I visited the Birthplace of Sports Illustrated at Pine Lakes Country Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, an unexpected piece of American sports and publishing history hidden at the oldest golf course in Myrtle Beach. Long before Sports Illustrated became one of the most recognizable names in sports journalism, dozens of employees from Time Inc. gathered here in the spring of 1954 to help prepare the new magazine for its national debut.
The location seems appropriate in hindsight. Pine Lakes played an important role in establishing Myrtle Beach as a golf destination decades before the Grand Strand became filled with courses. Opened in 1927 as the Ocean Forest Country Club, it was the first golf course in Myrtle Beach and eventually earned the nickname “The Granddaddy.” Its history became intertwined with Sports Illustrated when 67 Time Inc. executives, writers, and other staff members traveled south from New York for a weeklong conference in April 1954.
Today, a commemorative plaque outside the historic clubhouse marks Pine Lakes as the Birthplace of Sports Illustrated. The wording doesn’t mean that someone suddenly invented the magazine while sitting inside the clubhouse. The concept was already being developed before the Myrtle Beach gathering. Instead, Pine Lakes became an important place where the team behind the publication met, discussed, refined, and prepared the magazine only months before its first issue reached readers.
⛳ Myrtle Beach Before It Became a Golf Capital
Today, Myrtle Beach and golf seem almost inseparable. The Grand Strand developed into one of America’s best-known golf vacation destinations, with courses stretching for miles along the South Carolina coast. Golfers travel from across the country specifically to spend several days moving from one course to another…