Heritage Club

Heritage Club opened in 1986 in Pawleys Island, one of eleven golf courses that form the Waccamaw Golf Trail. Designed by developer Larry Young and Dan Maples, with later work done by Mike Strantz, it is one of the Grand Strand’s most interesting and fun golf courses to play, given 4 ½ stars on Golf Digest’s “Places To Play” ranking.

Heritage is a quintessential Lowcountry golf course. From the moment visitors begin the drive up the stately entrance road, there is no doubt where in the world they have found themselves. There are centuries-old live oaks in profusion and two holes play around sites of local historical significance. The fourth green sits steps from a cemetery where many family members of the land’s original owners are interred and the eighth plays over a burial ground where the ones of the estate’s former slaves now lie.

The course itself features some of the Grand Strand’s most imaginative and boldest green sites, gnarly, artful bunkers and a number of holes where water comes into play, even in unconventional ways. The best example of this is the par-four 12th, which has one of the wilder greens golfers will ever see. Some 50 deep, the green drops some three to four feet from a main front section to the rear and left-hand portions. Holes places at the back of the green are also guarded by a lake whose banks are only a few feet from the back edge of the green. A good drive leaves a wedge shot that will be a unique challenge to any visitor. In this way, Heritage tests its players ingeniously.