Monday, Jul. 13, 2009

Hooters Tour plans launch of Winter Series on Strand

Encouraged by the increased participation in their Carolina Series, executives of the North Myrtle Beach-based NGA Hooters Tour are starting a winter tour on the Grand Strand.

The Hooters Winter Carolina Series will feature 12 events from November through February. The entire schedule is expected to be released later this month, but every 54-hole event is expected to be held in Horry, Georgetown or Brunswick (N.C.) counties.

The 14-event original Carolina Series is in the midst of a four-event swing through the Strand, and participation in the is up approximately 40 percent. The season's first event on the Strand last week at Black Bear Golf Club had 54 players.

"We've discussed organizing a winter series around the Grand Strand area for the past few years," said Hooters Tour President Robin Waters. "With our playing fields almost doubling this season in our Carolinas series we felt the time was right to expand."

The Winter Carolina Series will be patterned after the original Carolina Series and successful Bridgestone Central Florida Winter Series, which features 132-player fields in 54-hole events with 36-hole cuts and average purses of $85,000. Tour executives are hoping to build up to that level in the Carolinas in the next few years.

The Winter Carolina Series membership fee is $600 and tournament entry fees are $500 for members and $700 for non-members. Tournaments will have a 36-hole cut to the top 33 percent of scores and ties, and purses in full-field events of 132 players will be an estimated $50,000. The top five on the series-ending money list will earn exempt status on the 2010 Hooters Tour.

The Hooters Tour is the third largest men's 72-hole pro golf tour in the country and stages 18 $200,000 events, predominantly in the Southeast and Midwest from March through September. The winter series will differ from the regular Hooters Tour in that tournaments are 54 holes instead of 72 and players ride in carts instead of walk.

More information is available at www.hooterstour.com or by calling 1-800-992-8748.

Shaftesbury, Taylor honored

The Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association has named Shaftesbury Glen Golf & Fish Club the 2009 Golf Course of the Year, and Founders Club of Pawleys Island general manager Rick Taylor the Employee of the Year.

They were selected during a meeting Thursday of the MBAGCOA members and both will advance as candidates for state honors, which will be determined when the board of the South Carolina Golf Course Owners Association meets on Aug. 11.

Taylor joined Classic Golf Group, which operates Founders Club, in 1993. Before moving to Founders Club, he helped Burning Ridge Golf Club earn the 2006 Myrtle Beach Golf Course of the Year and the South Carolina Golf Course of the Year honors as the facility's general manager. He has also played an integral role in promoting The First Tee of Myrtle Beach and hosting junior golf clinics.

Classic Golf Group general manager Tommy Smothers said Taylor approaches his job with "enthusiasm, humor, integrity and a strong work ethic."

Courses are evaluated on course conditions, quality of ownership and management, contributions to the community and efforts to improve the growth of the game.

Shaftesbury Glen has had continuity in management with Ryan McCarty the head pro since 2003 and David Kingsland the superintendent since 2000.

Owners Paul Himmelsbach, Jack Himmelsbach and Paul Arnsdorf are behind the creation of both On the Green magazine and the World Amateur Handicap Championship, and have been committed to giving back to the community by hosting rounds of tournaments such as the National Law Enforcement Memorial Tournament, National Father & Son Team Classic, Palmetto High School Championship and Martin's PGA Tour Superstore World Amateur Handicap Championship.

The course also hosts the Kids Play Free with a paying adult program year round and the Conway Recreation Department's three-month golf program, and is the host course for Conway High varsity and junior varsity teams. Course events contribute to several charities including the Conway Medical Center, Make-A-Wish Foundation, American Red Cross, National Kidney Foundation and Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Strand Tour back on

The Grand Strand Pro Golf Tour has regrouped and has released a truncated summer schedule that begins today and concludes in September. The tour announced in May, after it had staged seven of 14 scheduled events in the Winter/Spring Series, that it was taking a hiatus because of insufficient players and sponsors.

But Steve Clark, founder and one of three tour owners, said Beef O'Brady's and possibly another sponsor have stepped up.

"We have had some success obtaining some sponsorship money," Clark said. "That's going to help build the purses as well [as keep the tour alive]."

Entry fees have been reduced from $390 to $300 for the two-day events and from $175 to $150 for the one-day events. Today's event at Myrtle Beach National's King's North course is a one-day event that costs $75 for amateurs. Starting times begin at 8:05 a.m. There are eight more events through Sept. 17.

The tour was scheduled to have 35 tournaments through September in its fourth season in 2009.

The tour's owners have attempted to avoid conflicting dates with any other mini tours in the region, including the Carolina Coast Tour, which was started by Grand Strand Tour part-owner Will Schatz and has three events remaining this summer.

More information is available by visiting www.gsprogolf.com or calling Steve Clark at 843-457-9709.

Mini-golf going global

The Myrtle Beach man behind the $7,500 U.S. Mini Golf Open in Chicago today and Sunday, and the Minigolf Masters National Championship Oct. 15-17 in North Myrtle Beach is trying to help mini-golf grow globally.

Bob Detwiler, president of the U.S. Pro Mini Golf Association, recently became invested in one of the first miniature golf courses in China: Haigeng Mini Golf Park. The $500,000 complex includes two 18-hole courses, a restaurant, tiki bar and mini golf teaching facilities. It has waterfalls, bubbling brooks and a 15-foot-high man-made cave. Detwiler sanctioned and was recently in attendance at the first China Mini Golf Open at the park.

Miniature golf has been nearly non-existent in China, and both Detwiler and North Carolina business man Ed Knapp believe there's untapped potential there. Knapp is the developer and manager of the Haigeng park, which opened in November. It is the first of eight that he plans to build and says have been approved by the provincial government in Yunnan.

Detwiler said the U.S. Mini Golf Open will receive attention on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and WGN out of Chicago.