Whether you’re a native South Carolinian, a transplant to the Palmetto State or one of the hundreds of thousands of golfers who have picked South Carolina for annual family vacations or “buddy trips” over the years, South Carolina Golf is a book you’re going to want to add to your golf library.
Writers Tommy Braswell and Bob Gillespie have been covering golf in South Carolina–and beyond–since the ‘70s for the Charleston News and Courier and The State newspaper in Columbia, respectively. And while both talented writers covered a broad spectrum of sports throughout their award-winning careers, both primarily manned the golf beat, and in that role enjoyed an “insider’s” relationship with the people, places and events that shaped golf over their tenures.
In the book, they share their knowledge and experiences in a fast-paced, enjoyable read that packs 19 chapters and probably three or four times that many sub-chapters into 200 pages.
As one would expect, there are chapters devoted to the explosion of major championship golf in South Carolina, including the 1991 Ryder Cup Matches and 2012 PGA at Kiawah’s Ocean Course and the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 2019 U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston. But it’s the stories behind these events that make Braswell and Gillespie’s writing so interesting.
Any real golf fan knows the players or teams that won these events, but when you read South Carolina Golf, you pick up the insider tidbits behind the bigger stories. For instance, everyone knows the outcome of the ’91 Ryder Cup, Bernhard Langer’s agonizing miss–the last shot on the last hole of the last day’s last match–that gave the American team the victory.
But did you know that, according to the book, the late architect Pete Dye blamed a “misplaced survey stake by a government entity” for the huge expanse that separates the front and back nines at The Ocean Course? Or did you know what was really said during the animated give-and-take between American Paul Azinger and Spain’s (and Europe’s) Seve Ballesteros during the Friday foursomes match–that included teammates Chip Beck and José Maria Olazábal, respectively–that set the tone for the overall “War by the Shore?”
You will when you read the book.
But the book is more than majors, much more.
Enjoy golf history? You’ll get into the chapter about the game’s earliest roots in America that details the importing of clubs and balls to Charleston as early as 1739 and the founding of the nation’s first golf club in 1789. Not that the South Carolina Golf Club had a clubhouse, unless you count William’s Coffee House, or even a formal golf course, but those are details you’ll learn in the book.
You’ll also learn about the historic Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken. Dating to 1892, Palmetto is the state’s oldest golf club and the second oldest club in America occupying its original site, bowing only to Chicago Golf Club for the honor. And while you’re in the area, read about the quaint (read short, as the back tees measure less than 6,000 yards) yet thoroughly challenging Aiken Golf Club, just a DeChambeau drive from Palmetto. The testing track has been lauded in publications from Sports Illustrated and Golfweek to the website your are reading now.
There are stories about the people behind the game, those responsible for the enormous growth and popularity of golf in South Carolina. Foremost among those are Jimmy D’Angelo and Happ Lathrop. A stylish and personable pro from Philadelphia, D’Angelo came to Myrtle Beach in its golf infancy and help the Grand Strand lay claim to the title of “Golf Capital of the World.”
When the “smooth-talking, sharp-dressing, engaging club professional” arrived in Myrtle Beach in the 1950s, you could count the area’s golf courses on one hand, with a few fingers left over. When he died in May 2005, at the age of 90, it boasted more than 100 courses, and much of the growth was due to D’Angelo’s never-ending promotional efforts.
And while D’Angelo focused on the growth of golf along the Grand Strand, Lathrop was busy growing the game statewide as executive director of the S.C. Golf Association, a position he defined for more than 40 years. The junior golf program Lathrop envisioned and started in 1990 was, in 2009, named the No. 1 junior golf initiative in America by Golf Digest.
As the chapters unfold, you’ll read about professionals, including Henry Picard, Beth Daniel and Jay Haas; about architects, including the late Mike Strantz, whom Golfweek named as one of the top 10 architects of all time despite having his career cut short by cancer, which claimed his life at age 50; and about South Carolina-bred broadcasting personalities, including Jennifer Mills, Kelly Tilghman and the witty Charlie Rymer.
Pages are devoted to the great teachers and amateurs the state has produced, to college teams that have brought national championships back to the Palmetto State, to minority golfers who broke down barriers in pursuit of the game they loved and to developers who built resorts around courses of such quality as to earn international acclaim for golf in South Carolina.
Yes, the book focuses on a finite area, geographically. But it is devoted to a game loved by devotees around the world. For that reason, South Carolina Golf is for more just South Carolinians; it’s for anyone who loves the game.
South Carolina Golf retails for $21.99 and is available through History Press (www.arcadiapublishing.com), Barnes & Noble online (www.barnesandnoble.com) and Amazon (www.amazon.com) . Copies are also in stock at some area Barnes & Noble book stores.