This Week at TravelGolf.com: Feb. 26, 2009

In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, no two golf vacations - or budgets - are alike

I'm just returning home, kicking up my feet after a week of golf in Myrtle Beach. I played six golf courses I hadn't played before, from local favorite Indian Wells to the new and exclusive Grande Dunes Members Club.

There's probably no golf vacation destination I know better than the Grand Strand, yet I never cease to be amazed at how many different ways a golf trip can go there.

There are the bargain-basement golf packages coupled with late nights at the bars and gentlemen's clubs, the posh digs with nationally acclaimed golf, and everything in between.

And in a year where everyone's a little more conscious of where their cash is going, no golf destination caters to a budget like the Beach. Want to play a golf course but don't like the peak-season green fee? Just wait a few weeks, around these parts, a course seldom costs the same the next month. Or maybe you want to experience Pawleys Island's lowcountry charm but can't afford Caledonia Golf & Fish Club. In that case, the Tradition Golf Club up the street's a fine, affordable alternative.

Or, for those who spare no expense, Myrtle Beach goes as upscale as anywhere (yet you're still likely to save a little dough versus the top shelf golf courses in Kiawah Island or Hilton Head). Over the weekend, I did a stay-and-play at the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes, a luxury hotel right on the Intracoastal Waterway, where passing ships pull into port at sunset for a quick bite at Ruth's Chris or Waterscapes. In the morning, I had access to the Members Club (only members and guests of the Inn do), where my caddie and I had this private club nearly to ourselves, which was all too refreshing after several jammed resort courses the previous days.

And in 2009, the incentives are rolling out for all budgets. The Waccamaw Golf Trail is offering a free night if you buy four, Legends Golf Group is offering the fifth round free with select packages, while the Myrtle Beach National Signature Package has been offering the fifth round free for years (not to mention free golf for kids). Other golf packages include discounted replays, free breakfasts, spa discounts or many other little goodies to lure you into your group's ideal golf getaway.

As always, TravelGolf.com welcomes your comments.

Confidence builders: Myrtle Beach's best golf courses to start your golf trip

Maybe its your first round of the season, having just escaped the snowy Northeast for the greener confines of Myrtle Beach. Or maybe you're just hungover. Whatever the case, we all need a low-stress round once in awhile to put some confidence back in our swing. Here are a handful of the most player-friendly golf courses in Myrtle Beach (that are still worth traveling to play).

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Spa Prunifolia blooms like an azalea amid resort golf at Callaway Gardens in Georgia

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England's Burnham & Berrow Golf Club boasts century of championship pedigree

Few links courses in the U.K. are going to stack up with Burnham & Berrow Golf Club's Championship Course in southwest England: 19th century history, plus course design and renovations from three of the game's greats: Herbert Fowler, Harry Colt and Alister MacKenzie. What's more, you'll find out in a hurry that the greens here are a force with which to be reckoned.

Also: Top-rated deals on golf in England