The second nine at The Dunes Club opened in December 1950, and the course quickly became a local favorite with its subtle yet challenging design and exceptional beauty. But it was a stroke of genius by D’Angelo that would ultimately bring national prominence to the club. In April 1954 D’Angelo enticed some of the country’s top golf writers to stop in Myrtle Beach and play golf at The Dunes Club on their way to Augusta National. The scribes  returned to the Midwest and Northeast gushing of this Southern golf oasis that not only wasn’t in Florida, but was much closer to home than the Sunshine State. The Golf Writers Association of America had found a home for their annual meeting and golf championship, and Myrtle Beach had a new calling card.

The Dunes Club hosted a number of  prominent regional and national tournaments through the 1950s. Around that same time, long-time resident and Dunes Club member General James Hackler visited Pinehurst on a packaged golf trip and was intrigued by the promotional possibilities of stay-and-play packages on the Grand Strand. Visitors simply needed a reason to come to Myrtle Beach between Labor Day and Memorial Day.

Hackler sold the concept to Buster Bryan, and the pair built the oceanfront Caravelle motel in the early 1960s. In 1964 they joined a partnership that built two courses on the Grand Strand’s north end, Robber’s Roost and Possum Trot, which they packaged with the Caravelle and a few other motels under the name “GOLF-O’-TEL.” The concept was wildly successful: The Caravelle was doubled in size to accommodate the demand, and the group soon realized that more golf courses were needed. 

At the time, the package marketing effort was being managed by Cecil Brandon, a local advertising executive. Brandon understood that in order for Myrtle Beach to be taken seriously as a legitimate year-round destination, the consortium needed to expand its inventory of hotels and golf courses—including The Dunes Club, which had hosted the U.S.G.A. Women’s Open Championship in 1962.

“We were never really thought of as a golf destination,” Brandon said recently. “And frankly, we never dreamed that anyone would come here in the winter to play golf. But the hotels didn’t want golfers in the summer. When we saw what happened with the Caravelle and just a couple of courses, we knew that we could expand and make it work.”

In 1967 Bryan, Brandon and hotel owner Clay Brittain presented the idea to a group of course owners and motel operators. Despite Bryan’s untimely death from pneumonia, the group pressed forward on its new collective marketing effort with an initial budget of $43,000. This one was called “Golf Holiday.”

In the years that followed, Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday refined the packaging process to maximize the efficiency and value to its customers, ultimately becoming the dominant golf destination marketer in the U.S. It has also been the driving force behind the Myrtle Beach area’s astonishing growth. By 1987 there were 50 golf courses along the Grand Strand. Twenty years later, there are 105.

And while the Grand Strand has grown over the years, so have different segments of the market.

Myrtle Beach’s South Strand is particularly appealing. Pawleys Island and Litchfield feature the area’s greatest concentration of upscale accommodations and dining, and outstanding courses such as Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, True Blue Plantation, Pawleys Plantation, TPC of Myrtle Beach and The Heritage Club, which are all located within 15 minutes of each other. At the northern end of the Strand, the quieter lifestyle of North Myrtle Beach is complemented by some of the area’s most heralded courses including Barefoot Resort, Long Bay Club, Thistle Golf Club and Tidewater Golf Club.

Then there’s the nerve center of the Grand Strand. Central Myrtle Beach has it all: abundant shopping and dining, vibrant entertainment, easy access to the beach and the area’s most revered golf courses, from Grande Dunes and King’s North at Myrtle Beach National to the icons themselves, The Dunes Golf & Beach Club and Pine Lakes. The Dunes Club quietly celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2007, and it remains one of the most requested courses in town. And in 2002 Burroughs & Chapin purchased Pine Lakes, bringing serendipitous closure to an adventure that began 80 years ago.

There was another milestone celebrated in Myrtle Beach. Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday marked its 40th anniversary last year, and the organization remains on the cutting edge of golf travel marketing. The non-profit trade association represents 78 golf courses, 87 golf package providers and five golf schools with an annual marketing budget exceeding $7 million. It is also the host organization for some of the country’s most popular amateur tournaments and events, from the Hootie & The Blowfish Monday after the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am Tournament in April to the PGA TOUR Superstore World Amateur Handicap Championship in August, when 4,000 golfers from around the globe compete in the world’s largest amateur golf tournament.

“I predicted in the early ’70s that we would have 100 golf courses by the turn of the century, and everyone thought I was crazy,” said Brandon. “Certainly, there have been peaks and valleys along the way, but Myrtle Beach is alive and well. We’re still the best value in golf, and the best place on earth for a golf vacation.”