Myrtle Beach Rated the No. 1 Golf-Home Community by Golf Digest in June 2006 Issue

Analysis of 244 Counties Finds Myrtle Beach the No. 1 Golf-Home Community; Report Highlights Top-10 Golf-Home Communities in Eight Regions

Myrtle Beach owes its No.1 overall rank to the many great courses located along the “Grand Strand” (twenty-eight carry player ratings of 4-1/2 stars or more in Golf Digest’s “Best Places to Play” guide, including the Barefoot Resort & Golf, Tidewater Golf Club & Plantation and Grande Dunes Golf Club), the area’s reasonable cost of living and its many playable days (approximately 290 days per year).

As Americans purchase vacation homes at a record pace, Golf Digest ranks “America’s Greatest Golf-Home Towns” in its Real Estate Special Report in the upcoming June issue, on newsstands May 9. According to estimates from the National Association of Realtors, Americans bought more than 1 million vacation homes in 2005, and golf was a deciding factor in nearly a third of these purchases.

Based on varying criteria outlined below, South Carolina’s resort town of Myrtle Beach was selected as America’s number one golf-home community (in addition to being selected number one in the Southeast region).

Equal weight was given to the following golf / non golf criteria:

+ Golf Score (out of 50): Number and quality of courses, golf days per year and course congestion.

+ Nongolf Score (out of 50): Includes crime rates, airport access, off- course amenities and cost of living.