Just back home a couple of hours ago from a week at Myrtle, and saw this thread. Myrtle get killed on GCA often, and I consider it to be grossly unfair. It has always smacked of serious elitism to me, because the architecture just isn't bad. I think the clientele here often forgets that it is coastal golf in the SE, which means that the climate prevents a lot of the elements of design that are so prized on this site. For instance, "firm and fast" simply isn't a real possibility much of the year.
However, every year I play courses at MB that would be considered very good if they were located elsewhere, but are considered mundane in the volume of MB golf. Dan Maples' design, The Witch, is a good example. It is a fine track, enjoyable for all levels of golfers, and pretty to boot, but doesn't stand out there. If the exact same course was here in Atlanta, it would be highly regarded and considered to be a very solid course, whether public or private. Tom Jackson is another GCA whose work at MB is extensive, but overlooked, IMHO. But I digress...
My thoughts on courses:
1. If Caledonia has reopened, the 36-hole, 1-day double with True Blue is the best deal at the beach. Both are wonderful, totally different, and right across the street from each other.
Regardless of where you are staying, make the effort to get there.
2. Heathland is well worth the time; played for the second and third time there this trip, and I like it more each time. Skip the Moorlands; it's dopey. Haven't played the Parkland course. (I just read the item about Strantz working there that Tom Doak mentions here in a tribute piece to Strantz in one of the local papers, and I'll be sure to hit Parkland next year.)
3. On the north end, Thistle is a good golf course, and Tiger's Eye at Ocean Ridge Plantation is worth the effort. I also like River's Edge in Shallote, NC a lot; get there if you can. I like Heather Glen and Glen Dornoch both, but they are second tier to the courses mentioned above. Oyster Bay is good, and is part of the Legends group, so multi-round packages are available.
4. I enjoyed the Love course at Barefoot, the only one of the 4 courses there that I have played. It is not as good as DLIII's course at Kinderlou, but still a solid golf course, and the 16th hole is one of the best par 4's I have ever played. Absolutely a wonderful hole.
My budget is always limited, so I've haven't hit the Dunes yet. It is always over $100, even in the summer when everybody else is cutting deals, and I just can't take the weight in a week where I play everyday. Someday...
Enjoy the trip, and enjoy the golf. There is excellent golf to be had at MB, and lots of it, regardless of what some here will say.