The most important component of a course, from a golfer’s perspective, are its greens.

You can cover the first 375 yards in two shots, but sometimes the challenge is just beginning when you arrive at the putting surface, and players love it.

With 90 courses, Myrtle Beach features nearly every type of green imaginable, and here five layouts with some of the largest, most knee-knocking putting surfaces along the Grand Strand.

— Walking the greens at Heritage Club  (pictured above) is akin to following roller coaster tracks. Architect Dan Maples buried entire families of elephants at one of his finest designs and it works. If you keep putting stats, don’t expect to “career it” at Heritage, but you will love the challenge. Heritage has been ranked as high as No. 33 on Golf Digest’s list of “America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses,” and its greens are one of the primary reasons why.

— Everything at True Blue is big – the fairways, the waste bunkers, and most certainly the greens. The layout doesn’t have a putting surface with less than 30 yards of depth, and the longest of them all awaits on True Blue’s 18th hole, which measures a gargantuan 54 yards from beginning to end. The size of the greens contribute mightily to the quality of the layout, providing the course superintendent with tremendous flexibility. For example, the par 3 seventh hole is among the layout’s easiest when the flag is located at the bottom of a three-tiered green. Move it to the top of the 45-yard putting surface and it becomes a bear.

— If there is a course with bigger greens than True Blue, it might be Grande Dunes Resort Club. The top 100 caliber design with five holes that play along the Intracoastal Waterway is among the area’s finest and the greens complexes are one of its primary attractions. The par 3 14th is the course’s most recognizable. Located along the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway, the 14th green is large but the water is daunting and merely hitting the putting surface isn’t a guarantee of par.

— Legends Resort is one of the area’s most popular multi-course facilities, and the greens on the Heathland Course certainly contribute to its appeal. The Tom Doak design features large greens, including the 17th, which offers the possibility of a 162-foot putt. The undulation isn’t as severe as Heritage, but you better be a good lag putter.

— The Wizard prides itself on being a links-style design and like the layouts in Scotland that served as an inspiration, it features large, accessible putting surfaces. The smallest green at The Wizard exceeds 10,000 square feet but they are flatter than the other courses on the list, so your chances of rolling in a long are greater.