A look at the history of the Dunes Golf and Beach Club

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - The Dunes Golf and Beach Club plays host to the first-ever Myrtle Beach Classic this weekend.

For the course, it’s an event decades in the making.

Standing at the 11th tee box, head pro Dennis Nicholl explained the significance behind that particular part of the course.

“It was the location of a cabin, an old fishing cabin, called Chapin Cabin,” he said. “People used to come down here and they’d do a little poker playing or gambling and they’d do a little drinking, then it turned into a big meeting in October 1948. Businessmen and women met here for a BBQ and the idea was, they were going to discuss building the Dunes Club.”

After World War II, many in the area were looking into recreation activities - and the idea to build a golf club where the Dunes Golf and Beach Club now stands was born.

“They had to find a golf course architect, and at that time Robert Trent Jones, Sr. was a little-known architect in the word of golf course architecture - he was doing a project called ‘Peachtree’ over in Georgia, in Atlanta, and they hired him to do the work here, then literally a couple of bulldozers and some land they bought here and they built the Dunes Club,” said Nicholl.

The course has seen a few tweaks here and there, - such as some formerly par 5 holes now being par 4′s.

Some of the other changes the club has seen over the years include renovated kitchens and guest locker rooms with their own story to tell.

Nicholl said the nearby Singleton Swash has also seen its share of history.

“History shows that George Washington actually crossed here as well at one point,” he said. “There’s a lot of history right here in this area.”

You can watch our full look at the history of the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in the video above.

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