Ocean-Bay-Waterway North Strand Public
Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf
Clyde Johnston routed Glen Dornoch along the Intracoastal Waterway in Little River, a links-style par 72 with a slope of 145 and a hard difficulty rating. It suits confident ball strikers who want a memorable layout.
Designed by Clyde Johnston
- Par
- 72
- Yards
- 6,890
- Slope
- 145
- Holes
- 18
- Opened
- 1996
- Greens
- Champions Bermuda
Why groups book it
What you are paying for at Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf
The pedigree
Clyde Johnston
A Ocean-Bay-Waterway layout that opened in 1996 and plays to a par of 72 over 6,890 yards.
The test
Slope 145
A slope of 145 over 6,890 yards from the tips. The back tees are a genuine examination for a scratch player, and the forward sets keep everyone else moving.
The greens
Champions Bermuda
Putting surfaces are Champions Bermuda. The practice ground carries a chipping green, a driving range and a putting green, so the speed is no surprise on the first green.
The verdict
4.0 out of 5
Across 1,233 reviews left by golfers who booked through us, 73% scored Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf four stars or better. None of it is edited and none of it is paid for.
Live tee times
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Checking the tee sheet…
Live rates per golfer, cart included. Booking opens in our tee sheet with your day and group size already set.
The course
The golf at Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf
Layout is what people come back to when they talk about Glen Dornoch. Johnston opened it in 1996 running alongside the waterway, and the routing draws praise even from golfers who disliked everything else about their day. Fantastic, excellent, and love the layout appear repeatedly in the sampled language. The course record of 64 belongs to Ian Isenberg. At 6,890 yards with a slope of 145 and a hard rating, this is the second toughest test in this group behind the Dye Course, and the difficulty comes from tight fairways and thick rough rather than raw length.
With 1,299 reviews it also has the largest sample here, averaging 4.02. The split shows 535 five-star and 420 four-star ratings, so roughly three quarters of visitors came away happy. But 222 landed on three stars and 122 went two or lower, which is not a trivial minority on a sample that size. Champions Bermuda greens are the single most common source of disappointment. Reviewers describe them as inconsistent, grainy, and thin on grass, and that complaint runs alongside praise for the layout in the same sentence often enough to look like a genuine pattern rather than bad luck.
Service is the other split. Staff draws strong praise in many reviews, described as amazing and friendly, with one golfer specifically thanking the marshal for keeping things moving. Yet pace of play appears as a complaint elsewhere, one visitor named an unpleasant starter, another had a tee time lost to a tournament with no one reachable to resolve it, and the bag drop area is described as confusing and congested. The clubhouse is called dated, though the views from it earn compliments. Practice facilities include range, putting, and chipping. A course worth playing for the routing, with the caveat that green quality varies and the operation is not always smooth. For a package builder the calculation is straightforward. This is one of the more distinctive routings in the Little River area and the review volume shows how many groups keep putting it on the schedule.
The look
Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf in pictures




Getting there
4840 Glen Dornoch Way, Little River, SC 29566
Course reviews
What golfers said about Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf
Every one of these was left by a golfer who booked through us and played the course. Nothing is edited and nothing is paid for.
- 5 star 41%
- 4 star 32%
- 3 star 18%
- 2 star 6%
- 1 star 4%
A tier below Thistle and TPC Myrtle. Cool finishing holes, but can only hit driver a few times.
Great club..... staff were amazing
A stud of a course
Very impressed with the course condition and layout. Tight fairways and tough rough. Good course Marshall. Enjoyable round.
Read all 38 recent reviews Show fewer reviews
Glen Dornoch looks the same since we first played it many years ago. I doubt I’ll come back to it again since it trails so many other courses in the area. Bag drop area was confusing with many golfers standing around waiting to be called by limited staff on hand to load onto carts.
It’s gotten pretty tired.
The layout of the golf course is excellent. The greens were in poor shape and the pace of play was terrible. All of the staff was friendly, except for the starter Lew! He was a total jerk. There’s too many golf courses in that area to be treated like he treated my group. We won’t be back.
