Rivers Edge Golf Club Will Close May 17, 2027, for New Greens: What Golfers Need to Know

Stand on the ninth tee at Rivers Edge on a still morning and the Shallotte River lies flat as glass below the bluff, the marsh grass just turning from green to gold, a heron working the edge of the tide. Then you look at the green, a small peninsula hanging out over the marsh with trouble on three sides, and you understand why the regulars call the hole Arnie’s Revenge. Arnold Palmer built this course in 1999 on a piece of coastal North Carolina that had no business being this dramatic, with real elevation changes, seven holes along the river, and long wooden cart bridges that carry you out over the water between shots. It has been one of the North Strand’s bucket-list rounds ever since.

Next year, for one summer, the bucket list will have to wait. Rivers Edge Golf Club announced this week that it will close to play on May 17, 2027, for a full greens renovation and irrigation replacement, with a planned reopening in early fall, according to Play Golf Myrtle Beach. The project is the biggest piece yet of a three-year reinvestment that began when the club changed hands in 2023, and when the course reopens, it will have brand-new putting surfaces on every hole.

For golfers who build a North Myrtle Beach trip around a Rivers Edge tee time, the timing matters. Here is what the project involves, why it is worth the wait, and how to plan a golf trip around it, whether you want to play the old greens one more time this spring or be among the first on the new ones next fall.

The Renovation at a Glance

Dates come from the club’s October 27, 2026, announcement via Play Golf Myrtle Beach. Course construction schedules depend on weather and grow-in, so confirm the reopening date with the club before booking a fall 2027 round.

What Is Changing: Greens and Irrigation

The heart of the project is the greens. All eighteen putting surfaces will be rebuilt and regrassed with TifEagle, an ultradwarf Bermudagrass that has become the standard on top Southeastern courses because it tolerates coastal heat, takes a tight mowing height and rolls true and fast when managed well. The current greens have carried the course through more than a quarter century of play, and a complete rebuild resets the surfaces, the drainage beneath them and the subtle contours Palmer drew into them.

The irrigation replacement is less glamorous but arguably more important. A modern system puts water exactly where the turf needs it, in the amounts it needs, which on a river-edge property with wind, salt air and elevation changes means healthier fairways and more consistent conditions week to week. Chris Hendrick, vice president of operations for East Coast Golf Management, described the investment as another major step toward restoring the club to its full potential, according to Play Golf Myrtle Beach.

The announcement also mentions preliminary planning with contractors and local officials for restroom improvements near the 13th hole, along with further clubhouse and property enhancements that have not yet been detailed. Bunkers, tees and fairways are not part of the stated scope; the bunkers and bridges were already addressed in earlier work.

Why New Greens Matter on a Palmer Course

Rivers Edge has never lacked for scenery. What separates a great round from a merely pretty one is whether the putts you earn on the approach actually behave, and greens that are two decades old on the Carolina coast tend to develop thatch, uneven firmness and grain that fights the line. On a course where several greens sit exposed to river wind and where the closing stretch is built around risk and reward, a rebuild changes the way the whole back nine plays.

The reopening will also put Rivers Edge back into the regional conversation at the right moment. The course has been ranked among Golf Digest’s top 100 public courses in America, reaching as high as No. 62 in 2007, and named one of Golfweek’s top ten public courses in North Carolina, LINKS Magazine’s best Arnold Palmer courses you can play, and one of LINKS’ best riverfront courses in the world, according to MyHorryNews and the club. In 2023 the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association named it Golf Course of the Year. New greens on top of that pedigree make it a serious candidate to climb the rankings again.

The Course Along the Shallotte River

Rivers Edge plays to a par of 72 and 6,909 yards from the Gold tees, with four shorter sets down to 4,692 yards, so it suits a mixed group. Seven holes run along the Shallotte River and its tidal marsh, including the final four, and the routing crosses bluffs and ravines that give the course more elevation change than almost anything else on the Grand Strand. Copas Lake comes into play on the inland holes, and the wooden cart bridges that carry golfers over the marsh are a signature of the place, as much a part of the experience as any single shot.

