Myrtle Beach Golf Industry Struggling! Prior to the economic crash, the Myrtle Beach golf industry had been in a steady decline since 1998, culminating in the loss of over one million paid rounds of golf annually; the closing of 23 golf courses and the loss of over 2,000 golf industry jobs.

Well 2008 was the worst year yet, and 2009 is expected to be far worse!

Since 1998, the incompetence of the area’s self-proclaimed marketing gurus, Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, and their stumblebum ad agency, along with sleazy hoteliers, many of whom you can find listed in the Myrtle Beach Golf Association’s Lodging Basement, have virtually decimated the once flourishing Myrtle Beach golf industry.

While the litany of these bunglers and fly-by-nights’ decade of incompetence, moronic screw-ups, mountains of non-stop financial extravagance and rampant  waste, along with their 1950’s era marketing, could easily fill another separate website, the most recent and most costly squandering of the area’s precious marketing dollars  - since Golf Holiday’s estimated $10 million dollar debacle that was the PGA Tour – Energizer Senior Tour Championship, and their subsequent fiasco of building what became an even bigger money-pit, the TPC of Myrtle Beach, which they blew an estimated $20 million dollars on - was a multi-episode joke that they produced in conjunction with Golf Channel, where it was also aired.

This comedy was a hammy travelogue of dopey and embarrassing episodes called “The Myrtle Beach Road Show,” which almost overnight was dubbed “The Myrtle Beach Road Kill” by golfers and golf industry movers and shakers alike. Did we mention that this disaster cost the Myrtle Beach golf industry an estimated $1.3 million dollars.

We had hoped that things would turn around for the remaining Myrtle Beach golf courses, and for a while it appeared that they were, but despite the tripling of the Myrtle Beach golf advertising and marketing expenditures the Myrtle Beach golf industry continues to flounder, when, in fact, they should be doing much better.

Add to all that, no Tiger, nobody watching golf on TV and the economy in a mess, and getting worse by the minute, and the outlook for Myrtle Beach golf is, at best, “shaky.”

Good News: The good news is that the vast majority of the remaining Myrtle Beach golf courses, are in excellent shape, and housing construction on them has virtually ground to a halt.

Furthermore, while the remaining Myrtle Beach golf courses, especially the top ranked ones, are charging top dollar, there is a monstrous lodging glut here, and therein lies the financial wiggle-room where the golfers can wheel and deal.

Therefore, with the lodging properties struggling to fill all of their rooms and the courses holding firm on their rates, golfers should book all-inclusive packages, not ala carte!

Bad News: The dreaded 6-hour rounds are still more prevalent than they ever should be, especially at some of the high-end tracks, where, at the prices they’re charging, they should be totally non-existent!

With the Myrtle Beach golf industry struggling along with the Nation's economy, the Myrtle Beach Golf Association is advising every golfer to be extremely careful when selecting a golf packager, and to be especially careful with respect to prepaying, in-full, for their golf vacations. 

Sadly, we are already starting to hear of golfers coming to Myrtle Beach and finding to their dismay, embarrassment and to their financial detriment, that their packager has not paid the golf courses. In a couple of cases the packager didn’t pay for the golfers’ lodging either. 

While these shenanigans have occurred a couple of times in the past, when the economy has gotten bad, they have been rare, but we must confess that we are very concerned that we are already starting to hear about the problem so very early into the spring booking season.

Check-out the Myrtle Beach Golf Association’s “Myrtle Beach Golf Course Directory” for one-click access to everything you need to about every golf course in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area. The Myrtle Beach Golf Course Directory features each golf course’s MBGA “star” rating and which Myrtle Beach golf courses have closed.

Each of the almost 100 Myrtle Beach golf courses is presented in the Myrtle Beach Golf Course Directory in a standardized format for easier evaluation and decision-making.

On each golf course's MBGA web page golfers will find the important details that all golfers want to know such as… architects, grassing, slopes, course ratings, contact information and more.

MBGA “Star” Ratings: On the Myrtle Beach Golf Association’s Golf Course Directory, and on each golf course’s descriptive page, you will find one to five “stars” («) representing the MBGA rating for that course, with one “star” («) representing our worst rating and five “stars” («««««) signifying our highest rating.

The MBGA rankings are based upon each course’s layout, playability, challenge, imagination, beauty, pricing, actual conditions (course, clubhouse, restrooms, cleanliness, etc.), practice facilities, pace-of-play, as well as the amount of development around the course and the quality of their, food and beverage facilities. Particular emphasis and consideration is placed upon the professionalism and friendliness of the staff at each Myrtle Beach golf course.

Be sure to visit the ever popular MBGA’s “Inside Scoop on Myrtle Beach Golf” section to find virtually everything you need to know about the ins and outs of the Myrtle Beach golf economy, vacation planning, packaging, wheeling and dealing, golf course information as well as the good, the bad and the real inside scoop on Myrtle Beach golf.

Please be advised that no one associated with the Myrtle Beach Golf Association has any ownership, or any other interest in any of the Myrtle Beach golf courses, restaurants or lodging properties, and the MBGA accepts no advertising, except from Google, from any of the Myrtle Beach golf courses, restaurants or lodging properties. These two factors make MBGA.COM truly a one-of-a-kind website, and assures the golfers with unbiased and untainted information on Myrtle Beach golf.

It makes no difference whether you are a regular visitor to our area, or a first-timer, we encourage you to cast your ballots for your own Player's Top 20 Myrtle Beach area golf courses. Regardless, whether you have one pick or 20, please send your Player's Top 20 nominees, comments and any other feedback, which you may deem helpful to Top20@mbga.com.

Note: While it is certainly not required, it would be very helpful if you would take a moment and rank your nominees for the Player’s Top 20, with your number “1” pick being the “Best Golf Course in Myrtle Beach,” and “20” being your last nominee for the MBGA Player’s Top 20 roster.

How about those crummy Myrtle Beach golf courses and lodging properties that you wouldn’t want your fellow golfers to get stuck playing, or staying in? Simply send those “lemons” to the Myrtle Beach Golf Association at Basement@mbga.com and they will consider them for inclusion in the dreaded MBGA Basement. Again, regardless of whether you have one pick or 20, please send your Basement nominees today, along with any comments and any other feedback, which you may deem helpful.

Note: Again, while it is certainly not required, it would be very helpful if you would take a moment and rank your golf course nominees for the MBGA Basement as well, with your number “1” pick signifying the “Worst Golf Course in Myrtle Beach,” and “20” representing your “best-of-the-worst courses in town.”

While the MBGA takes great pains to assure that all rankings, ratings, reviews, information, commentary and all of the content found on this Myrtle Beach Golf Association website is as current and as accurate as humanly possible, they are by their very nature subjective and are the opinions of the raters, reviewers, commentators and authors and should always be considered as such.

The Myrtle Beach Golf Association sincerely hopes that you will enjoy browsing this site and that you will encourage your fellow golfers to visit it as well. We also encourage your feedback on the site, and ask that you submit any ideas that you may have to help make this site better and even more helpful to you and your fellow Myrtle Beach golf vacationers. Please send your suggestions, feedback and comments to Info@mbga.com.