach at Broadway at the beach, which was the kind of the Tiger Woods upper scale putt-putt type of place. Um have you ever been to a pop stroke or anything like that before?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I went to the one there in Myrtle Beach uh with some guys. It was fun.
SPEAKER_01You know, I think it that would be a really cool thing. Like if you go play it around the golf somewhere, and then y'all want to go out and say, like on Saturday night, Sunday, games on, you go go, you know, it's I don't want to call it putt-putt. I think you're selling it short if you just call it putt-putt, but it's it's putt-putt with the all the TVs around that place. I think that would be a lot of fun. Um, you know, one of the things too with the the pop show here in Myrtle Beach, they got a good little deal, which unfortunately I've I found I found this out like after the fact. Like you could do a summer membership for like, I think from May to June for like 50 bucks. So if you were going to spend a solid week or so down there, pay 50 bucks, go three or four days, and you've already, you've already earned your money. They even got monthly memberships at $25 a month. Uh, I mean, that would, you know, it's like 20% off food. So something like that would be really cool. I thought the pop stroke was a pretty cool place. And once again, the guys could go there, and then other people can go shopping or go eat other places. There's just, you know, so many really good different options and choices that you you've got in the in the the Myrtle Beach area. And and that's one of the things I think is such a could be a really cool thing about Myrtle Beach is like you said, this could be a buddies trip where not everybody plays golf. You don't go play golf and then go watch sports or do something, you know, different uh in the afternoon. So when you when you went with the Pop Stroke, what do you what do you remember about your experience from that?
SPEAKER_00Uh well, the reason we were there is because uh it was when we had a big group of guys that went to the beach to play golf, but it snowed. So all all the regular outdoor golf courses were uh were closed with snow on it, but somehow Pop Stroke did not have snow on the putting greens, or not not everywhere on the putting greens. So that's what I remember. Uh, it's uh you know, it was a good time. Uh again, it's like who who knows what you uh what you made if you're really keeping score, but uh it's just it's fun to hang out with a group of group of people and do do something like that.
SPEAKER_01Now, was that part of the good company uh event that y'all had out there? Did y'all do that as a Caledonia?
SPEAKER_00We did go to that area, but not we didn't do that. Um But y'all went when it was really cold though, didn't you? We did. We did. No, this was actually uh a group from church. We took uh a big group of guys and we got snowed out, which you know, again, it's about the fellowship and hanging out. We got snowed out on golf, but we're able to go play some pop stroke.
SPEAKER_01Well, you you're right. I mean, it's about the guys. I mean, I having the opportunity to play at Pinehurst not that long ago, and I wonder, well, how did that group of guys, if we decide not to, we decide we're gonna go to Myrtle Beach, I know we'd still have a blast. Oh, absolutely. I I I that wouldn't have changed. I you know, honestly, that group of guys that might have been more dangerous if we had a uh I I don't know, we have, you know, some of these other places of uh that were around, um, because there was so many options, you know, at least with you know, Pinehurst, we did have a lot of different options, but we did have a couple of places to pick. But you're right, it's about the people. And, you know, I think Myrtle Beach is a great destination for golf. And like you said, I think it can be, you know, one of the things I think you can with with Pinehurst, especially if you're trying to play the number two, 10, 4, and some of the uppers scale, nobody's gonna use the word budget, I don't think, when you're talking about those particular places, especially if you're trying to stay on property. Right. Whereas in Myrtle Beach, you're right, you can you can get some really good golf for under $100 around. And, you know, especially if you time it certain times of the year, certain times of the day, you can do well under and you know, put some people in a bunch of different condos, there's a lot of great options there.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. No, I completely agree. Uh, one that we've used multiple times, the the True Blue villas. If uh if anybody's looking for a place to go stay, uh down in that Pauli's Georgetown area or Pauley's Lichfield area, just above Georgetown. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I don't know if what they still do it, but I remember uh Caledonia and True Blue got me when I went to go play one day. I played at Caledonia.
