The Pearl

The course

The golf at The Pearl

Twenty-seven holes is the defining feature. Maples routed three nines here in 1987, and the configuration gives the club flexibility that most Myrtle Beach area courses cannot match. Reviewers single out the old East holes as the best of the bunch and the most scenic. That preference is worth knowing before booking, because the combination you play is not always the one you expect. One group booked 27 holes specifically to see all three nines and was not given the chance, which soured an otherwise fine day.

The golf itself is described as tough but fair. Slope 132 from 6,793 yards puts The Pearl in the medium difficulty bracket, harder than the resort courses closer to the beach but short of the punishing end. Bermuda greens, a links-style routing across the Calabash flatlands, and a par 72 card. Reviewers who enjoyed it used words like challenging and enjoyed, and several ranked it second best among the courses on their package. One noted that most golf packages contain at least one weak course and this trip did not.

The average across 213 reviews is 4.19, and the split is genuinely favourable. Ninety-six five-star ratings and 72 four-star account for the large majority, with only nine golfers going two stars or lower. The complaints that do exist cluster on turf. Grass around the greens described as dead to the point of chipping off dirt, tight lies through the fairways, and pin positions placed on ridges and slopes that made putting a lottery. Cart restrictions come up too, with one group kept off the back nine fairways despite dry conditions. Practice facilities cover range, putting, and chipping. The pattern in the reviews is that conditioning varies by visit while the layout consistently earns respect. Calabash sits just over the North Carolina line, so the drive is longer than a beachfront round but the traffic is lighter. Groups making the trip once tend to build a full day around it rather than treating it as a quick add on, and the 27 hole option makes that easy to justify.