Brunswick Isles Golf Trail Featured in the Myrtle Beach Sun News

[by Alan Blondin, Myrtle Beach Sun News]

Some courses in Brunswick County have for years felt a little overlooked and neglected when it comes to the general marketing of Grand Strand golf and distribution of play from golf packages.

The creation of the Brunswick Isles Golf Trail will likely assuage that sentiment.

The trail features 19 courses from Brunswick County and the northern tip of Horry County, as well as three package and accommodations providers. Some area restaurants and attractions are also trial partners in the trail.

The Brunswick Isles Golf Trail gives the Strand two of the ever-popular golf trails. About a dozen courses joined forces a couple of years ago to form the Waccamaw Golf Trail on the South Strand.

"I've been thinking about this for quite some time," said Sea Trail Golf Resort president Tom Plankers, who coordinated the formation of the golf trail along with Glens Group partner Paul Himmelsbach. "The reason we thought about it is to try to get more play up this way in the southern part of Brunswick County and the northern part of Horry County. We're promoting the northern end's attractions and golf courses. We think it's going to do pretty well."

Member courses include: Bald Head Island Club, Lockwood Folly Country Club, Rivers Edge Golf Club, four courses at Ocean Ridge Plantation, three course at Sea Trail, Oyster Bay Golf Links, Sandpiper Bay Golf Club, The Thistle, The Pearl East and The Pearl West, Brunswick Plantation, Meadowlands Golf Club, Farmstead Golf Links, Heather Glen Golf Links, Glen Dornoch Waterway Golf Links, River Hills Golf & Country Club, and Tidewater Plantation & Golf Club. "We've got some pretty sporty golf courses in there," Plankers said.

The trail's accommodations providers include Coastal Golfaway, Brunswick Plantation Resort and Village At The Glens. The Web site www.brunswickislesgolftrail.com has been up about a week and was created by Fuel Interactive, an interactive-only advertising agency that is creating a marketing campaign to drive traffic to the site.

Plankers said Wilmington International Airport is including the trail in its advertising campaign, and several restaurants and attractions are not yet contributing to the trail's collective marketing fund.

"[Courses and packagers] have all chipped in to make this work and agreed that being new we wanted to show the businesses we were for real and we'll live up to our end of the deal," Plankers said. "At the end we'll go back to them ... and request a small contribution for the advertising."

Despite the tough economy and fact that most if not all of the courses were already dues paying members of the marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, Plankers said courses were eager to join.

"It was not that hard a sell for the golf courses up this way because there isn't anything up this way," he said. "We rely heavily on the hotels in the Myrtle Beach area so this is another way to promote the courses up here."