The Hardest and Easiest Myrtle Beach Golf Courses by Slope Rating

Every scorecard on the Grand Strand carries two small numbers that most golfers skip past: the course rating and the slope. The course rating tells a scratch player what to expect. The slope tells everybody else. It measures how much harder a course plays for a bogey golfer than for a scratch golfer, on a scale that runs from 55 to 155, with 113 as the national average. The higher the number, the more a course punishes the shots a 15 or 20 handicap actually hits.

That makes slope the most useful single number for a group planning a package. A long course with a modest slope is tiring but forgiving. A short course with a slope in the 140s will take balls from you all day. Below are the Myrtle Beach courses with the highest and lowest slope ratings from the back tees, what makes each one play the way it does, and how to use the numbers when you build your lineup.

How to Read a Slope Rating

Slope is set by the state golf association, which sends a rating team to walk the course and measure every forced carry, every bunker, every water hazard, the width of each fairway and the size and speed of each green. They do it twice, once for a scratch golfer and once for a bogey golfer, and the slope is the gap between those two experiences. A rating of 113 means the course is average in how it separates the good player from the ordinary one. A rating of 145 means the trouble is placed exactly where mid handicappers tend to hit it.

Two things to keep in mind. First, the numbers below are from the back tees, which is where the slope is usually highest. Move up a set and the same course can drop ten points or more. Second, slope is not the same as difficulty for a scratch player. The Dunes Club has one of the highest course ratings on the Strand as well as one of the highest slopes. Grande Dunes, at nearly 7,600 yards, has a stiff course rating but a middling slope for its length, because it is wide. Both facts matter, but slope is the one that predicts your score.

The Hardest Myrtle Beach Golf Courses by Slope

Course	Slope	Par	Back tees	Area
Barefoot Resort, Dye Course	149	72	7,343	North Myrtle Beach
Rivers Edge Golf Club	149	72	6,909	Shallotte, NC
The Dunes Golf and Beach Club	147	72	7,165	Myrtle Beach
Pawleys Plantation	146	72	7,026	Pawleys Island
True Blue Golf Club	145	72	7,126	Pawleys Island
TPC Myrtle Beach	145	72	6,950	Murrells Inlet
Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf Links	145	72	6,890	Little River
Heritage Club	145	71	6,960	Pawleys Island
Wedgefield Country Club	144	72	7,059	Georgetown
Tidewater Golf Club	143	72	7,044	North Myrtle Beach

Barefoot Dye Course, slope 149

Pete Dye built this one to host a tour event, and from the Platinum tees it stretches past 7,300 yards with the full Dye catalogue of railroad ties, pot bunkers, and fairways that look narrower than they are. The slope comes from the greens as much as the tee shots. They are large, split into levels, and surrounded by run offs that turn a slightly long approach into a chip from well below the putting surface. It is the hardest course at Barefoot by a clear margin and the one your single digit player will want. Everyone else should play a tee forward.

Rivers Edge, slope 149

Rivers Edge shares the top number but gets there a different way. At 6,909 yards it is not especially long. What it has is ten forced carries over marsh along the Shallotte River, and an Arnold Palmer design that asks you to commit to a line off the tee and then hit the number. Miss short on the marsh holes and the ball is gone. The scenery is the best on the North Carolina side of the border, which is some consolation. Groups who play it tend to remember it, in both senses.

The Dunes Club, slope 147

The Dunes Golf and Beach Club is a private course that package guests can play through a handful of lodging partners, and it has hosted more serious competition than anywhere else in town. Robert Trent Jones laid it out in 1948 and the par 5 13th, Waterloo, still bends around Singleton Lake exactly as he drew it. Length, wind off the ocean and deep bunkering push the slope up, and the course rating is among the highest on the coast as well. It is a demanding day for any handicap.

Pawleys Plantation, slope 146

Jack Nicklaus built Pawleys Plantation through the salt marsh south of town, and the closing stretch on the back nine is the reason for the number. The 13th and 17th both play across open marsh to greens that look smaller the longer you stand on the tee. The 16th shares a long double green with the 13th. New TifEagle greens from the recent renovation have made the putting surfaces faster, which has not made the course any kinder.

True Blue, slope 145

Mike Strantz built True Blue on the old rice and indigo fields next to Caledonia, and it is the bigger, wilder sibling. Fairways are enormous, which fools people. The trouble is the sand, which is everywhere and often runs the full length of a hole, and greens that sit at odd angles to the approach. Caledonia, with a slope of 140 from 6,526 yards, is the better test of a short game. True Blue is the better test of your nerve.

TPC Myrtle Beach, Glen Dornoch and Heritage, slope 145

Three different courses with the same number. TPC Myrtle Beach is a Tom Fazio layout with tour grade bunkering and greens that reward the player who can control spin. Glen Dornoch is short on the card but finishes with three holes along the Intracoastal Waterway that can wreck a round on their own. Heritage Club at Pawleys Island is a Dan Maples course with a par of 71 and a course record of 68 held by Mark Calcavecchia, which tells you how well it defends itself. It is the one in this group that most golfers underrate before they play it.

