CGRA March Newsletter
We were small in numbers but large in spirit and those of us who attended the Awards Dinner at Seabrook Island March 12-14 did our part of spreading harmony and sharing camaraderie with the South Carolina Golf Panel members who were kind enough to allow us to piggy-back on their annual get-together.
If you were among those who attended — and there’s a picture of most of us with this newsletter — you know what a great time we had and the two excellent courses we played at Seabrook.
This wasn’t one of those much desired freebies that golf reporters love so much, but as we all are award, those good old days are mainly history. Where did you go, R. J. Reynolds?
You can’t blame the golf courses as they’re struggling to stay afloat, although I have to admit that most of the courses I’ve played in the last few months certainly have had enough water to float almost anything.
But back to Seabrook. The older course at Seabrook is a terrific design by Willard Byrd and opened in 1973. It’s named Ocean Winds for obvious reasons and is one beautiful piece of landscape. If there’s a bad hole on the course, I missed it. But, hey, I missed a lot of the fairways and greens, too.
The other course is named Crooked Oaks, again for obvious reasons. It was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. in 1981 and is as good as most of his courses. Both of these layouts test the golfers, but use five sets of tees to allow everyone to play the length their games are suited best for.
The dinner was highlighted by a moving talk from Heidi Strantz, the widow of the golf architect Mike Strantz, who gave us such gems as Tobacco Road, Caledonia, True Blue, Tot Hill and Bull’s Bay among others. Heidi shared memories and some insight into the artistic make-up of one of the nation’s most gifted course designers. I would have driven the 200 miles just to have heard her.
As you‘re probably already aware, our awards were presented during this meeting and Elsa Bonstein won one for a beautiful photograph of a bobcat on the tee of a course, something you’re not likely going to see very often.
Actually, I did see a pair of baboons mating on a course in South Africa a few years ago, but that’s an animal of a different story. That was the same trip that the monkey came into our hotel room one day and ate everything he could find while we were out playing.
But back to the awards: Other winners were the legendary (No, not for his writing skills) Al Blondin of the Myrtle Beach Sun-News, who was a dual winner. Craig Distl picked up an award as did Trent Bouts. Neither of those three was there to pick up the plaques, though, and neither was Tom Horan for his radio show.
Me? I was there. Nobody is ever going to keep me from grabbing an award, whether it’s deserved or not. Heck, it was only few years ago that I took home an “air” trophy from Pine Needles after backing into our golf championship. Yeah, it was just air because somebody had lost the original trophy, but Reid Spencer did a great job of presenting it.
At the risk of hurting her feelings, I’m going to have to say something about our esteemed president at this point. Although she inherited the job in mid-term only a few months ago, Betsey Mitchell has been absolutely brilliant in getting our organization off life support. She brings an energy and passion to the post that was desperately needed to if we were to survive.
Working along with her husband, Dick, who has assumed the role of Executive Director, Betsey has revitalized the group, and with the help of some enthusiastic supporters such as Tom McAuliffe, deserves a standing ovation at our next get together.
McAuliffe did a fantastic job of getting the submitted entries judged and the plaques etched in record time to have them ready for the Seabrook outing. Just in case you weren’t one of the lucky ones who received a plaque, they’re engraved glass and make great trophy cabinet additions.
Our thanks go out to Seabrook Island and to the South Carolina Panel for helping make our outing special. Hopefully some things we’re working on in coordination with both the South Carolina Panel and the North Carolina Panel will come to fruition and make all three groups even stronger and more visible than they are now.
As of now, we’re going to get busy coming up with nominees for our Hall of Fame induction at Pinehurst in August. You’ll be hearing a lot more about that soon. And, just in case you want to be involved, I’m looking for three people to help me come up with a list of nominees. If you’re interested, shoot me an e-mail or a phone call. If you’re not interested, too bad. I may call on you anyway. Nobody’s safe.
So here’s to birdies and pars and no more lost golf balls. And Lord, please help Steve Williams make a few more birdies. Last count for the season I had him 17 to 4. I know he’s in agony.
Yours in golf,
Howard (Aitch) Ward
