It wasn’t by much, but the Myrtle Beach golf market continued its post-pandemic momentum in 2024.
Rounds played on the Grand Strand increased about 1% in 2024 compared to 2023, marking the fourth consecutive year of increases according to the Golf Tourism Solutions marketing, technology and events agency that promotes the Myrtle Beach market.
The rounds last year are up 13.4% over 2021, the first year of significant growth coming out of the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Those rounds were played on the 64 public courses that are GTS members, and are largely compiled through the tee time network that connects the GTS courses.
“I think 2024 was a great year,” said Jeff Monday, GTS’ director of technology and research.
A handful of area courses are not members of GTS, including Whispering Pines Golf Club and Beachwood Golf Club, and their rounds are not included in the totals.
With more than 2.79 million rounds recorded on the 64 courses, the average number of rounds played last year on GTS courses was more than a prosperous 43,600.
Continuing an affiliated upward trend, revenue from green and cart fees increased 7%, reflecting general price increases and continued dynamic pricing for times of the year, days of the week and even coveted hours of the day.
“Dynamic pricing does play a role in that,” Monday said.
The onset of Covid-19 and the resulting restrictions on many activities led to a national spike in interest in golf, and Myrtle Beach has been riding it.
Rounds played in the market for the calendar year increased approximately 11.5% in 2021 compared to 2019, 8% in 2022 compared to 2021, and 6% in 2023 compared to 2022, according to GTS and Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association statistics. The coronavirus-impacted year of 2020 isn’t comparable.
Registered package rounds – which generally combine tee times with lodging for groups of traveling golfers – numbered 636,288 in 2024, which was slightly lower than 2023 but still up 11.4% over 2021 package rounds.
So the package business remains healthy, particularly in the spring when tee times are at a premium. Many larger groups are back to booking their spring and fall packages earlier so they won’t miss out on coveted tee times.
“For a long time we’ve always said book early and secure your tee times, and it’s never been more true than now,” Monday said. “If you’re not on the tee sheets now for spring and you have any size group you’re going to miss out on what you’re looking for. So that has created that sense of urgency and people booking earlier. We’ve seen that over the past few years.”
GTS has 40 golf travel provider members in addition to the 64 courses.
Package and daily fee rounds – which are indicators of vacationing golfers – totaled nearly 978,000, which was up nearly 1% over 2023 and 15.2% over 2021, and is nearly 35% of total rounds.
Myrtle Beach was slightly behind the national average in 2024, as rounds increased 2.2% nationally according to the National Golf Foundation and Golf Datatech, which compile the statistics across the country. The organizations claim the most annual rounds ever in the U.S. were played in 2024 at more than 500 million.
Golf’s resurgence makes it easy to forget the gradual decline of interest in the game that endured more than a decade. An uptick in rounds played on the Grand Strand in 2017 was the first increase in 13 years.
But an increase in 2019 followed a poor weather year in 2018, and golf has been picking up steam ever since.
“Having been in the golf market here for almost 20 years and seen the flow of what it’s been, it’s awesome to see right now with this kind of reinvigoration for the game,” Monday said. “It’s great for Myrtle Beach as a whole.
“There is an increase in the affinity for golf and how often people want to play, and we don’t think there’s any place better to do it than here. From a market perspective we seem to be in a very healthy place.”
Increased play in the market over the past four years also reflects a burgeoning population, as the Grand Strand is one of the fastest growing areas of the country, and many of the new residents are golfers, or will become golfers.
“We may see it start to level off around that [2.8 million] number, but we know we have traction from a tourism market, and as we increase the number of residents here and locals that are going to continue to play golf, I think that still provides some room for growth in rounds going forward as well,” Monday said.
Pacing for rounds in the spring – the lucrative months of March, April and May – is off by about 0.5% compared to this time last year. That can likely be attributed to Easter Sunday falling on April 20, which is part of a week that is annually in high demand.
The week leading into Easter is traditionally a slower week on golf courses because traveling golfers are staying home with their families.
Though the outlook for 2025 is promising, the year isn’t off to a great start.
January will go down as one of the worst months for the Myrtle Beach golf industry in history, as two significant cold spells and a snow storm that dumped as much as 6 inches of snow on the area forced all of the courses in the market to close for about a week, and many to close twice during the month for a total of about a week and a half.
Even when courses were open in January, the weather was seldom conducive to golfing.
“January is off to a rough start,” Monday said. “If you’re going to lose two months, January and February are the best ones. It’s always iffy.”
When courses reopened last week, they were in demand, however.
“The good news is with demand right now the way it is for golf, I think what you’ll see is we have short-term latent demand . . . so we’ll be able to rebound and pick up [much of] what’s been lost,” Monday said.
The increase in revenue that is outpacing the increase in rounds is allowing course owners and operators to reinvest in their product despite the cost of business increasing. Numerous courses have made major renovations over the past few years.
“The courses are able to be in a healthy position and we see reinvestment back into the product in terms of renovations and enhancements, not just on the course but in customer service and the overall experience with upgrades to clubhouses and restaurants,” Monday said. “Everything is getting elevated now. That’s always good for the marketplace.”