Three holes define the round. The par-5 ninth, Arnie’s Revenge, finishes on a peninsula green wrapped by marsh that punishes anything short or wide. The par-5 17th offers a green reachable in two for the brave, with water and bunkers waiting for the rest. And the par-4 18th runs water down the entire left side to a well-guarded green, a closing hole that has settled plenty of money games. Regulars have long called the course the Pebble Beach of the East Coast, which is generous, but the comparison says something about how the water, the wind and the views combine.

The club sits at 2000 Arnold Palmer Drive in Shallotte, in Brunswick County just over the state line, about 30 minutes from North Myrtle Beach up Highway 17. It is a regular stop on Thomas Golf Vacations packages and one of the courses visiting groups most often ask about by name.

Three Years of Reinvestment

The greens project caps a run of upgrades that began when Sandesh Sharda bought the club in September 2023 and brought in East Coast Golf Management to run it. Since then the club has renovated the clubhouse inside and out, enhanced the Double Eagle Grille, replaced the golf cart fleet with GPS-equipped carts, upgraded the practice facilities, renovated bunkers and cart bridges, restored bulkheads along the water and added complimentary valet service at arrival, according to Play Golf Myrtle Beach and MyHorryNews.

That sequence is the right one. Amenities and arrival experience came first, then the structural pieces that protect the property from the river, and now the greens, which are the most disruptive change and the one that requires closing. Golfers who played Rivers Edge in its leaner years will notice the difference the moment they pull in, and those who have never been will find a club that has been polished from the parking lot to the eighteenth green.

Planning Around the Closure

The closure runs through the heart of summer, which in practice affects fewer visiting golfers than it sounds. Spring and fall are the Grand Strand’s peak golf seasons, and the May 17 date leaves the entire spring window open. If Rivers Edge is on your list, play it between now and mid-May and you will see the course as Palmer’s generation knew it, with the old greens and the full routing intact. Groups coming for the spring shoulder season, when rates are moderate and the courses are in prime condition, have the best shot at a final round on the original surfaces.

If your trip falls between late May and September, the North Strand has no shortage of alternatives. The Brunswick County corridor around Rivers Edge is dense with quality courses, and the four layouts at Barefoot Resort in North Myrtle Beach, whose history we covered in our guide to Barefoot Resort’s four courses, are a short drive from any of our rentals. Our golf deals page lists current packages, and our guide to planning a 2027 Myrtle Beach golf trip covers the Golf Centennial year in full.

The reopening is the trip to circle. Early fall 2027 lines up with the best weather of the year on the coast, the Centennial celebrations across the Grand Strand’s courses and the first weeks of brand-new greens at a course that was already ranked among the best public layouts in the Carolinas. Fall tee times at a newly reopened course go fast, so if that is the round you want, put the group together early.

Where to Stay for a Rivers Edge Round

North Myrtle Beach is the natural base for Rivers Edge and the rest of the Brunswick County courses, close enough for a 7:30 tee time without a brutal alarm and far enough to come home to the ocean afterward. Cherry Grove, at the north end of town, is the shortest drive to Shallotte and the quietest place to sleep before an early round. Ocean Drive puts the group a walk from Main Street for the nineteenth hole, and Crescent Beach and Windy Hill sit closest to Barefoot Resort for the days you stay south of the line.

Golf groups tend to favor our oceanfront homes, with enough bedrooms for a foursome or two, decks for the post-round debrief and, in many cases, game rooms with pool tables for settling scores; our guide to rentals by feature sorts them by what matters to your group. Smaller parties and couples pairing golf with a beach week do well in our oceanfront condos. For everything to do between rounds, start with our pillar guide to things to do in Myrtle Beach.

Frequently Asked Questions

Play It Before It Closes, or Plan the Reopening Trip

Either way, Rivers Edge belongs on the 2027 calendar. A spring round gives you the course as it has been for a generation, with the river running high and the marsh turning green. A fall round gives you eighteen new greens on one of Arnold Palmer’s finest coastal layouts, at the peak of the Grand Strand’s golf season. The only wrong answer is skipping it.

Sources: Play Golf Myrtle Beach (Oct. 27, 2026, announcement and course listing); MyHorryNews (Oct. 12, 2023); Myrtle Beach Golf Trail course profile; Rivers Edge Golf Club. Closure and reopening dates are subject to weather and construction progress; confirm with the club before booking.