Flying to Myrtle Beach: A Golfer’s Guide to Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR)

Every returning golfer knows the moment. The plane banks over the pine flats of Horry County on its descent into Myrtle Beach International, the fairways start appearing below you — green ribbons threaded through the trees, one course after another after another — and then the Atlantic swings into view, wide and glittering, with the high-rises of the Grand Strand strung along it like beads. Right about then, someone in row 14 always says it out loud: “There it is.”

Flying to the beach used to be the hard part of a Myrtle Beach golf trip. Not anymore. Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) now connects nonstop to more than 50 cities across the U.S., served by eleven different airlines — and it just finished a $93.5 million expansion that grew the terminal from 11 gates to 18. For a mid-sized coastal airport, MYR punches far above its weight, and it does it while staying the kind of place where you can walk from your gate to the rental car counter in about ten minutes.

That matters, because the whole point of a Grand Strand vacation is what happens after you land: roughly 90 golf courses stretched along 60 miles of coastline, warm sand, seafood dinners, and — if you’re doing it right — an oceanfront place in North Myrtle Beach where the beach is your backyard and the first tee is fifteen minutes away.

Here’s the complete picture of flying in and out of Myrtle Beach — which airlines go where, when to come, how to get your clubs here safely, and how to get from baggage claim to the beach chair as fast as possible.

Meet MYR: The Beach’s Front Door

Myrtle Beach International sits just three miles southwest of downtown Myrtle Beach, on land that was once the Myrtle Beach Air Force Base. It’s a single-terminal airport with a single long runway, and that simplicity is its superpower: no trams, no terminal transfers, no twenty-minute hikes between concourses. You land, you walk, you’re at baggage claim.

Don’t mistake small-feeling for small, though. MYR welcomed a record 3.8 million passengers in 2024, and in December 2025 it completed a $93.5 million terminal expansion that added six new gates — bringing the total to 18 — along with expanded dining, retail, and security capacity. The airport has grown up alongside the destination itself, which now draws visitors from every corner of the country.

For golfers, the airport experience is refreshingly familiar territory: oversized-bag claim for the travel cases, rental car counters steps away, and a steady parade of fellow travelers in golf polos who all seem to be grinning at the same thought you are.

Who Flies Nonstop to Myrtle Beach

Eleven airlines currently serve MYR with nonstop flights to over 50 North American destinations. Some routes run year-round; many are seasonal, ramping up for spring golf season and summer beach season. Here’s the lineup:

• Allegiant Air — the route king at MYR, with around 21 nonstop destinations, mostly small and mid-sized cities across the Northeast and Midwest (Albany, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and more). New seasonal routes from Dayton, OH and Elmira/Corning, NY launched in 2026.
• American Airlines — nonstops from Charlotte, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, and New York. Charlotte is MYR’s single busiest route, and American’s hub network makes one-stop connections possible from almost anywhere.
• Southwest Airlines — around 11 destinations including Nashville, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, and Houston.
• Breeze Airways — about 15 destinations, with a focus on underserved cities like Providence, Hartford, New Orleans, and Tampa.
• Spirit Airlines — MYR’s largest carrier by passenger share, with routes including Newark, Boston, Atlantic City, Pittsburgh, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando.
• Delta Air Lines — service from its Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis–St. Paul, Boston, and New York hubs.
• United Airlines — nonstops from Chicago O’Hare, Newark, Washington, D.C., and Denver.
• Frontier Airlines — Philadelphia, Long Island, and Cleveland.
• Avelo Airlines — New Haven, CT and Wilmington, DE.
• Sun Country Airlines — seasonal Minneapolis–St. Paul service.
• Contour Airlines — the newest arrival, launching seasonal summer 2026 service from three small cities the big carriers skip: Beckley, WV, Parkersburg, WV, and Altoona, PA.

The takeaway for trip planners: if you’re anywhere in the eastern half of the country, odds are good you can fly to the beach nonstop — often for less than you’d expect, since the low-cost carriers keep everyone’s fares honest. West of the Mississippi, you’ll typically connect once through Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, or Denver. Schedules shift seasonally, so always confirm current service on the airport’s official site or directly with your airline.

Every City With Nonstop Flights to Myrtle Beach

Here’s the full map of where you can board a plane and step off at the beach with no connection in between, based on the airport’s current route network. Keep in mind that many of these routes are seasonal — strongest from spring through fall, exactly when the golf is best.

