T-Time Tours
$$-$$$ • 505 Main St., North Myrtle Beach• (843) 249-4545, (800) 458-8463

Try this vacation package company for golf, accommodations, entertainment, USAirways booking and Budget car rental. Choose accommodations from one-, two- or three-bedroom fully equipped condominium units with views of the Intracoastal Waterway or the Atlantic Ocean. Golf on any of the area's championship courses, and choose country music or variety shows plus amusement parks, shopping or other attractions.

The Winds Clarion Inn
$-$$ • 310 E. First St., Ocean Isle Beach, N.C. • (910) 579-6275, (800) 334-3581

It's not part of the North Strand, technically speaking, but this inn apparently prefers it that way. This lovely oceanfront hotel is part of the North Carolina Golf Coast Association, which is seeking to develop its own identity separate from the Myrtle Beach or Wilmington areas--its big-town neighbors to the south and north, respectively. The 73 rooms include oceanfront rooms and one-, two- or three-bedroom suites overlooking subtropical gardens and a 7-mile-long island beach. A heated pool (enclosed in winter), whirlpools, an exercise room, a sauna, bikes, shuffleboard, malletpool, wetbars and refrigerators or kitchens in all suites are additional amenities. The four-bedroom spa houses (which sleep eight golfers) are ideal for golf groups. All five luxurious houses include full kitchens, great rooms and large Jacuzzis. Each bedroom also has a private bath, cable TV, a wet bar with a refrigerator, a private telephone and a balcony.

Golf packages with guaranteed tee times and discounted rates are offered on 20 high-quality Brunswick County courses within a five- to 15-minute drive and a total of some 86 championship courses in the Myrtle Beach area. Golfers are welcomed at a weekly reception during the prime golf seasons--spring and fall. Also, the continental breakfast buffet is more than the usual continental fare: It includes pancakes, waffles or cereal.

If you aren't looking for the big-city lights and other attractions, come here for great golf and great beach access in the family-type Ocean Isle area.

Bar Harbor Motor Inn
$$ • First Ave. N., Myrtle Beach• (843) 626-3200, (800) 334-2464

This oceanfront property is convenient to the golf courses, and we think you'll enjoy the great views, the outdoor pool or indoor heated pool while traveling on your Southern Escape Golf package. Excellent package prices on any area course are offered year round. Call (800) 554-4546 for information on custom packages. This family-owned accommodation effuses a family-friendly atmosphere. A total of 101 suites, rooms and efficiencies with private balconies are available.

Beach Vacations Inc.
$$ • 357 Lake Arrowhead Rd., Myrtle Beach • (843) 449-2400, (800) 449-4005

One-, two- and three-bedroom accommodations are available in the way of oceanfront condominiums or golf course villas--part and parcel of the golf vacation this company will package for you. Properties feature pools, Jacuzzis, tennis, full kitchens and cable TV. You'll enjoy the quality accommodations, especially if you like to overlook the fairways, and the friendly and helpful staff will assist with your package booking. Their properties are in a number of locations throughout Myrtle and North Myrtle.

The Caravelle
$$ • 70th Ave. N., Myrtle Beach • (843) 449-3331, (800) 845-0893

One of the first to offer the golf package, this beachfront hotel offers 420 spacious accommodations including rooms, suites, efficiencies or condominiums. The indoor and outdoor pools and whirlpools, a Lazy River, sauna, game room and breakfast buffet will add interesting asides to your golf vacation. Tee times are available on the private Dunes Club as well as almost 100 other championship courses. A "golf widow" package is offered, and you might want to check out the "blizzard escape" winter package too.

The Caribbean Resort & Villas
$$$ • 3000 N. Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach• (843) 448-7181, (800) 845-0883

Oceanfront suites in the tower sleep extra guests in the living room, and oceanfront and oceanview rooms and two- or three-bedroom condominiums with kitchen, living and dining room, and washer and dryer are available. The complex has 278 units. Golf packages are available on any area course including the private Dunes Club. The breakfast included with your golf package will give you the real flavor of a local Myrtle Beach favorite--the Sea Captain's House next door.

Amenities include indoor and outdoor pools, whirlpools and a Lazy River, which is covered during cooler months. Non-golfing family members hang out at the pool or roam a few blocks to the mall.

