Wachesaw Plantation Club

Wachesaw Plantation occupies a historic rice plantation site along the Waccamaw River in Murrells Inlet, part of South Carolina's Grand Strand golf corridor. Tom Fazio designed the course with Andy Banfield, opening it in 1988 on land that retains remnants of its agricultural past, including old dikes and waterways that once controlled tidal flows for rice cultivation. The routing takes advantage of this low-country topography, incorporating natural wetlands, mature hardwoods draped with Spanish moss, and views across marshland toward the river. The layout moves through varied terrain, with several holes playing along elevated ground that offers perspective over the floodplain, while others descend closer to water level where the original plantation infrastructure shaped the land. Fazio's design emphasizes strategic options rather than forced carries, though water and wetlands appear throughout the round. The course features the rolling fairway contours and sculpted bunkering characteristic of Fazio's work from this period, softened by the natural vegetation and the sense of enclosure created by the coastal forest. Wachesaw Plantation operates as a private club serving a residential community. The property maintains the quiet, understated character common to courses built on historic sites in the Carolina Lowcountry, where the land's past use as a working plantation remains visible in the landscape. The course provides a contrast to the more resort-oriented layouts that dominate the Myrtle Beach area, offering a setting shaped as much by history and ecology as by design intent.