Changes Continue On The Golf Scene In Myrtle Beach

We've got mixed news on the golf scene In the Myrtle area and some of it is good for a change! This time a long time Little River golf landmark has avoided the 'dozer.....and gets to breathe another life, albeit, maybe a short one! Cypress Bay is one of the older courses in the area, built back in the heyday and it's been slated for residential redevelopment like so many others...many right in the same area! Cypress has no big designer's name on its layout; it doesn't have the latest and greatest in new turf varieties or equipment, but it does have a bit of its own charm to it. We've played here before and it's certainly like Tidewater...but it's really a nice place to spend an afternoon for real short money and have a pretty good time. For an older course, it's got a good amount of character to it with a handful of pretty interesting and kind of challenging holes. Most of the time you can play here for $25-$40 and you can probably usually just walk on (although that may change with Eastport and BayTree under the dozer blades!). It's right on Highway 17 in Little River....stop by if you have the chance....you might enjoy it. After your 18.....you're 5 minutes from Crab Catchers...great food...great grog!

The Sun News | 02/18/2007 | Cypress Bay stays open, awaits redevelopment

Cypress Bay stays open, awaits redevelopment ALAN BLONDIN ON GOLF Though the owners of Cypress Bay Golf Club are seeking a buyer that would presumably redevelop the course, it appears the Little River layout will remain open at least until the fall, and more than likely into next year. "I'd say it would be open through the fall, anyway," said Edward Williams, one of the course's four owners. Cypress Bay was sold by Thurmon McLamb about a year ago, and Williams said he is now one of four owners along with Shep Guyton, James Callihan and D.J. Karavan. A redevelopment and rezoning plan submitted to Horry County for Cypress Bay included commercial businesses and single- and multifamily housing, and Williams said the current zoning allows for 721 total units. "We're just sitting on it waiting to get someone to come in there and take it off our hands and develop it," said Williams, son of the late former owner of Raccoon Run, Eddie Williams. Though the owners would prefer to sell the property, Williams said they aren't ruling out developing the 120-acre course themselves. "James Callihan is a builder," Williams said. "It just depends on how we have to structure a deal to get something happening." The course has been managed and maintained since October 2003 by JMJ Golf Management, which is composed of members of the Vereen family that owns and operates Vereen's Turf Products and Vereen's Fertilizers. JMJ partner Frankie Vereen said the owners assured him he'd receive a few months' notice before the course closed. "Until they shut us out we'll continue running it," said JMJ partner and Frankie's daughter Mindy Vereen. "We can't do any capital improvements to improve the course because we don't know if we'll be there tomorrow or a year from now. We'd like to, especially if we owned the course, but that's not going to happen." The closing on Jan. 4 of Eastport Golf Club, which is nearly across the street from Cypress Bay on U.S. 17, has helped fill tee sheets on the Russell Breeden design. "With Eastport closing, it helped us out," Mindy Vereen said. "It was a definite change as soon as they closed the doors. This is the busiest we've been."


Of course.....this could also help explain why housing is more profitable than golf courses!!

Rounds played on Grand Strand decline again

ALAN BLONDIN

ON GOLF

The number of golf rounds played on the Grand Strand fell 3.1 percent in 2006 compared to 2005, leaving the Strand shy for the second straight year of the 4 million milestone that has been the area's benchmark.

Rounds played totaled 3.86 million and fell more than 3 percent for the second consecutive year. More than 4 millions rounds were played on the Strand every year from 1997 through 2004, according to figures compiled monthly for marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday. The Center for Economic and Community Development at Coastal Carolina University currently collects the numbers based on reports from public and semi-private courses stretching from Georgetown to Southport, N.C.

Yet because of the closing of 11 courses since November 2005, the average rounds per golf course increased 6.5 percent in 2006 for an eight-year high of 41,664 rounds per layout. That number is up 10.6 percent from 2004 totals.

Total paid rounds - consisting of walk-on, package, member and replay rounds - also fell more than 3 percent for the second straight year to 3.72 million rounds. Average paid rounds increased 6.5 percent to 40,267 per course.

Golf Holiday president Mickey McCamish said the rounds were hurt by the loss of 105,109 airline seats on incoming commercial flights to Myrtle Beach - mostly attributed to the elimination of Hooters Air. Two new airlines are expected to add seats this year.

"We've got to keep our air seats up," McCamish said. "That's so critically important."

The golf picture nationally and in other areas of the Southeast was a little more positive, according to the National Golf Foundation.

The industry research organization reports the number of rounds played in the U.S. was up 1 percent in 2006. The NGF attributes the increase at least partially to unseasonably warm and dry weather along the northern tier of the United States that allowed rounds to be played into January from New York to Michigan, though the total volume was low - about 400 rounds per facility in the Northeast in December. <---- 2nd week in January we still had golfers flocking to the course up here in Massachusetts! (of course it's a skating rink now!)

The 16.7 percent increase in rounds nationally for December pushed up the year-to-date figure to 0.8 percent. The Southeast, which includes the Carolinas, finished the year with the largest increase of 4.5 percent, followed by Central/South Florida at 3.4 percent. Public courses were up 0.7 percent nationally.

The Southwest was down more than any other region with a loss in rounds of 1.1 percent.

powered by performancing firefox