Grande Dunes Designated As South Carolina Golf Course of The Year

By Steve Porter, The Herald

One of the Grand Strand’s youngest golf courses has soared to the top of the list of outstanding state golf courses. The Grande Dunes Resort Club was selected last week as 2008 South Carolina Golf Course of the Year by the South Carolina Golf Course Owners Association.
The course is an integral part of the Grand Dunes residential, commercial and resort complex that spreads over hundreds of acres on both sides of the Intracoastal Waterway on the very northern tip of the city of Myrtle Beach.
Burroughs & Chapin Company, the developer of the project, formed “Burroughs & Chapin Golf Management” seven years ago to provide operations and marketing services to the management of the company’s own courses and others in the market.
“We are thrilled that Grande Dunes Resort Club was chosen,” said Bob Swezey, executive vice president of golf and resort operations for B&C Golf Management.
Rock Lucas, president of the state organization, said the award is evidence of the company’s commitment to the game of golf.
“Grande Dunes is an excellent representative of the quality of golf here in South Carolina,” said Lucas. “Grande Dunes faced strong competition from the South Carolina nominees, but their heavy involvement in the Grand Strand community in addition to their contribution to the golf industry set them apart from the other courses.”
The criteria used by the SCGCOA were established by the National and State Golf Course Owners Association.
They include the quality of the course, the quality of the management, contributions to the community and contributions to the game itself. The resort’s management was also cited for its charity work including fundraising efforts for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Conway Medical Center, Victory Junction Gang, Special Olympics, and Patriot’s Golf Day. Over the seven years of the award’s existence, other winners were Burning Ridge, TPC, Wild Wing, Tradition, Arrowhead and King’s North at Myrtle Beach National.
The World Tour Course is the only local course to have won the national “Golf Course of the Year” award — at least so far.
The other courses that are managed by B&C Golf Course management include the private Members Club at Grande Dunes, and the 36-hole Myrtlewood Golf Club.
It also recently purchased the “Granddaddy” course, Pine Lakes, which is undergoing extensive renovation and should be open for play by next spring.
The course itself has been totally plowed up and replanted with salt air resistant grasses while the historic antebellum clubhouse has been given a multi-million dollar makeover virtually down to the studs and a new roof. There are also many new additions ranging from new food service and golf shop amenities to a new pool area and an extensive corporate housing and meeting complex next to the clubhouse.
The company also manages Tidewater Golf Club, Farmstead Golf Links, Meadowland Golf Club and River Hills Country Club. It also handles two Par 3 courses and five mini-golf courses.