Coral Beach Resort Hotel
$$$ • 1105 S. Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach• (843) 448-8421, (800)843-2684

Have you ever taken a group to the beach only to encounter an unusually rainy week with nothing to do outdoors? If so, consider staying at the Coral Beach Resort Hotel. Of course, it never rains on the golf course, but sometimes it rains on the kids' pool parties. This quality hotel with 301 units has a bowling alley on the sixth floor, arcade games and a regular entertainment center of its own. It also caters to golf groups, as you'll surmise from the memorabilia adorning its version of the 19th hole plus the indoor putting green and indoor driving range. Golfers who take advantage of the package deal with area courses are invited to complimentary cocktail parties during the season.

The oceanfront suites sleep three golfers or a family of six. Suites and efficiencies include a kitchen with refrigerator, range, microwave, toaster and utensils, and suites feature living and dining areas as well. Suites are oceanfront, and rooms and efficiencies are oceanview, all with private balconies. Amenities include a general store and gift shop, the Atlantis restaurant, a lounge, two snack bars and a pool bar, three indoor whirlpools, two heated outdoor pools, a steamroom and saunas, an exercise room and suntan beds.

Dunes Village
$$ • 5200 N. Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach• (843) 449-5275, (800) 648-3539

The Dunes Village has the feel of a small family resort where everyone knows your name. Catering to golfers and booking packages on any area course including the private Dunes Club, this oceanfront resort offers an attractive year-round pool and tennis courts and is a nice spot for the whole family to enjoy. All 93 rooms are oceanfront with private balconies. The hotel recently completed a renovation project.

The breakfast here is legendary, and many guests return to this same home-at-the-beach year after year.

Fore-Travel
• (800) 800-1103

Focusing on golf packages, Fore-Travel offers room-and-golf deals starting at $79 per person per night. With a handful of accommodations and more than 30 courses to choose from, Fore-Travel can set up golfers of all ages and abilities with appropriate rooms and courses. Carts and taxes are included in all quoted rates. Check them out on the Web at www.fore-travel.com.

Kingston Plantation
$$$$$ • 9800 Lake Dr., Myrtle Beach• (843) 449-0006

This is one of the classiest resorts around, changing in early 1998 from a Radisson Resort to an Embassy Suites, if you want to splurge on a luxury oceanfront suite and spend some time. Also two- or three-bedroom oceanview condominiums or lakeside villas of one, two or three bedrooms are practical if you're only here for golf. Golf packages get guests on many of the top-rated Grand Strand courses. Be sure to enjoy the oceanfront pool and bar plus the fine dining, especially the weekend dinner buffet. The Swan Sea Conference Center is a convenient site for meetings and reunions. Tennis and racquetball courts, an indoor pool, sauna, whirlpool and health club also are on the property. The Arcadian Shores Golf Course is across the street, and many nightspots are an easy drive from this property.

Myrtle Beach Martinique
$$$ • 7100 N. Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach• (843) 449-4441, (800) 542-0048

One of Myrtle Beach's nicest oceanfront hotels, with 203 units and exceptional attention to quality service, the Martinique splashes its tropical colors and hospitality across just about any size room, efficiency or suite. An indoor pool, oceanfront pool, whirlpool, exercise room, sauna and meeting and convention facilities are available.

The on-site Cafe du Port serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the Banana Boat lounge is a popular afternoon and evening spot for socializing. This accommodation is convenient to golf courses, and the staff will book tee times on any area course for guests taking advantage of golf packages.

Ocean Creek
$$$$ • 10600 N. Kings. Hwy., Myrtle Beach • (843) 448-8446, (800) 443-7050

Choose the towers on the oceanfront, or take a short walk back to a villa on the 57-acre resort that welcomes golfers. The variety includes 400 studios plus one-, two- and three-bedroom condominiums.

The Four Seasons restaurant features a buffet breakfast and full-service dining plus banquets or receptions for private groups. A putting green is on site. The knowledgeable and friendly golf department will book packages with any area courses you choose. Seven pools include an indoor pool and whirlpool. A tennis complex and beach club with oceanfront pool also are available. The freshwater creek running through the property provides a unique change of scene for the golfer who doesn't prefer the ocean.

The family that doesn't golf can scoot across U.S. Highway 17 to spend a day at Barefoot Landing and Alligator Adventure, an award-winning entertainment, shopping and dining complex where the new House of Blues also is found.