In good shape despite recent lack of rain, great staff.
Love the layout, but the greens were not good! Inconsistent grainy and not much grass on a lot of the greens!
Great course, but very difficult!
Layout was fantastic. Staff was amazing.
Due to what seems like an overbooking issue we were late getting out to start and very slow play due to backups far ahead of us. But course and staff were good.
We had a lot of fun on this course.
We all loved the course, but the management of the tee times going off from holes 1 and 10 seemed a bit much for them to handle. They ran out of carts, so we need off 45 minutes after we were supposed to. That also made us have to change our dinner plans, since we didn't get done until 7PM.
Best course in Myrtle beach. Staff is excellent. Course was immaculate for the time of year. Is our favorite place to play by far. $16 replay
always a challenge, played 16, 17 & 18 1under
Difficult for the average to below average golfers in our group. I would not put it in our rotation in the future. Course was well maintained and staff friendly…just a little punitive for our overall skill level
They couldn’t honor our tee time because of a tournament. Unable to contact anyone for remedy. I’ve been calling 843 492 0448 with no response.
What a beautiful course. Could play this one over and over and still not tire from it. The last three holes come as advertised and require your “A” game. Will definitely play again.
Always love playing Glenn Dornick. Nine and 18 on the waterway are a true beauty.
Nice course. Need to be a very good golfer to play this course lots of hazards and had to lay up a few times
Absolutely beautiful course. Tough !
This Coaurse I shot my best score of the week. The greens were so so, but putting was true roll and fair
greens were rough due to poa overseed
my shoulder was hurting too bad
Nice layout with some hard holes to finish, conditions were good, not more
Rough finishing holes, course took driver out of bag alot.
good course but we were cart path only for all 18 holes. too much walking for our ages. Very disappointed and VERY tired.
Too many lay up holes from the tees
Golf course in terrible shape and the people there treated us like they were doing us a favor allowing us to play. Bad attitude and bad course We will never play there again and you shouldn’t either
Complained about slow play when it was raining, cart path only and no ranger Very poor Actually our day called the next course to complain to them
One of our favorite places. Course is in great shape, nice people,not a problem with replay. looking forward to playing it again.
Condition of the course was good. The layout is too tricked up!! We will not be back.
Beautiful course by the water, just like it’s sister course Shaftesbury not enough golf carts and we waited again 20 minutes for our cart, and we had to wait at every hole.
Challenging course but beautiful scenery and a great staff.
This T Time booking was not recorded at the course when I went the day before to confirm. I had to produce my booking info form so they could copy it. I got a T Time the following day.
tough but always fun
Glen Dornock is one of my Top 20 courses of the 107 I have played around Myrtle Beach. It is still one of my 4 "best bangs for the cost (others being Dunes Club, Heritage Club, and Arcadian Shores). Good condition. Always fun. PERFECTLY SCENIC on 7 of the 18 holes.
Vacation rentals
Where to stay near Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf
These are the three closest places we book to the course, measured as the drive from the clubhouse rather than in a straight line, so the morning run to the first tee stays short. Lodging is quoted with the golf as one price.
0.8 miles away
Village at the Glens
The closest stay we book to Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf, about 0.8 miles by road, with community outdoor pool on site.
- Community Outdoor Pool
- FREE Parking
- FREE Wi-Fi
2.6 miles away
Holiday Inn Express North Myrtle Beach - Little River
Roughly 2.6 miles from the first tee in Little River, with elevator.
- Elevator
- FREE Parking
- FREE Wi-Fi
5.2 miles away
Crow Creek Villas
Roughly 5.2 miles from the first tee in Calabash, with community outdoor pool.
- Community Outdoor Pool
- Elevator
- FREE Parking
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Build the trip
Put Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf in a package
Tell us the dates and who is coming. We quote the golf, the lodging and the tee times as one price, and a $100 deposit per golfer holds it.