Meadowlands
1000 Meadowlands Trail, Calabash, NC, 28467Meadowlands Golf Club is one of the Myrtle Beach area’s North Carolina-side golf courses, located on the rolling, picturesque McLamb family estate. Originally opened in 1998, the course was designed by prolific architect Willard Byrd, who also built Meadowlands’ sister course, Farmstead Golf Links.
The course engenders a somewhat rustic feel of playing golf “down on the farm,” which is fitting, because the course is built on former farmland. There is a pleasing amount of elevation change throughout the course, giving players the feeling of being closer to the mountains than the sea when the opposite proves to be the case. The community laid out around the course is tight-knit, with many members regularly sharing the course—and, indeed, a beer in the clubhouse—with guests regularly.
Meadowlands’ heart and soul is its set of four par fives, three of which are eminently reachable in two after a good tee shot. The last of the four is the 18th, which double doglegs in such a way that in order to have an eagle putt, the player must shape a tee shot from right to left and then an approach from left to right and avoid two greenside bunkers.
In 2012, the golf course underwent some subtle renovations aimed at improving the playability for higher-handicap players while maintaining the challenge for more accomplished golfers. The monster par four third and sixth holes were the focal points, with the fairway being expanded on the third and lowered to produce better sightlines on the sixth.