New York & New England

New York City (LaGuardia), Newark, Long Island/Islip, Westchester, Newburgh/Stewart, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Niagara Falls, Elmira/Corning, Boston, Providence, Hartford, New Haven, and Manchester, NH. No region feeds more golfers to the Grand Strand than the Northeast, and the route map shows it — you can leave half a dozen different New York State airports in the morning and make an afternoon tee time.

Mid-Atlantic

Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. (both Reagan National and Dulles), Atlantic City, Wilmington, DE, Harrisburg, Allentown, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Latrobe, Altoona, and Hagerstown, MD. Pittsburgh alone is served by three different carriers — a telling sign of how deep the Pennsylvania-to-Myrtle Beach pipeline runs. Flying from central PA? We’ve covered the new Altoona nonstop service in detail.

Midwest

Chicago (both O’Hare and Midway), Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus (two airports), Cincinnati, Dayton, Akron-Canton, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, Minneapolis–St. Paul, Kansas City, and St. Louis (both Lambert and nearby Belleville, IL). The Midwest snowbird routes are a Grand Strand tradition — half of Ohio seems to be here every March.

The South & Florida

Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Louisville, Lexington, Dallas (both DFW and Love Field), Houston, New Orleans, Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale. Charlotte and Atlanta are the workhorse connections — if your city isn’t on this page, one easy stop through either hub gets you here.

West Virginia & Appalachia

Charleston, Huntington, Beckley, Parkersburg, and Clarksburg. Five West Virginia airports with nonstop beach service is a remarkable stat for a state of its size — and a reminder of how deeply the Mountain State loves this stretch of coast.

The West

Denver — the lone true western nonstop, served by two airlines, and the gateway connection for golfers coming from the Rockies and beyond.

Timing Your Flight Around the Golf Seasons

Spring: Prime Time

March through May is high season for Grand Strand golf — mild temperatures, courses in tournament shape, and flight schedules at their fullest as seasonal routes come back online. It’s also when the golf world’s attention turns here: the PGA TOUR’s ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic returns to the historic Dunes Golf & Beach Club May 7–10, 2026. Book flights early for spring; this is when demand peaks for foursomes flying in from the Northeast and Midwest.

Summer: Beach First, Golf Early

Summer belongs to families, and flights fill with beach traffic. Golfers who come in June through August learn the local rhythm quickly: tee off at dawn, be done by noon, spend the afternoon in the ocean. Package rates on courses drop, and the beach is at its warm, busy best.

Fall: The Locals’ Favorite

September through November is the connoisseur’s season — summer crowds gone, ocean still warm into October, courses freshly recovered from summer, and rental rates noticeably friendlier. Fall flight schedules stay strong because the golf demand stays strong. If your group has flexibility, this is the sweet spot, and it pairs beautifully with a fall vacation in North Myrtle Beach full of festivals and events.

Winter: The Bargain Window

December through February brings the year’s lowest fares and green fees. Some seasonal routes pause, but the major carriers keep flying, and plenty of mild 60-degree days sneak into a Carolina winter. For snowbirds and budget-minded golfers, it’s quietly one of the smartest times to come.

Flying With Your Clubs: What Every Golfer Should Know

Good news first: on virtually every airline serving MYR, your golf bag counts as a standard checked bag, not an exotic oversized item. Delta, American, and United all treat a properly packed golf travel bag as one regular checked bag at the standard fee, and most waive oversize charges for golf equipment as long as it stays under the weight limit. Southwest does the same — golf bags count as one checked bag with size charges waived, though the days of two free checked bags ended in May 2025 (a first bag now runs about $45 unless your fare type or credit card includes it).

On the low-cost carriers — Allegiant, Spirit, Frontier, Breeze, Avelo — a golf bag is likewise treated as a checked bag, with fees that vary by route and are always cheapest when purchased during booking rather than at the airport. Allegiant, for example, applies its standard checked bag fee per person, per bag, per segment, with extra charges above 50 pounds.

A few hard-earned tips from the frequent flyers of the fairway:

• Stay under 50 pounds. That’s the magic number on nearly every carrier before overweight fees kick in — and a loaded travel case with shoes, balls, and rain gear gets there faster than you’d think. Weigh it at home.
• Pad your driver. Whether you use a hard case or a soft travel bag, add a support rod or wrap towels around the clubheads. Broken-driver stories are the saddest stories told at Grand Strand 19th holes.
• Check your airline’s current policy before you fly. Baggage rules change; confirm fees and rules on your carrier’s website when you book.
• Or skip the schlep entirely. Club shipping services can send your sticks door-to-door ahead of you, and nearly every course on the Grand Strand offers quality rental sets — a legitimate option for a short trip.

