Prestwick Country Club

Pete and P.B. Dye collaborated to create Prestwick Country Club, one of Myrtle Beach’s hidden gems.

Prestwick features all the hallmarks of a Dye design – railroad ties, pot bunkers and rolling greens – and delivers the quality of work associated with one of the most prominent names in golf course architecture. The layout is challenging but fair throughout, testing all facets of your game.

There are a number of memory-inducing holes on the Myrtle Beach golf course, but its collection of par 3s is among the area’s best, particularly the 195-yard fifth hole, A creek meanders from tee to green on No. 5, demanding precision and more than a little nerve.

The back nine, a wonderful collection of holes, is among the strongest on the Grand Strand, highlighted by the par 5 17th. The course’s penultimate hole is one of the toughest three-shotters on the Grand Strand with water meandering up the left side before crossing in front of the green, but it’s impossible not to love the challenge.

Like so many holes at Prestwick, there is room to play the 531-yard hole but it can be visually intimidating, requiring players to trust their swing, a prerequisite for success.

The course’s best hole is the par 5 ninth, which plays along the right side of a lake. With the clubhouse in the background, it’s a visually stunning hole that can be reached in two but the price for missing can be substantial. It’s on the shortlist of the best par 5s along the Myrtle Beach golf scene.

Golf Digest has called Prestwick on the “Top 5 Best-Kept Secrets in Myrtle Beach,” but the course is no longer a secret for your golf group.