River Hills Golf & Country Club

River Hills Golf and Country Club is in Little River, near North Myrtle Beach, a Tom Jackson product that shows heavily-wooded, rolling terrain with elevation changes as much as 40 feet. Golfers won't encounter parallel fairways, but they will encounter fairways that weave through a series of homes, along with dogwood, maple, live oak, pine and cypress tees. They will also see quite a bit of water, though most of it is lateral.

The course recently undertook a $2-million renovation to tone down the difficulty a little, including enlarging the tee boxes, re-working the bunkers to give greater visibility on the fairways and hand-placed stone bulkheads to better define the water features. Officials also redirected sand hazards to quicken the pace of play.

The course measures 6,918 yards from the back tees and still has a substantial slope rating of 136. It has Bermuda fairways and greens. The layout could be described as a blend of modern and traditional characteristics. The course was nominated by Golf Digest as "Best new course for 1989" and picked as one of Golf Week's "Top-50 in the Southeast."