Myrtle Beach Golf News

In February of 1994 Caledonia Golf & Fish Club was another in a long line of new Myrtle Beach golf courses, looking to carve its place in the market.

Dan Swafford and more than 40 friends were in town for their annual golf trip, desperately searching for a replacement round when their golf director recommended they give the area’s newest course a go.

“I said, ‘Well, give them a call and see if they can squeeze us in,’” Swafford said. “(Caledonia) said come down and as soon as you get there, it’s unbelievable. We were literally there two weeks after it was open and just fell in love with the place.”
 

The relationship between the affectionately named Swafford Tour and the course grew faster than Caledonia’s lofty reputation.

In its early advertising, Caledonia invited golfers to join the course’s owners for their weekly, Thursday night fish fry (Caledonia is a golf and fish club, after all). Swafford and his crew accepted the invite and they were welcomed with the Southern hospitality that helps define the place.

“The boys in the cooking shed, Mr. (John) Springs (course owner) and all their buddies treated us like family,” Swafford said.

Fast forward 15 years and what started as a small fish fry has grown into a full fledged party that speaks to how unique Myrtle Beach is as a golf destination. The Swafford Tour brought 82 people from 13 states in 2011 and the highlight, as always, was their Thursday night party at Caledonia, which included a whole hog, in addition to the fish. 

The round at Caledonia might be the trip’s most anticipated one, but Swafford, a police officer from Dayton, annually puts together a memorable itinerary. This year the group’s course rotation included Founders Club, True Blue and Willbrook Plantation.

That was just the “main” part of the trip. Sixteen of the 82 players came in the weekend before to play a Ryder Cup style event.

With 23 years of experience organizing Myrtle Beach golf trips, Swafford is more than a little familiar with the area. We asked him a couple questions about his favorite destination.

Why do you continue to come back to Myrtle Beach?
They’ve got great golf courses and the people down there always treat us like gold, no matter where we go. The food is always great. The folks at True Blue and Caledonia, they are like family.

Where do you eat when you are in town?
The last night we always go to Pawleys Island Tavern for a blow out. Our favorite restaurant is Martini’s. We love that place.

How challenging is it to run an 82-person golf trip?
It kind of runs itself now. We have been so fortunate. The guys bring good guys so you don’t have to baby sit and listen to complaining. We put the package together before we leave the year before and put a letter out in June via email. I put links to golf courses in the letter so they see where we are playing and give them three dates (to choose from). 

How enjoyable is the interaction between the guys on the trip?
It’s not just that week. About two weeks prior to the trip, the smack talk starts. Guys from San Antonio are always talking smack! Lots of email wars going on. It’s like Christmas to a bunch of middle age guys.

What’s really cool about our group is we’ve gotten to know each other so well. We are like a family. If I go to Florida I can call the guys and we get together to play golf or visit with their family. We go all over the country and there is somebody from the Tour get together with.