Founders Club

Founders Club at Pawleys Island is a southern Grand Strand thrill-ride that proves how long a way a little TLC can go on a golf course. Originally opened in 1969 as Sea Gull Golf Course, it had fallen into some disrepair over the decades. But after a thorough renovation as the capable hands of golf course architect Thomas Walker, the Founders Club is back on track and better than ever.

Walker took cues from many other Myrtle Beach area golf courses when planning his revolutionary work at Founders Club and settled on an aesthetic that pays homage to the likes of nearby True Blue Plantation as well as classic courses like Pine Valley and the original Pinehurst No. 2. As a result, long grass rough is kept to a minimum in favor of sandy waste areas that protect the fairways and creep up next to many of the putting surfaces. In addition, Walker recommended the installation of Emerald Bermuda green surfaces, making Founders Club the first course in the Myrtle Beach area to adopt that particular strain of grass. The course reopened following Walker’s work in 2008.

The course is a stout test, measuring 7,007 yards with a Rating of 74.2 and a Slope of 142. The course really gets going when the player reaches the tee of the par five 12th. The fairway is split down the middle by a long nest of mounds and pot bunkers and a good tee shot brings the green within reach in two shots. But that long iron or fairway wood is almost all carry over a pond to a greens shot.