After 20 Months and more than $10 million in renovations to the golf course and clubhouse, the long awaited re-opening of Pine Lake Country Club took place just prior to the peak, Spring golf season in Myrtle Beach. Along with the "old-to-new" debut comes the introduction of the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame located in the new Hall of Fame Garden at the country club.

Pine Lakes is Myrtle Beach’s oldest golf course, established in 1927. Since then, it’s carried a reputation as one of the Grand Strand’s friendliest clubs, where they serve up clam chowder in the mornings and Scottish bagpipers wail away at the clubhouse. We thought it apropos to debut the first golf course story on the new www.GolfSC.com to be that of the first golf course in Myrtle Beach. The oldest course at the beach began anew in mid March.

Led by designer Craig Schreiner, the course was totally resodded, greens were restored to their original size, bunkers were enhanced, length was added and two brand new holes were built.

The clubhouse was also completely restored and enhanced, and is also home to a history hall, full of club artifacts over the last 80-plus years, as well as the newly-established, aforementioned, Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame.

Lessons learned by the course's architect, Craig Schreiner, over 35 years of world travel have helped to transform the Grand Strand's oldest course into the area's freshest face. With revised hole-routing, a pioneering, new playing surface and greens that reflect their orginal design intent - the course today is a crisp and toned as it was tired and tame prior to the reconstruction.

Pine Lake's new greens are now an average of one-third larger than they were before and most are now elevated more than a foot or two higher than previous. There are now fewer bunkers than before (27 in all) but a handful of them are deeper than seven feet!

Pine Lake Country Club is immersed in history as it began in 1927 when it first opened as Ocean Forest Country Club. A lot of old tales mention the course as being on the first Sports Illustrated cover and while that might SHOULD have happened, the course was actually THE BIRTHPLACE of Sports Illustrated. When Time Life, Inc. executives looked for a destination to hold a planning meeting for their new sports weekly magazine in 1954, they selected Pine Lakes Country Club for the quality of golf and the unsurpassed amenities found in the clubhouse meeting area.

They met and and the rest is history. Fifty-five years later, that Pine Lakes clubhouse pub meeting still represents the birthplace of Sports Illustrated. The magazine remains the most popular sports publication in the world today and Pine Lakes Country Club is still a popular site for meetings and corporate retreats.

Along with the many improvements that Pine Lakes has implemented was the employment of Paspalum grass from tee to green. The course is the first along the Grand Strand grassed tee to green with SeaSwarf paspalum, a strain of Seashore paspalum, which thrives on salty water - which is unsuitable for bermuda grass that covers most of the courses in the area. Employing paspalum means that the course can not only survive on brackish water, but fairway contouring and drainage built into the new design also means that the course's many lakes can capture all rain and run-off. The lakes now boast a capacity ten times of previous capabilities. This reduces the potential of flooding for the club's existing homeowners as well as a planned, gated community of nearly 300 acres in the offing. Conversely with recent drought years this also means that Pine Lakes will not use any potable waters for irragation.

The course has kept it's well-established looks with roots that go back more than 80 years - and yet it now offers a fresh face with challenges for golfers of all levels. The new design is a 6,800-yard, par 70 that Schreiner expects will sit comfortably on the land for generations to come. He was recently quoted as saying, "This project has been a wonderful experience because we've been able to marry my love of golf with my reverence for the natural environment."

Schreiner is a homeowner at Pine Lakes and this was his second project at Myrtle Beach as he collaborated with past British Open Champion, Nick Price to create the Members Club at Grande Dunes.

Whatever the occasion or event, Pine Lakes invites you to celebrate it at the historic Pine Lakes Country Club. They have the perfect location for any event - from receptions, family reunions, corporate outings, to brunch with friends and everything in between!

If you're just wanting a great "NEW" course to play in Myrtle Beach, then the old Pine Lakes Country Club course should be on your list of "must plays".

If you’ve played Pine Lakes C.C. since the renovation, send your comments, emails, photos, etc to info@golfnorthcarolina.com

* If you're out playing a round of golf - take your camera, snap a photo or video or two and email it to us with a review and we'll post your comments and images. Share your thoughts about golf in North Carolina and we'll make you famous!