Wedgefield and Tidewater, slope 144 and 143

Wedgefield Country Club sits on an old plantation near Georgetown with giant live oaks lining the corridors. Its length and tree lined fairways earn the slope. Tidewater, on the point between the Intracoastal Waterway and Cherry Grove Inlet, has four holes that play along the marsh and water, including a par 3 third that is one of the most photographed holes in Myrtle Beach. It is a course that rewards the straight hitter and takes a toll on everyone else.

The Easiest Myrtle Beach Golf Courses by Slope

Easy is relative. None of these are pitch and putt courses, and several of them are a full 6,800 yards or more from the back. What they share is width, fewer forced carries and greens you can run a ball onto. For a group with a spread of handicaps, or for the first or last morning of a trip, they are the courses that keep everyone moving and smiling.

Course	Slope	Par	Back tees	Area
Beachwood Golf Club	120	72	6,844	North Myrtle Beach
Sandpiper Bay	121	71	6,849	Sunset Beach, NC
Azalea Sands Golf Club	123	72	6,444	North Myrtle Beach
The Wizard	125	75	6,721	Myrtle Beach
Eagle Nest Golf Club	126	72	6,901	North Myrtle Beach
Hackler Course at Coastal Carolina	126	72	6,886	Conway
Myrtle Beach National, West Course	126	72	6,866	Myrtle Beach
Crown Park Golf Club	127	72	6,502	Longs
Myrtle Beach National, SouthCreek	128	72	6,416	Myrtle Beach
Blackmoor Golf Club	129	71	6,614	Murrells Inlet

Beachwood, Azalea Sands and Eagle Nest, slope 120 to 126

Gene Hamm designed all three of these North Myrtle Beach courses in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and they are the classic Grand Strand layouts: flat, pine lined, with straightforward par 4s and greens you can see from the tee. Beachwood is the lowest slope of any course we sell and is right off Highway 17, which makes it a popular first round for groups arriving in the afternoon. Eagle Nest is the longest of the three and has a little more water, but it still plays as a comfortable day. These are also some of the best values on the Strand.

Sandpiper Bay, slope 121

Sandpiper Bay is a 27 hole Dan Maples facility just over the state line in Sunset Beach. It is long on the card but the fairways are wide, the water is mostly to the side rather than in front, and the greens are generous. For a group that wants to play a big course without losing a sleeve of balls, it is hard to beat.

The Wizard, slope 125

The Wizard is the odd one in the list, a par 75 with five par 5s, built by Dan Maples in an open, links style with mounding instead of trees. The slope is low because there is almost nothing to lose a ball in, and the big greens accept running approaches. Its sister course next door, Man O' War, is a different proposition at 141, with water on every hole.

Myrtle Beach National West and SouthCreek, slope 126 and 128

Myrtle Beach National is the rare 54 hole facility where you can choose your difficulty. King's North, the Arnold Palmer signature course, carries a slope of 137 and the famous island green on 12. The West Course is the friendliest of the three, with wide fairways and large greens, and SouthCreek is the shortest, a tight but gentle test that suits a quick afternoon round. Many groups book two or three rounds here and spread them across the week.

Crown Park and Blackmoor, slope 127 and 129

Crown Park in Longs is a short, open layout that is ideal for a group with beginners or senior players. Blackmoor, in Murrells Inlet, is a Gary Player design from 1990 that leans on placement rather than length, and the course record of 61 shows what a straight driver can do to it. Both are reliable choices for a lower stress day on the south end.

Courses in the Middle

The bulk of Myrtle Beach courses fall between 130 and 141, and that is where most groups should spend most of their rounds. Caledonia at 140, King's North at 137, Arcadian Shores at 137, the Barefoot Love Course at 138 and the Barefoot Fazio Course at 139 are all serious golf without the attrition of the top ten. Tiger's Eye, Long Bay, Panther's Run, Arrowhead and Man O' War all sit at 141 and are a fair step up. The Legends trio is spread neatly: Heathland at 131, Parkland at 136 and Moorland at 140, which is a built in progression over three days.

How to Use Slope When You Book a Package

• Match the number to the group, not the best player. If half the group is above a 15 handicap, two rounds in the 140s is plenty for one trip. Put them in the middle of the week when everyone is loose.
• Open and close easy. A 125 slope on the arrival afternoon and another on the final morning makes the trip feel better and keeps pace of play up when the group is tired or hungover.
• Move up a tee. The slopes above are from the tips. Almost every course on this list drops into the 120s or low 130s from the white or gold tees, and the hole designs are the same. There is no prize for playing Rivers Edge from the back.
• Mix hard and easy on the same day. A replay deal works well when the morning is Tidewater and the afternoon is Beachwood twenty minutes away.

Every course page on this site shows the slope, par and back tee yardage alongside the live tee time picture, so you can check the number before you add a round. If you want a lineup built around the handicaps in your group, tell us the dates and the group and we will put it together as one price.