The Best Golf and Spas in Myrtle Beach

By Tim McDonald, National Golf Editor

South Carolina golf vacation hotspots Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head know a spa visit is an essential part of a golf trip for women golf travelers. With that in mind, we pair up golf courses women love with nearby spas.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - It's obvious since the first gutta percha golf ball was struck - a bad slice, by the way - that men and women view the game of golf very differently.

For men, it's all about out-driving your buddies for bragging rights, humiliating your opponents and maybe winning some money along the way. For women, it's all about the outfits.

Just kidding. But it is true that women often consider factors different from men when choosing a golf course. For the most part, women don't like beastly long courses or forced carries.

The same is true for post-round pursuits. Women want to refresh and rejuvenate. Men want to drink and make excuses.

This story is for the women and many of the men who are getting into spa treatments. Here are some of the best combinations of golf/spas in Myrtle Beach:

Women-friendly Myrtle Beach golf courses:

• Willbrook Plantation on Pawleys Island.

• King's North at Myrtle Beach National.

• Willard Byrd Golf Course at Sea Trail Resort & Golf Links in Sunset Beach.

Spas
• Mystic Garden Day Spa (5903 North Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach, tel. (843) 449-2247) gets good reviews from women who have experienced it. The spa offers shiatsu, which is rhythmic pressure three to 10 seconds on specific points along the body's "meridians." They also have synchronized massage, co-ed therapists, foot reflexology and paraffin treatments.

• VanEpps Rejuvenation (417 79th Avenue North, Myrtle Beach, tel. (843) 497-9699) was started by a retired physician who wanted to combine traditional spa amenities with a professional medical practice. That became known as "aesthetic medicine."

It's a "non-surgical, medical approach to beauty and anti-aging." That includes "threadlifts," non-surgical facelifts, mesotherapy, injections for fat dissolution and skin rejuvenation as well as more traditional spa techniques like massage, manicures and pedicures and waxing.

Read more at World Golf.