Situated within minutes of each other in the quaint North Carolina coastal villages of Calabash and Sunset Beach, respectively, Brunswick and Sea Trail golf and resort plantations offer golf travelers a rustic and quiet alternative to the bustling commercial and tourist center of Myrtle beach proper while providing outstanding golf and assorted other amenities including health and fitness centers, biking/hiking trails, and cozy restaurants featuring top fare.

Brunswick Plantation & Golf Resort is conveniently located on Highway 17 about eight miles from North Myrtle Beach and within easy access to local beaches and shopping. The 1700-acre resort features 27 holes, including 18 holes by Willard Byrd and a 9-hole Clyde Johnston design.

Since the resort opened in 1991, the local owners have been dedicated to ensuring that Brunswick Plantation remains a favored destination for many golfer travelers to the Grand Strand. This tradition was continued with the completion in the summer of 2006 of a multimillion dollar renovation of the golf course.

Seven new back tee boxes have been added so that any two of Brunswick Plantation’s three 9-hole golf courses, The Magnolia, The Azalea and The Dogwood, can be combined to offer 18 holes that play to nearly 7,000 yards. The tee boxes create new angles to the fairway and bring some of the ponds into play, adding challenge for the scratch and low handicappers. The course is extremely forgiving from the forward tees, giving higher handicappers an opportunity to shoot some of their lowest scores.

In addition to all new cart paths and the addition of several new or rebuilt bunkers, the greens were replaced with Champion Bermuda, a new thinner-bladed Bermuda strain that provides an extremely smooth, consistent putting surface on a par with bent grass.

As for landscaping, more than 300 new trees have been planted throughout the golf complex to better define hazards and the fairways. These include 165 towering palm trees, weeping willows, crepe myrtles, wax myrtles, magnolias and dogwoods. Also, 2,000 new azaleas and 3,000 ornamental grasses have been planted.

In addition to these physical improvements, the resort has moved from 8 to 10-minute intervals between tee times that are in line with those of the elite courses in the country.

“Brunswick Plantation has always offered one of the most enjoyable golf experiences on the Grand Strand, but these changes have moved us up another tier,” said resort manager Bill Bernier.

Beyond the course itself, Brunswick’s amenities, are equally tailored to maximize the experience of visiting golfers. Some 360 ultra-modern rental villas include 2 bedroom/2 bath 1500-square foot units, some of which overlook the course and include Jacuzzis. The public areas include indoor and outdoor pools and an exercise spa. In addition to the fully stocked pro shop, the ante bellum plantation-style clubhouse includes Jasmine’s offering breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Brunswick Plantation was designated among “ America’s Best Master Planned Golf Communities” by Where To Retire magazine. Its golf packages can be customized to include guests’ choice of more than 100 area courses.

General information, including home sales, is available at www.brunswickvillas.com or by calling 1-800-332-8576. Tee times can be made by calling 1-800-848-0290.

Visitors to and residents of Sea Trail Golf Resort & Conference Center are rewarded with three of the best courses on the Grand Strand. The 2000-acre residential and resort property is populated by pines, live oaks, maple, river birch, weeping willows, and bay trees. Fox, deer, and Osprey hawks flourish in this rustic environment, enhanced by extensive landscaping.

Sea Trail is located in Sunset Beach, N.C., named in 1992 by Money magazine as one of the best buys residential “buys” in the nation. Changing Times magazine has listed Sea Trail among the top five retirement communities in the country and Retirement Lifestyles called Sea Trail “an impressive development” and one of America’s top 50 masterplanned golf communities based on polls of golf writers, marketing and real estate professionals, average golfers and property owners.

Such accolades start with the golf courses. Sea Trail’s popularity among golfers is owed to Dan Maples, Rees Jones and Willard Byrd, who graced the property with their unique design styles that bring out the best in the landscape.

Opened in 1989, the Jones course winds through towering pines and is populated by clear natural lakes where sightings of alligators are not uncommon. A straightforward design, it is the longest and arguably the most challenging of the three Sea Trail courses. And, it has hosted numerous events, including a 2006 U.S. Open qualifier. Its greens are L-93 bent grass. Like the other two courses, the fairways and tee boxes of the Jones is planted with 419 Bermuda which is overseeded in winter with rye.

Located on the eastern side of the property and opened in 1985, the Maples course winds through tall pines and live oaks. Its opening holes parallel Calabash Creek. While definitely not a pushover, the course has the reputation of being the most “user friendly” of the three layouts by many of the local residents. In 2003, the course underwent a renovation that included converting the greens from Bermuda to A-1/A-4 blend bent grass.

Opened in 1990 and laid out on the north side of the plantation is the course designed by Willard Byrd, who designed many great courses including The Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst. The Byrd course is marked by manmade lakes, a number of doglegs and a finishing hole that threads through two ponds. The greens are penncross bent.

The Jones/Byrd clubhouse overlooks the 18 th holes of both courses and a long- and short-game practice area. The clubhouse includes Magnolias Restaurant, a cozy place that offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. The Maples course is served by a separate clubhouse that has a snack bar, and has the Sea Trail Custom Clubs shop.

Other property amenities include the members-only Maples Swim & Tennis Center and the public Village Activities Center with indoor and outdoor pools and whirlpools, tennis courts, and an on-staff licensed massage therapist. In addition, there are activities for children, a nearby planetarium, bike and hiking trails, and the largest conference facility on North Carolina’s coast, the 62,000-square-foot Carolina Conference Center.

Guests of Sea Trail have a choice of modern rental villas in private residences. Residential property incudes condominiums, villas, and homes of varying architectural styles and sizes.

Sea Trail Golf Resort & Conference Center is the centerpiece of Sunset Beach, which was founded in the late 1950’s by Mannon Gore, a local farm owner who bought the timberland upon which Sea Trail sits from International Paper Company. Gore’s purchase included the barrier island and the land west of the intercostal waterway that now comprises the village of Sunset Beach. Gore himself ferried visitors to and from the island before he had the first bridge built connecting it to the mainland. Today, Sunset Beach is considered one of the finest beaches on the Eastern Seaboard.

The tradition of creating a paradise for vacationers and residents was continued by Mannon’s son, Ed Gore, who partnered with John Williams, Paul Dennis, Miller Pope and Harris Thompson to develop Sea Trail into the resort community it is today.

For more information on Sea Trail, log on to www.seatrail.com or call 800-546-5748. For home sales, contact the Sea Trail real estate office at 800-338-9672.