Ocean Dunes/Sand Dunes Resort
$$$ • 201 74th Ave. N., Myrtle Beach• (843) 449-7441

This oceanfront resort caters to golfers--it's convenient to any golf course. Packages are booked on any area course plus the exclusive private Dunes Club and Pawleys Plantation. More than 500 rooms, suites, efficiencies, villas and penthouses are available. All have private balcony, refrigerator, in-room movies, cable TV and private safe. Microwaves are available in suites and efficiencies.

The oceanfront Brass Anchor seafood restaurant and lounge offers live entertainment, and the Dolphin pool bar is oceanfront as well. A fitness center, indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna, whirlpools, a beauty salon and massage therapy round out the amenities.

Sands Ocean Club Resort
$$ • 9550 Shore Dr., Myrtle Beach• (843) 449-6461, (800) 845-2202

Suites or efficiencies in this oceanfront resort hotel are convenient to all major golf courses. Golfers are welcomed at a weekly reception and clinic. Exclusive play on Sands' Pawleys Plantation is a treat for guests here. Each of the 459 units has a private balcony, refrigerator, in-room movies, cable TV and a kitchen with microwave. A poolside cafe, oceanfront restaurant and indoor and outdoor pools are available. A Lazy River, health club, gift shop, convenience store, covered parking and rain insurance round out the amenities.

The area is popular during summer when Sandals lounge and the neighboring Ocean Annie's Beach Bar offer live music, and lots of fun folks dance away the days and nights here. Sands Ocean Club is an easy walk to a few shops. And during November, slip across the footbridge to the Dunes Club for the Energizer Senior Tour Championship. Early reservations are recommended for packages that include tickets to the tournament.

Sea Mist Oceanfront Resort
$$ • 1200 S. Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach• (843) 448-1551, (800) SEA-MIST

Sea Mist is one of the largest oceanfront resorts (with 824 units) that caters to golfers, with customized packages for twosomes or large groups. Perfect for families too, this resort offers supervised and structured summer programs for children.

Accommodations for any size group or family vacation include single rooms, suites, multi-bed apartments and a lacy and romantic honeymoon suite with a red heart-shape Jacuzzi. Eleven pools (two indoor), a Jacuzzi, sauna, steamroom, lounge, cafe and ice cream parlor are on site. Discount theater tickets and limousine service round out the amenities. The Family Kingdom amusement park is nearby, and many other activities are within walking distance.

Sheraton Myrtle Beach Hotel
$$$$$ • 2701 S. Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach• (843) 448-2518, (800) 992-1055

The Sheraton is one of the nice spots to find a room, efficiency or suite. All of the 219 units have refrigerator, coffee maker, in-room movies, cable TV, plus microwave in suites and efficiencies. Golfers and their families will enjoy indoor and outdoor pools, whirlpool, health club, sauna, gift shop and good food and drink in a welcoming setting in Kokomo's beach bar or oceanfront restaurant and lounge. Golf packages booked on any area course include a weekly reception.

Swamp Fox Ocean Resort
$$ • 2311 S. Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach• (843) 448-8373, (800) 228-9894

The Swamp Fox boasts more oceanfront footage than most hotels. A quality and experienced golf department will help you book any package, even on the private Dunes Club, and can include theater tickets if desired. Cocktail receptions for golfers are offered weekly during golf season.

Choose from 377 units, which includes efficiencies or suites in the tower or rooms in the motel. Take a group and enjoy a penthouse with plenty of space, cooking and dining facilities plus an outstanding view. Little ones will enjoy the Lazy River, and everyone will be pleased with indoor and outdoor pools, Jacuzzis, saunas and the adjoining Gabriel's Restaurant.

Litchfield Beach and Golf Resort
$$$$$ • U.S. Hwy. 17 S., Pawleys Island• (843) 237-3000, (800) 845-1897

If you or someone in your party plays tennis or racquetball, wants to find a spa and health club or simply wants to retreat from the busy resort area to the quiet marshes of the South Strand, this is the place for you. Everything you might need is here, with 96 units surrounded by Litchfield Country Club, River Club and Willbrook Plantation Golf Club; plus the resort offers booking on all of the area's other courses. The restaurant is great, entertainment is nearby, and specialty shops are easily accessible. Oceanview, marshview and fairway villas are available. At Litchfield, you could completely miss Myrtle Beach and still have the vacation of a lifetime.