Posted 9-21-07
 Arnold Palmer, Gary Schaal and Tom Jackson were inducted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in Pinehurst , N.C., in June. The trio was elected from a pool of nominations by members of the Carolinas Golf Reporters Association. This year's induction ceremonies came in the week of the U.S. Women's Open Championship at nearby Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club.
Sincere thanks to everybody at Pinehurst Resort for outstanding hospitality once again. Guests at the induction ceremonies included representatives from all major golf industry groups in the Carolinas as well as USGA executive director, David Fay; PGA of America past president, Will Mann; and Golf Course Superintendents Association of America vice-president, David Downing, CGCS.
The Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame inducted its first members in 1981. This year's inductions lifted the total number in the Hall of Fame to 63. Brief biographies of the most recent members follow.
Arnold Palmer
A Pennsylvania native son of a greenkeeper, Palmer arrived in North Carolina at what was then Wake Forest College in 1947. From then to 1954, taking several years out for national service, he won two NCAA championships and the very first ACC championship. Today Wake Forest University recognizes Palmer's contribution with an award in his name to the male student athlete of the year.
Throughout his life, Palmer has maintained strong ties to Wake Forest , serving on its board of trustees from 1983 to 1986, 1988 to 1991 and 1993 to 1997. He was a tri-chair of the university's Heritage and Promise Capital Campaign, which raised more than $170 million for the university in the early 1990s. He was elected a lifetime trustee of the university in 1997. Palmer endowed Wake Forest with its first golf scholarship in 1960 in honor of his close friend and teammate Marvin "Buddy" Worsham, who died in a car accident in 1950.
Palmer is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, PGA Hall of Fame, American Golf Hall of Fame, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, among others. His 96 professional career titles include 62 on the PGA Tour and 10 on the Champions Tour. He won the Masters four times in 50 appearances, the British Open twice and the U.S. Open once. He finished second three times in the PGA Championship. He captained the victorious 1963 U.S. Ryder Cup team. His victories also include the first PGA Tour event held at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, putting the golf course, the tournament and the island on the golfing map. His golf course design business is responsible for more than 300 courses worldwide, including 11 in NC and five in SC.
Gary Schaal
A member of the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame and a 1995 inductee into the Carolinas PGA Hall of Fame, Gary Schaal, of Murrell's Inlet, SC has been a leader in South Carolina's golf industry for more than 30 years. In 1973, he completed his tour in the U.S. Air Force, being honorably discharged as captain before becoming an assistant PGA professional at Myrtle Beach National Golf Club. He became a full Carolinas Section PGA member in 1976, and won the section's PGA Golf Professional of the Year Award in 1985, and the section's Horton Smith Award in 1978 and 1980.
In 1988, Schaal was elected as national secretary of The PGA of America. Two years later, he would ascend to PGA vice-president and in 1992 became PGA president. During his presidency he was instrumental in launching programs to enhance PGA professional careers through merchandising, employment assessment and lifelong learning programs. He also steered the debut of PGA 2000, which served as the blueprint for The PGA of America's action plan to lead the association into the new millennium.
Schaal was instrumental in founding the Professional Golf Management Program at Coastal Carolina Univeristy, in bringing the Champions Tour to the Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach and in building the TPC at Myrtle Beach . The former head professional at Pine Lakes International is an owner/operator of Deer Track Golf Resort and part owner of Wicked Stick, Indigo Creek and Diamond Back in the Myrtle Beach area.
In November last year, Schaal became the 12th person recognized in the "Legends of The PGA" program in a ceremony at Kiawah. Also in 2006 he was named "2006 Father of the Year" by the executive tournament committee of The National Father & Son Team Classic
Tom Jackson Tom Jackson, from Taylors , SC has been actively designing and building golf course since 1965. Prior to starting his own firm in 1971, he worked for two of the country's leading golf course architects, Robert Trent Jones and George Cobb. During the past 33 years, has been involved with well over 100 golf course projects, the majority being located in the Southeast. These projects include private and semi-private courses, resort courses and public courses, of which seven have been done for various government agencies.
His Cliffs at Glassy golf course, north of Greenville , SC opened in 1992 and Golf Digest named the course "Fourth Most Beautiful In The Nation." The Cliffs at Glassy was the first course in the now nationally renowned Cliffs stable that has transformed the Upstate's reputation as a high-end residential golf haven.
He also designed the course at Prestonwood Country Cub in Cary , NC that hosted the SAS Championship on what was then the Senior Tour. Other notable layouts of his in the Carolinas include Mount Vintage Plantation in North Augusta , rated by the late, great Byron Nelson as a “magnificent layout.”
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