Lost Mine Mini Golf to Become Myrtle Beach Restaurant

Posted Friday, October 23, 2026 8:15 am

David Hucks (via MyrtleBeachSC)

The gold rush–themed course beside Anderson Ocean Club could give way to an oceanfront restaurant of up to 6,000 square feet. Visitors still get at least one more summer to play it.

If a round at Lost Mine Miniature Golf is part of your family’s Myrtle Beach routine, the clock has started. The owner of the course at 2601 N. Ocean Blvd. wants to replace it with a Myrtle Beach Restaurant, according to plans presented to the city’s Planning Commission on Oct. 20th.

The proposal comes from developer Steve Ghidella, who bought the neighboring Magnolia’s at 26th buffet earlier this year and closed it in September. Together, the two moves would remake a whole stretch of Ocean Boulevard around 26th Avenue North. A two-decade-old country-cooking buffet and a classic putt-putt course would give way to something newer and, presumably, more profitable.

For visitors, this is less a real estate story than a story about timing. Lost Mine is not closing right away, the restaurant’s concept is still under wraps, and city planners have open questions. Here is what is known, what is not, and what the change says about the beach you keep coming back to.

Exciting New Myrtle Beach Restaurant Coming Soon

What the developer wants to build

David Victoria of the Victoria Company pitched the project to the Planning Commission and asked for up to three years to finish it [Post and Courier, 2026]. He told commissioners the work would more likely take about two years, and that the extra cushion reflects how slowly projects move through approvals these days. He also described an owner in a hurry, saying Ghidella “wants it done yesterday”.

The design shows a building of up to 6,000 square feet, with porches on both sides that would offer partial ocean views. What the restaurant will serve, and what it will be called, was not revealed at the meeting.

That gap matters. On Ocean Boulevard, the concept usually decides whether a place becomes a vacation tradition or a one-season experiment. The developer’s other restaurants offer some clues, covered below.

The course itself will be familiar to anyone who has played it. Visit Myrtle Beach describes 18 holes that wind past a quarry and an old mill, over bridges, through corkscrews and around boulders [Visit Myrtle Beach, 2025]. The tourism bureau’s guide to resorts with mini golf also lists a concession stand for drinks and ice cream, free daytime play for Anderson Ocean Club guests before 7 p.m., and a regular price of $9 a game [Visit Myrtle Beach, 2025].

To understand why a putt-putt course would become a restaurant, though, you have to start next door.

The Magnolia’s connection

Magnolia's Restaurant Myrtle Beach — Historic Myrtle Beach Restaurant closed. Now a new one is coming across the street.

The mini golf plan is the second chapter of a bigger shuffle on this block. Ghidella bought Magnolia’s at 26th in January 2026 and ran it until September. The restaurant at 2605 N. Ocean Blvd. locked its doors Sept. 9 with only a taped note citing renovations and promising reopening news in early spring.

For many repeat visitors, that note was the first sign something was changing. Magnolia’s opened more than 20 years ago as part of the Anderson Inn. It served three meals a day from a sprawling buffet of hot and cold dishes, salads and desserts, next to a small conference center [Post and Courier, 2026]. A WMBF food segment once highlighted how the Southern comfort menu rotated by day of the week [WMBF, 2022].

The plans for that building have since shifted. A beachwear store had already won approval from the city’s Community Appearance Board, but Ghidella told the Post and Courier the idea depended on a prospective tenant and is now on hold. He said he intends to leave the former restaurant empty for now, since operating beside a construction site is difficult, and focus on the new restaurant instead.

Ghidella had earlier bought Lost Mine and Beach Bummz Cafe from the Anderson family [Post and Courier, 2026]. That is how one owner came to control the course, the buffet building and the parking lot between them.

Owning the land is one thing. Getting the city to approve what goes on it is another.

The sticking points: height and parking

Commissioners zeroed in on two issues: how tall the building would be and where its customers would park [Post and Courier, 2026].

The height gap is large. The property is zoned for a 25-foot maximum, yet the developers asked for up to 60 feet to allow for future expansion, while saying the building would actually top out around 40 feet [Post and Courier, 2026]. Even that lower figure is 15 feet above what the zoning permits today.

Parking is the issue any summer visitor will recognize. The plan adds only 10 on-site spaces and would rely on the neighboring parking garage and the old Magnolia’s lot, the same setup the mini golf course used [Post and Courier, 2026]. Our take: a sit-down restaurant with ocean views is likely to hold cars longer than a quick round of putt-putt, especially at dinner in July. Whether shared parking that worked for one use can handle the other is a fair question for the city to press.

The Post and Courier’s account did not report a final vote, so the project’s approval status is still an open question. The Oct. 20 meeting video is linked under Further Reading for anyone who wants to watch the discussion.

Those local details sit inside a bigger pattern on the oceanfront.

What this says about the Mini Golf Capital

Myrtle Beach takes its mini golf seriously. The tourism bureau dates the area’s first course to 1930 and counts more than 30 today, enough to claim the title of Mini Golf Capital of the World [Visit Myrtle Beach, 2026]. It even offers a free digital Mini Golf Trail pass that rewards visitors for playing different courses [Visit Myrtle Beach, 2026].

So why let one go? Our read is that on the oceanfront, land value tends to beat nostalgia. A $9 round on a seasonal schedule earns far less per square foot than a restaurant selling lunch, dinner and drinks with a view. Ghidella and partner Arez Sukarchi already run the three-story RipTydz Oceanfront Grille & Rooftop Bar at 1210 N. Ocean Blvd. and the Beach House Bar & Grill at 1205 N. Ocean Blvd., about a mile south. Their bet appears to be that the upper boulevard can support the same view-driven dining.

Lost Mine was also never a headliner. One local family guide described it as a small course with short holes, best suited to people already staying on the boulevard, and did not rank it a top pick [Moms of Myrtle, 2025]. Yelp reviewers give it an average of 2.7 stars [Yelp, 2026].

Meanwhile, the newest putt-putt in town is moving the other way, adding food instead of losing ground to it. PopStroke at Broadway at the Beach pairs two 18-hole courses with a rooftop sports bar and a family restaurant [Visit Myrtle Beach, 2026]. The lesson for the Grand Strand may be that mini golf thrives when it is bundled with dining, and struggles as a stand-alone lot on prime land.

The boulevard has run this cycle before, in reverse. In 2012, the historic Chesterfield Inn near the boardwalk was torn down to make room for a mini golf course and restaurant [Wikipedia, 2026]. Beachfront parcels here tend to change purpose with each generation of visitors.

So what does all this mean if you are planning a trip?

What’s next

You can still play Lost Mine. Ghidella said he plans to wait until after the 2027 season to clear the course [Post and Courier, 2026]. It runs on a seasonal schedule, so check hours before you go [Moms of Myrtle, 2025].

The restaurant is years away. With a two-to-three-year build window and zoning questions unresolved, our estimate is an opening no earlier than 2028, based on the timeline Victoria gave the city [Post and Courier, 2026]. Watch for the restaurant’s name and concept, and for a ruling on the height request.

The old Magnolia’s will sit empty for now. Ghidella said he would rather leave the building vacant during construction next door.

Magnolia’s fans have a new address. Former owner Bobby Anderson is building Magnolia’s Cafe at 6017 U.S. Highway 701 in Conway, using produce from his family’s Anderson Farms. It will serve a meat-and-three menu rather than a buffet, and no opening date has been set.

The project still has to clear city review. Myrtle Beach News will follow it as it returns to city boards.