By: Emerson Hodell Dyer '04

It's a clear day in October, the kind that people move to the coast of South Carolina from other parts of the country to experience. There aren't any empty spaces in the Quail Creek parking lot a few hundred yards down University Drive from campus. Groups are waiting in line on the adjacent putting green to tee off as an assortment of students, alumni, local residents and tourists make their way through the pro shop. Dead limbs are being removed from trees along the cart path.

A middle-aged woman walks through the shop as her group has stopped between nines. "There's a lot going on at this course," she says in astonishment.

She probably doesn't know how right she is. On July 1, 2005, Coastal Carolina University took over the operational duties of Quail Creek Golf Club, an event that will bring significant changes to the course and to Coastal's growing Professional Golf Management (PGM) program.

It's all part of a five-year lease agreement with Glenmark Holding LLC, which recently purchased the property. The course, now officially called Quail Creek at Coastal Carolina University, will continue to serve the community as a public golf club, but more importantly will serve as a living laboratory for students at both Coastal Carolina and Horry Georgetown Technical College. Coastal PGM students will staff the course, overseeing pro shop operations, food and beverage sales, scheduling tee times and managing special golf events. For HGTC students, the course will be a laboratory where they will receive hands-on instruction in the areas of turf grass management, soils, equipment utilization, irrigation design and repair, and other essential functions involved in the maintenance of golf courses.

Quail Creek's pro shop carries a wide array of Coastal attire and gear.

One of 17 PGA of America-accredited programs in the nation, Coastal's PGM program entails a four-and-a-half year curriculum that prepares students for careers in the golf industry through academic study, internship experience and player development. Requirements for graduation from the program include passing the Playing Ability Test, completion of 16 months of internships, mastering the PGA's three-level PGM Education Program, and, of course, completion of CCU's academic curriculum.

Prior to the Quail Creek agreement, Coastal was one of the few PGA-accredited programs without its own golf course.

Travis Smither, a junior from Kenosha, Wis., is standing behind the counter in a teal golf shirt that bears the Chanticleer mascot. Smither is one of 10 PGM students employed by the course. He's answering a steady stream of phone calls, checking golfers in, selling practice range ball buckets and making change for customers.

"It's the golf business," he says. "You have to know how to multi-task. No two days are ever the same." Smither has worked in pro shops at Loch Lloyd Country Club in Kansas City, Mo., and Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in Lake Geneva, Wis.

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