The Ghost of Waterway Hills Golf Club, Myrtle Beach

Waterway Hills
The deteriorating sign that marks the parking lot for Waterway Hills Golf Club, a Robert Trent Jones design.

While vacationing in Myrtle Beach in July, I noticed the sad ruins of a Robert Trent Jones course called Waterway Hills.

The parking lot for the course was on US 17 South in Restaurant Tow, and golfers apparently were conveyed across a stretch of the Intercoastal Waterway to the clubhouse and course via cable car. Quite unique.

The course opened in 1975 with 27 holes. Originally called Skyway, it changed to Waterway Hills in 1982. It was one of two Robert Trent Jones courses in Myrtle Beach. The other is the Dunes Golf and Beach Club.

Skyway/Waterway Hills was one of sixteen courses that opened in the area between 1972 and 1975, reflecting Myrtle Beach’s growth as a resort destination.

The cable car structure that ferried golfers over the inter-coastal to the Waterway Hills golf course.

While golf courses will come and go (and in this era, more go than come), I always feel a bit of a sense of loss when the victim is the creation of an iconic designer such as Robert Trent Jones.

If you’re interested in Robert Trent Jones, you may want to read the excellent biography, A Difficult Lie (my review at the link).

Did you ever play this course? Leave your comments/review/memories below:


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