Tell me about living near Myrtle Beach, SC

I am about 10 yrs from retirement and have been obsessed with looking at potential places to retire. My main focus has been Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. But I was wondering about what it is like to live near Myrtle Beach. I have heard that 15 Million people visit there per year. So, during the summer months, are most courses packed? Or is it easy to find open courses due to the fact that there are so many packed into a small space? Just wondering if it is golfing heaven for retirees or are the summer months just too crowded to enjoy?

Actually it's easier to get tee times in the summer. Spring and fall are the busy seasons with golfers in town on packages. Summer is hot, locals try to play early. Most summer afternoons tee sheets are wide open. Most summer visitors are there for the beach.

Mitch summed it up pretty well overall. There are several golf packages you can get membership in that give discounted rates to locals. Also if you are retired there are several traveling golf leagues that play different courses 3 and 4 times a week. The one drawback in the spring and fall tourist seasons is getting certain tee times--- The courses will give priority to packages and motel bookings over the locals----- I am looking for it to get more crowded golf wise and people wise in the next few years. Quite a few courses have closed recently and put housing in. In fact my home course is closing in December and 500 condo units are going in----- Actually the traffic is a nightmare in the summer and it is getting too crowded here. In fact after 21 years of living here my wife and I are thinking about bugging out soon---- Off the top of my head I can think of 5 courses that have closed in the last 2 years and they have put housing on them

MB still has plenty of average courses away from central MB, where locals can play when visitors are there in spring and fall.

The courses have locals rates and saving cards.

You need to visit a few times to decide if you want to live downtown, or a few miles outside of town, like Pawleys or Calabash, where there will be less congestion.

There also are some private courses, where you can avoid package golfers.

If I were moving to the MB area, I would move to the Pawleys, Murrells Inlet, Georgetown area. It can get a bit busy, but a lot more laid back than Myrtle. Good restaurant and courses in that area, too. We had a neighbor move to a golf community in that area, and they really like it. It's called The Preserve or The Reserve, I can't remember, but it's in the Litchfield area.

Hilton Head seemed pretty nice when I was down there. A ton of courses and feels “retirery” when you are dining, going to movies and cruising the malls. Plus you get a PGA tourney once a year. I even made a dinner reservation at the restaurant overlooking the tourney, during the tourney! Like wow, if they are not busy during a PGA tourney , then they never are.

Fatbabies pizza and subs if you are looking for a local gem.

Make sure you spend significant time in the area before deciding to retire to Myrtle Beach. My parents have been there for over 20 years, I've been down a bunch of times to visit. Honestly, not a place I'd want to live full time (or even just for winters). To overcrowded, more than a bit trashy, and full of condos and strip malls. As others have said, the outlying areas are definitely better than the city itself.

Personally, though, I'd look at Bluffton or Hilton Head way ahead of MB or that general area. Bluffton is getting more developed, so it could start becoming overcrowded. Hilton Head is pretty much as built up as it can be, and its much nicer than MB. I've never been during the summer, but the wife and I were just there last week, and never ran into anything approaching heavy traffic. Most of the restaurants and shopping areas had plenty of cars in them, it's not like it was dead, but the roads were more than capable of handling the traffic load while we were there (which is definitely NOT the case in MB).

If you can forgo the tax benefits of SC, The Landings on Skidaway Island just outside Savannah is gorgeous. Beautiful area, 6 golf courses, pretty much the whole island is a gated community. Houses are reasonably priced, but the golf is a bit expensive.