This article is brought to you by Spavelous.com.
South Carolina golf vacation hotspots Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head know a spa visit is an essential part of a golf trip for women golf travelers. With that in mind, we pair up golf courses women love with nearby spas.
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – It’s obvious since the first gutta percha golf ball was struck – a bad slice, by the way – that men and women view the game of golf very differently.
For men, it’s all about out-driving your buddies for bragging rights, humiliating your opponents and maybe winning some money along the way. For women, it’s all about the outfits.
Just kidding. But it is true that women often consider factors different from men when choosing a golf course. For the most part, women don’t like beastly long courses or forced carries.
The same is true for post-round pursuits. Women want to refresh and rejuvenate. Men want to drink and make excuses.
This story is for the women and many of the men who are getting into spa treatments. Here are some of the best combinations of golf/spas in South Carolina:
Myrtle Beach
Women-friendly courses
• Willbrook Plantation on Pawleys Island.
• King’s North at Myrtle Beach National.
• Willard Byrd Golf Course at Sea Trail Resort & Golf Links in Sunset Beach.
Spas
• Mystic Garden Day Spa (5903 North Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach, tel. (843) 449-2247) gets good reviews from women who have experienced it. The spa offers shiatsu, which is rhythmic pressure three to 10 seconds on specific points along the body’s “meridians.” They also have synchronized massage, co-ed therapists, foot reflexology and paraffin treatments.
• VanEpps Rejuvenation (417 79th Avenue North, Myrtle Beach, tel. (843) 497-9699) was started by a retired physician who wanted to combine traditional spa amenities with a professional medical practice. That became known as “aesthetic medicine.”
It’s a “non-surgical, medical approach to beauty and anti-aging.” That includes “threadlifts,” non-surgical facelifts, mesotherapy, injections for fat dissolution and skin rejuvenation as well as more traditional spa techniques like massage, manicures and pedicures and waxing.
Charleston and Kiawah Island
• Osprey Point Golf Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort.
• Wild Dunes Resort in Isle of Palms.
Spas
The Spa at Charleston Place• The Spa at Charleston Place (205 Meeting St., Charleston, tel. (843) 722-4900) in downtown Charleston – you don’t have to stay at the hotel to go to the spa. Guests get to use the health club, with its indoor/outdoor pool, Jacuzzi and steam room.
The spa has massage, manicures and pedicures, facials and other customized treatments.
Plus, when you’re through, you have all of those great, downtown Charleston shops.
• The Earthling Day Spa (245 East Bay St., tel. (843) 722-4737), located on Ansonborough Square in Charleston’s historic, newly renovated east side, has pilates, which for those of you who aren’t hip to new spa trends, involves exercise designed for long, lean muscles while enhancing strength, agility, tone and flexibility.
The Earthling has the usual array of massage techniques, like therapeutic, aromatherapy and hot stone, as well as an “Eco Venus sugar glow” and “milk and honey envelopment.”
Hilton Head Island
• Golden Bear Club at Indigo Run.
• Palmetto Dunes, Robert Trent Jones Oceanfront Course.
• Okatie Creek at Sun City Hilton Head.
Spas
The Heavenly Spa• The Westin Hilton Head Island Resort and Spa (2 Grasslawn Ave., Hilton Head Island, tel. (843) 681-4000) has the Heavenly Spa, set amidst gardens, fountains and lagoons.
The Heavenly Spa “celebrates the revitalizing benefits of the region’s herbs, minerals and customs.” It has nine treatment rooms, a couple’s suite with whirlpool, including a women-only, beauty salon, locker room with steam and sauna, and men’s, women’s and co-ed relaxation rooms.
• The European Spa has an oceanside massage at Marriott’s Surf Watch resort (5 Grasslawn Ave., tel. (843) 682-3915), close to the beach at the Barony Beach Resort.
The spa has the usual assortment of massage, plus “balancing bliss,” a deep massage for face, scalp and body with visualization and relaxation techniques. It also has the “medi-spa” massage, which is unique to the European Spa, and is designed for people who are suffering from chronic or acute muscle or joint pain, inflammation, stiffness swelling or other injuries.
North Carolina Resort Spas • North Carolina Medical Spas • North Carolina Day Spas
