Changes to this Myrtle Beach area golf course on hold for the foreseeable future

Nine holes at the 27-hole River Oaks Golf Plantation were rezoned by Horry County earlier this year to allow for a housing development, but the property will continue to be a 27-hole facility for the foreseeable future.

The rezoning request that passed was for the Bear nine, which was designed by Tom Jackson and opened in 1991, four years after the original 18 holes designed by Gene Hamm. The 3,432-yard Bear nine is on the opposite side of River Oaks Drive as the clubhouse.

The course is owned by a group of investors, including the Gray family of Myrtle Beach.

Wayne Gray, whose late father, Dan, was the majority owner of the course, said in December the owners wanted to take advantage of a burgeoning housing market, and 66.6 acres were rezoned from SF10, which allows minimum lot sizes of 10,000 square feet, to multi-residential MRD3.

“Which was what the county staff recommended in terms of residential development that they like to see in what they call their urban corridors of the unincorporated part of Horry County,” Gray said.

A development proposal submitted to the county late last year included more than 200 single-family lots with eight acres of open space and sidewalks, and Gray said then that 70 percent of the lots would be 7,000 square feet and 30 percent would be 6,000.

“The course is open and we’re expecting it to remain open until a further announcement,” Gray said this month, declining to discuss the status of a sale or redevelopment citing private confidential business matters.

The golf course is operated through a long-term lease by a group of investors under the name River Oaks Golf Club LLC that includes club general manager Scott Taylor.

This story was originally published July 23, 2019 at 3:59 PM.