SPEAKER_00They give you a replay for the afternoon, the other spot?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, ridiculously cheap. It it on the golf cart, it showed up. Replay rate, true blue. It was like 30 bucks. It was something stupid. Uh love. Absolutely. And I was like, oh yeah, we're we're we're doing that. Um, and it was great. And then what did I do? I proceeded to spend money in the True Blue Pro Shop as well. Of course. Uh um, so I I absolutely love it. You know, one thing too, I love about Myrtle Beach, you can't go too far without running into a good golf shop. Whether they've got two PJs superstores here. Uh there's plenty of different, you know, uh different places to to take your money.
SPEAKER_00And you know, how uh what what have you restocked in on your uh on your golf shop purchases this week?
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well, I actually did I got my putter re-gripped. Okay. And it this was uh first of all, my putter was literally falling apart in Pinehurst, the grip. It was it was bad. It was in rough, rough, rough shape. And I don't I don't know how quickly other places can do it, but when I was there in Myrtle Beach talking to the guy there, it's like, hey, how long does it take? Do I need to drop it off, maybe come pick it up a couple days later? And he's like, nah, I can do it for you right now, take 10 minutes. So I got a spent 30 bucks on a putter grip. I even this is where it could be dangerous. I got an inch taken off because I think my putter was a little long for me. So I got an inch taken off, put a new grip on it. So the grip looks new. Wolf, I we're still determined. Well, we don't know yet. I didn't I didn't do it until after we played.
SPEAKER_00So I, you know, of course, while I guess that's that's better, you know, grip and and you know, slight club modification is better than uh I went in and just bought a brand new putter.
SPEAKER_01I I I looked at that as well now. I will admit, I looked at that, and then when I saw it was one putter here, $300, another one $250, and so I was out the door with a new putter grip for about $40, I think. Yep. I've I felt really good about that. Um, but you know, there was so many other things I could have I could have bought, you know, a 60-degree wedge was calling my name really hard, but I didn't do it. But the cool thing about those stores, and I didn't take advantage of it this year, but I did one year. I mean, you can you can rent a bay and do a track band or top tracer there for you know, it's pretty. It's not expensive, not super duper expensive. Have you ever done that at one of those places? I have not, no. No, so like if you wanted to go hit golf balls, but maybe you were too lazy to, or not too lazy, not tough enough to want to do it in 100 degree weather. Um maybe lazy is the right word for me. Um, you know, but I did that one time last year and I and I loved it. Um, they even got memberships. Like I think if you join the PJ membership place, like $300 a year, you can go like once a day for an hour or something like that. Like, I I would encourage people like go go look that stuff up before you go to some location. You might be able to get a heck of a deal. And of course, you might mess around and buy you some new set of clubs um in that area as well. Uh here's a question for what can you think of an impulse purchase you've ever had at a golf store where you walked in and you weren't planning on necessarily buying it, but at the end of the day, it came out the door with you.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I I've I I've never been one to go buy too many things from like too many new golf things. I I guess maybe it might have been like a 60-degree wedge one time that uh maybe it was a sand wedge actually. Um because mine I think you know, was getting getting beat up and played too many courses, had rocks in the bunkers apparently, because it had a few nicks on it. And you know, I just I thought that that new title of this uh sand waves was gonna be the trick. So I it probably that. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Now are you one of those like w how often do you change putters or do you ever change a putter or are you one of those that you just keep the same thing no matter what?
SPEAKER_00No, I've got the same putter I've used for 20 years, but I've also got uh maybe 15 years. Uh I did get um a putter in a member guest recently uh as part of one of the the gifts, and it's it's the Bettinardi like zero torque, and it it's a mallet, and so um I've been putting with an old Scotty blade, but uh I I gave that a shot and uh I kind of like it. I kind of go back and forth on which one I'm gonna use.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, I I have never I have not bought a putter in probably 30 plus years, maybe even longer. And I think the one putter I bought was from like a uh was like from a Goodwill or something like that for ten dollars. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And if you if you are playing clubs made in the nineties, I will give a plug for uh my buddies, the Proper Golf Society, who are putting on the nineties compression classic. Uh in a uh at about a week and a half uh Aiken Golf Club. So if you got some if you got uh 90s gear, because you have to play nineties gear, uh you can go playing this thing. It's fun.