Wheels Down: Getting From MYR to North Myrtle Beach

North Myrtle Beach sits about 20 miles north of the airport — figure 30 to 40 minutes depending on season and traffic, either straight up Highway 17 through the heart of the Grand Strand or the faster Highway 31 bypass if you’re skipping the scenery.

Rental Cars: The Golfer’s Default

For a golf trip, a rental car is close to essential — you’ll want the trunk space for travel bags and the freedom to chase tee times up and down the coast. MYR makes it easy: eight national rental brands operate from an on-site rental facility open until midnight daily, a short walk from baggage claim. Book ahead for spring weekends, when arriving foursomes can clean out the SUV inventory.

Rideshare, Taxis, and Shuttles

Uber and Lyft pick up in a designated commercial lane across from Door 5, and taxis queue outside Door 6 at baggage claim. Private car and shuttle services can be pre-arranged for larger groups — a popular move for golf buddy trips where nobody wants to be the designated driver after the welcome-night oysters. If your whole vacation lives within walking distance of your rental — beach, restaurants, and a couple of nearby courses — you can plausibly skip the car and rideshare to your tee times.

Where the Golf Is: Courses Near Your Rental

Here’s the part of the flight-planning math that surprises first-timers: staying in North Myrtle Beach doesn’t move you away from the golf — it puts you in the middle of some of the Grand Strand’s best of it.

• Barefoot Resort & Golf — four championship courses (designed by Pete Dye, Tom Fazio, Davis Love III, and Greg Norman) on the mainland side of North Myrtle Beach, ten minutes from the sand.
• Tidewater Golf Club — perched on the Cherry Grove peninsula with holes overlooking the salt marsh and Intracoastal Waterway; regularly ranked among the area’s most scenic layouts. It’s practically next door if you’re staying at Cherry Grove Beach.
• Surf Golf & Beach Club — a classic 1960 course minutes from Ocean Drive, long a favorite of locals.
• The Little River cluster — Glen Dornoch, Heather Glen, and their neighbors sit just north of town along the Intracoastal, adding another handful of quality rounds within a 15-minute drive.

And that’s before you point the rental car south toward the famous names of the central and southern Strand. With roughly 90 courses along the coast, the honest problem isn’t finding golf — it’s narrowing it down. For the non-golfers in your traveling party (they exist, we hear), our guide to things to do in Myrtle Beach and the area events calendar will keep everyone happily occupied while you’re on the back nine.

Smart Booking Tips for the Beach-and-Birdies Crowd

• Fly midweek if you can. Saturday-to-Saturday is the beach rental rhythm, so Tuesday and Wednesday flights are often cheaper and emptier — and a Sunday-to-Thursday golf trip means quieter first tees, too.
• Watch the seasonal calendar. Many MYR routes are seasonal, typically running spring through early fall. If you’re planning a winter trip, check that your nonstop still operates, or plan on connecting through Charlotte or Atlanta.
• Price the low-cost carriers honestly. Allegiant, Spirit, Breeze, Frontier, and Avelo fares look tiny until you add a checked golf bag, a carry-on, and seat selection. Sometimes they still win by a mile; sometimes the legacy carrier with a free carry-on comes out ahead. Do the full math.
• Book spring flights early. March–May golf demand is real. The foursomes who wait until February to book their April trip pay for the privilege.
• Match your flight to your rental week. Most beach house rentals run Saturday to Saturday; condos often offer more flexible arrival days. Locking in lodging first, flights second usually produces the smoothest trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

Land, Unpack, Tee Off

The flight is the easy part now. The better question is where you’ll wake up on the morning of that first tee time — and that’s where we can help. Thomas Beach Vacations offers oceanfront home rentals perfect for golf groups who want room to spread out, and oceanfront condos ideal for couples pairing beach mornings with afternoon rounds — all across North Myrtle Beach’s four beach sections, from Cherry Grove down through Crescent Beach and Windy Hill, each within an easy drive of dozens of courses. Browse availability at www.northmyrtlebeachvacations.com or call our local team at (866) 249-2100 — we’ll help you find the home base that makes the whole trip, from touchdown to final putt, feel effortless.