Pawleys Island — Gated Golf on Former Rice Plantations, Dan Maples Courses
Willbrook Plantation and the Heritage communities are gated golf neighborhoods on the Waccamaw Neck near Pawleys Island, built on the grounds of former rice plantations. Both center on Dan Maples-designed courses — Willbrook from 1988 and the Heritage Club from 1986 — threading live oaks, freshwater lakes, and Waccamaw River marshland. They offer gated golf living and Lowcountry history at price points generally below the oceanfront estate enclaves.
Willbrook Plantation and Heritage are the rice-plantation golf addresses of the Waccamaw Neck. Both were built on land that grew rice in the 1700s and 1800s, and both preserve that history in their settings: towering live oaks draped in Spanish moss, freshwater lakes, and the marshland of the Waccamaw River. Rice was the cash crop of the Waccamaw Neck from the early 1700s into the late 1800s, worked across vast diked fields along the river, and the freshwater impoundments and earthen banks that remain in places shaped how these courses were later routed. That inheritance gives Willbrook and Heritage a maturity — in their trees, their water, and their layout — that a graded subdivision cannot replicate.
Willbrook Plantation centers on a Dan Maples course that opened in 1988, which the architect once called one of his best, meandering through Lowcountry marshland on the site of two former rice plantations. The Heritage Club, also a Dan Maples design, opened in 1986 on the former True Blue and Midway rice plantations across roughly 600 acres, with a Southern Colonial clubhouse backing up to the Waccamaw River wetlands. Together with the surrounding Litchfield neighborhoods, they form a band of gated golf communities along Highway 17 that opened within two years of each other in the mid-to-late 1980s, letting the neighborhoods around them mature into established, tree-lined enclaves.
The buyer profile spans golfers, second-home owners, active retirees, and full-time relocators who want gated golf living, Lowcountry history, and live-oak settings at a more attainable price than the oceanfront estates, while staying minutes from the Pawleys Island beach, the Hammock Shops Village, and Brookgreen Gardens.
Destination
Willbrook / Heritage (Q2 2026)
The Reserve golf
Dan Maples design, opened 1988
Reserve Harbor
Dan Maples design, opened 1986 (former True Blue & Midway rice plantations)
Litchfield Plantation avg list
Below the oceanfront estate enclaves of the Waccamaw Neck
Property types
Single-family golf-course and interior homes
Setting
Live oaks, freshwater lakes, Waccamaw River marsh
Pricing turns on golf-course frontage, lot, and home size and age, plus the specific gated neighborhood. Because the courses operate separately from the homeowners’ dues, the all-in cost is generally lower than a bundled country club. The gated and golf communities guide covers how to weigh these structures across the Strand.
Willbrook and Heritage are served by the Georgetown County School District, including:
These schools are among the top-rated public schools in Georgetown County. Families planning to relocate full-time should confirm school zoning for their specific property before purchasing.
Willbrook and Heritage each have an HOA that maintains the gated entrance, common areas, and community amenities. The golf courses operate separately, so golf memberships or daily-play fees are not included in HOA dues. Before buying, it’s important to review the HOA fees, amenity access, golf options, and any neighborhood-specific rules for the property you’re considering.
These communities appeal to the buyer who wants gated golf living and genuine Lowcountry history at a more attainable price than the oceanfront estates. What sets Willbrook and Heritage apart is the rice-plantation history written into the land itself — the oaks, the lakes, and the river wetlands — at a price below the oceanfront estate enclaves. Buyers comparing gated golf options often tour Willbrook and Heritage alongside the Jack Nicklaus course at Pawleys Plantation and the Greg Norman golf and marina at The Reserve before deciding.
Both were built on the grounds of former rice plantations that operated in the 1700s and 1800s. The Heritage Club occupies the former True Blue and Midway plantations, and the live oaks, freshwater lakes, and river wetlands that define the courses are part of that inheritance.
