Walking still permitted on the FGI courses?

Walking in MB has always varied by course, by season, by time of day
and if a member.    Covid expanded walking at a lot of courses, to help
stay safe.   
 
You probably have to ask the courses you will play to find out about 
walking or single cart rules due to CV. 
 
Walking can be fun if your entire group walks, but it's too tiring if
walking with cart players, unless play is so slow they can't race you. 
 
On a MB trip where I am trying to play every day, I would want to 
use a cart, to save energy.    

@artmbgolf

I can agree easily on that Art. At Myrtle Beach, i have seen one or two walkers at the Myrtle Beach National two years ago on the West Course. They were members for the winter. For most of the courses, the distance between two holes is a big factor to take in consideration. For the same cost of play i do not see any advantage to walk instead of driving in a golf cart. Except of course that it is better for the shape.

I occasionally walk the three MBN courses - but most courses are very difficult to walk as they are part of a housing project. 

Forgot to add I have walked Long Bay in the past. Surf is a pleasure to walk

You can still walk FGI courses.  I walked Founders Club at Pawleys Island yesterday and River Club last week.

@undercover-golf-pro

Yep, routing through a housing development can raise huge issues for walkers. I remember shortly after Royal New Kent outside of Richmond opened--MB connection with the Legends group--I played for the first time and asked if I could walk, my preferred way of playing. The guy in the pro shop said that was fine. I came off the first green, saw a sign pointing me to the second tee--and about 3/8 of a mile later, arrived for my second tee shot. During the course of the round, there were three or four other stretches like that. There wasn't any housing at the time, but they were clearly planning for it.

I never asked to walk at Royal New Kent again. . .

Does anyone have an updated list of courses that allow walking? 

Have had a few puzzling responses at the Pearl and Beachwood. Both are very walkable but not allowed. For what it’s worth I find it ridiculous that they want to determine how people enjoy their recreation, I don’t mind paying the full fee. They always say “it’s a pace of play issue” then you hop on a cart and spend 5+ hours on the course. 

I get that some courses are not suited for it due to long stretches from one hole to the next. If you are going to cite POP, I think you should make sure POP doesn’t go over 4.5 hours. 

It's probably too hard to have an accurate list, because there 
is off-season vs peak season.  AM vs PM.   
Member vs Visitor.   
 
If you live in MB, you can develop a list.   If you are a package 
player, you may not want to walk to save energy.  

West, South, Long Bay, Myrtlewood, Aberdeen. Don't know about the southern courses

As someone who has been involved with a younger generation of golfers (I’ve been the community manager for Bo Laying Up for a few years), Myrtle Beach is years behind the curve in terms of where golf is headed. It’s similar to how ski resorts used to not allow snowboarding.  Walking is the future (and the past) while carts are on the outs. 

If you look at the golf landscape, the newer resorts (Sand Valley, Streamsong, Cabot Citrus Farms, etc) are places where walking is highly encouraged. At Bandon, you can’t take a cart without a medical need. 

The golf resorts you pointed out are all very high priced which isn't the MB market. We do have some higher priced options like Caledonia but they are still well below the price point of other major golf destinations like Arizona.

@undercover-golf-pro I realize they are priced differently, I’m just speaking about what I see happening in the industry which is a move towards walking. After sitting at a desk all week, the last thing I want to do is ride in a cart. Himuman beings were meant to move and 4 walkers is always faster than 4 people riding in carts (because most people don’t play properly in carts, and with double teeing, POP is always going to be an issue). 

I don’t have any problem paying full price (cart fee and greens fee), just prefer to walk because of the exercise, opportunity to be present and the opportunity to have conversations with the 3 others you are walking with rather than just the person you are riding in a cart with.  

@undercover-golf-pro I think this is a potential problem for Myrtle Beach -- the prices are skyrocketing.

Average courses are now charging close to $150 or more to play in the high season (as one example, I think Crow Creek is up to $140 at times). I think Thistle is pushing $200 if it hasn't surpassed it, and while it's one of the better courses in the MB area, I think there are at least 10 courses in Pinehurst, e.g., that are far beyond Thistle in quality. While most of those do cost more to play in their high season, the difference is close enough that it would be hard for me to imagine choosing to play MB courses over them if I was going specifically for the quality of golf (obviously golf course quality alone isn't the only reason people go to MB, though, and it's not especially important for a significant number of people on MB golf trips).

As a Passport holder I don't have to pay those rates when I'm in the area, but I often look at the standard rates in MB and just shake my head at anyone paying those prices to play those courses.

I think those who want to walk are interested in the walking
experience more than a cart discount. Those that allow walking 
don't usually discount the cart anyway.  
  
I get the cost to run a course is up, but dynamic rates end up 
inflating the cost above what is needed to do that. 
I wonder is some plan 4 courses and agree on $600 around July,
then 3-4 months later in Nov when ready to book, they find the 
golf costs $800 and cancel the idea.   
 
Total rounds in MB are up, but a lot of that stat is local play.     
It's possible that MB is taking advantage of the diehard package 
golfers, but they may be dwindling as time passes.  The number 
of yearly trip groups is shrinking, like we see with trip reports.   
Younger guys who start groups at the current package rates are 
more likely to move their trip around. 
 
What I did for 2025, was get guys to agree on a date, so I could 
book it in June 2024 and beat the dynamic rate increases on room
and golf.    I told them if the date needs to change, the cost would
go up, like if I booked in Dec and if they can't go, I can cancel them.