CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – One of the oldest golf courses in Horry County may soon become a housing development.
The Conway Golf Club was the third-oldest golf course in the county until it closed and the property was sold last year. Now, it sits quiet without any golf carts driving around or groundskeepers manicuring the greens.
Beverly Homes, which bought the old golf course, now looks to bring new life to the 62 acres.
“I’ve played a lot of golf out there, I’ve swam in the pool and enjoyed the neighborhood as a kid growing up,” said Forrest Beverly of Beverly Homes. “Part of me hates to see that it’s not going to be there.”
Beverly Homes wants to put about 200 homes on the old golf course. Lot sizes are tenatively planned to be about 9,000 to 14,000 square feet.
The development would likely be build in three phases.
“It’ll be an upper-end Conway community, higher-end houses, hopefully in that $250,000 to $300,000 price range,” Beverly said.
City council discussed the plan Monday night, since the city would need to annex the land, which is technically part of Horry County.
One resident said she’s worried about flooding if a development is built there.
“It’s going to happen again,” she said. “I’ve lived here all my life, I’m 73 years old, and I’ve seen it get worse and worse because of the building.”
Beverly says flooding wasn’t an issue there after Hurricane Florence.
“The day the water was the highest, at the crest, I actually drove the golf cart around that property and got pictures,” he said. “There were no floodwaters.”
Beverly also says his company is starting to take over more golf courses that closed down over the last decade.
“The golf courses got overbuilt here in the 80s and we don’t have the rounds to support them, so you’re starting to see a lot of that turn into developments,” he said.
Beverly also says the former clubhouse won’t be saved because of the condition it has fallen into since Conway Golf Club closed.