SPEAKER_01Uh that that sounds exciting for us. Well, we've we've talked about the Aiken Golf Club, which is one of my oh, it is an all this is an Awesome track and especially suited my game because it's not super duper long. Well, Robbie, any other any last thoughts when you think of Myrtle Beach golf and as people plan for or want to plan for here's another thing too I'll think I'll say about this and let you think about it. You know, part of the Myrtle Beach, the appeal for someone probably like us is we live, you know, a couple hours away, just a little over two hours away from Myrtle Beach. You know, a a good buddy's getaway sometimes, maybe you don't have, you know, you only have a long weekend. Maybe you can only take a half a day on Friday. Whereas for us, you can take a half a day on Friday, you could be at the beach by two o'clock, get you a round in, and still play a little bit more and you know, come back on Sunday. Where I get that might be hard for people that live a little bit further away, but the appeal of so many different options, I think, is just really cool. Whereas, you know, uh, you know, somewhere like Florida for us for a long weekend, for if you only got a half a day on Friday, may not be, may not be the thing. What advice or thoughts do you have about Myrtle Beach and just maybe a guy's trip or any type of trip for golf in the area?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Uh, do it. Uh right. Like we just on the whole story, we just interviewed Casey Bannon, and you know, the question we ask everybody, uh, one of our quick nine questions is is what is something golfers should do? And he said, book the trip, right? Like if you're thinking about doing it, like go ahead and book it. Like he's never gotten done, and I don't think anybody's ever gotten done with a buddy's trip where you said, that I didn't like that. Like I shouldn't have done it, right? Like everybody loves it. So following Casey's advice, do it. Uh, my other recommendation, and this is probably a stronger one, is um Wes, the Salty Golfer there in Myrtle Beach, is like the the king of all things golf in Myrtle Beach. And so I would highly recommend people check out the Salty Golfer uh because he he knows it, right? He he knows the area, he knows the the golf. He is um he is the perfect person to represent golf in Myrtle Beach. So check out uh Salty Golfer.
SPEAKER_01That's a great plug. Matter of fact, when I said when I went to the True Blue Pro Shop, that's exactly what I bought with one of the Wes's Salty Golfer polo shirts, right from the love and it was I I love the polo, and you're right. He is he's Myrtle Beach Golf through and through. He was one of my early guests on the on the show years ago. Here's another side question for you Have you ever truly regretted ever playing a particular golf course? Like, you know, like say book the trip, or you know, like I'm gonna go play today. Maybe not necessarily because the weather was bad, but have you ever really regretted any of that play uh around you played?
SPEAKER_00I don't think so. Uh there there's sometimes you're probably out there and you're not playing well. Like if you know, if you just go all by yourself and you're like, I'm just gonna go out and and practice playing, you're just not playing well, then you don't have the the fallback of, well, at least I'm with good friends uh and playing poorly. So uh, but no. Anytime you get a play, good play.
SPEAKER_01I I'm with you. I'm a big proponent of that type of mindset. Just book the trip, go. I mean, I haven't heard any no one's ever told me, you know, I read I regret going to this particular place. I regret investing money to go on a trip or, you know, investing money to go to a sporting event. One of my greatest regrets as far as things of not doing is when I didn't go watch the Game Cox in the Final Four in basketball years ago out in Arizona. I regret that. Um, that I just didn't go. I I can't remember of a trip I regretted going. There might have been one time in golf I regretted playing that day, but that was only because it was 30 degrees out. And then I mean, once again, I'm 50 now, I'm getting soft, Robbie. I don't know if I can handle it. There's a threshold of temperature with me. But I, you're right. Those are great, that's great advice. Go book it. Go book the trip. You know, there's so many great options here in Myrtle Beach. You know, there's a lot of great value options, but there's also a lot of great, you know, you could spend some money options on places to eat, places to stay, you know, do a little bit in between. And, you know, so I just think there's so many great things. Well, I I appreciate everybody's time today listening to another episode of the Southern State of Golf podcast. And hey, certainly love to hear from you. If you've got anything you'd like to share with us, hit us up on in Instagram at SS of Golf. Also, shoot me an email, southernstate of golf at gmail.com. We're gonna have some exciting episodes coming up just from other different aspects of golf here in the south. Other great guests and who knows, maybe one day I'll actually say I'll break 90 now instead of breaking um I'm at 96. I got maybe let's just let's just break 95. How about that? We'll go with that. But Robbie, thank you again for joining us. Everybody, have a great afternoon.