Everything You Need to Know About Myrtle Beach’s Most Underrated Golf Course

Myrtle Beach is full of outstanding golf courses, including more than a dozen that have been ranked among the nation’s top 100 layouts in recent years. Too often in the shadow of the area’s most acclaimed courses, Prestwick Country Club quietly provides players an upper echelon layout to test their games.

Located in Myrtle Beach, Prestwick combines a Pete and P.B. Dye design with a primo location, a recipe for what should be a prominent facility, but public attention is a fickle beast. The beneficiaries of Prestwick’s relatively low profile are savvy group leaders who book what is arguably the area’s most underrated design.

What do you need to know about Prestwick?

Buckle Up
Prestwick is a big boy golf course, playing a stout 6,347 yards (all distances from white tees). Every part of your game will be challenged on a layout that requires brawn – the 444-yard, par-4 No. 3 is a bear – and the finesse to snuggle a ball close on the 135-yard 13th hole. You aren’t likely to enjoy a career day at Prestwick, but it’s a players’ course. If you like to test yourself, this is a must-play course.

Great Greens
How good are the course’s greens? When John Deere brought a greens guru to Myrtle Beach to meet with area superintendents about best practices, the company selected Prestwick as the host course. Prestwick’s putting surfaces are consistently among the area’s best and you can expect the same again this spring.

What Signature Hole?
The ninth and 18th, though separated by a large lake, play parallel to each other and are Prestwick’s most photographed holes. But they have stiff competition to attain signature hole status. The 16th is a downhill par 3, and the 17th is a par 5 that requires a knee-knocking approach over water. Both holes could lay claim to being the course’s most memorable, as could the 409-yard 14th hole. A tee shot over water is followed by an approach to an elevated green that will require a lot of oomph to make par on No. 14. Prestwick’s strength lies in the unrelenting quality of its design from the first tee to the 18th green.

How to Play Prestwick?
If you want to challenge Prestwick, the Myrtle Beach Elite package with Myrtle Beach Golf Desk is difficult to beat. The 3-night, 3-round deal allows you to play Prestwick, along with Arrowhead, Tidewater, and the Jones Course at Sea Trail. This is a golf package that, like Prestwick, flies under the radar. Your group will approve.

Where to Go Next
After finishing up at Prestwick, your next stop is an easy one. Whether you want lunch, happy hour or dinner, go to Dagwood’s in Surfside. Just 2.5 miles from the clubhouse, Dagwood’s is home to Myrtle Beach’s best subs and a large selection of craft beers. If the endorsement of locals is important to you, Dagwood’s needs to be on your agenda.