River Hills

Crafted through rolling terrain, cypress, Carolina pines and lagoons, River Hills Golf and Country Club in Little River near Myrtle Beach is a challenging layout requiring precise shotmaking and course management skills. Players must not only hit the ball straight, but also select the right club when negotiating around a variety of hazards. Though it measures only 6,918 yards from the back tees, River Hills owns a 73.3 course rating and a slope of 136 thanks to the premium on accuracy. 

Golf architect Tom Jackson designed the Little River layout, which opened in 1988. The course offers a wide variety of holes, including a handful of doglegs that give players a wide range of options. The gently undulating greens, among the first on the Grand Strand with Champion Bermuda grass, are smooth and can be very fast. Jackson’s routing gives players an opportunity to recover allows players to recover from the toughest holes with an easier challenge on the next tee. With three other sets of tees, including forward markers that play to just over 5,000 yards with a rating of 67.7, River Hills is enjoyable for players of all handicap levels. 

The 526-yard, par-5 17th, which features a twisting stream that winds along and across the fairway of the double dogleg, is the signature hole.  After turning dramatically left off the tee, the holes turns right to the green. The tee shot must avoid the water on the left, which then cuts across the fairway on the second shot and turns back to challenge approaches on the right side of the putting surface.