A native of Dallas, NC, John Derr started his journalistic career as a high school correspondent for The Gastonia Gazette.  Later, John held sports editing jobs at Asheville and Greensboro before becoming a writer/electronic reporter under Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell during World War II.

After the war he joined CBS radio in New York and was there as CBS made the transition into television.  He was a member of the announcing team when the Masters Tournament was first telecast in 1956 and, since 1976, has directed the Masters Progress Report, as up-to-the-minute accounting of the tournament action that is available to newspapers, radio and television stations.

Derr was the first executive director of the World Golf Hall of Fame in Pinehurst, and later became president of the facility.  In 1976 he became executive director of the Carolinas PGA Section and helped that group enjoy a period of tremendous growth and prosperity.

John Derr was inducted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 1986.

John Gerring had an illustrious career in golf and was highly regarded as a  master club professional and as an outstanding teacher who worked with a number of touring pros as well as high handicap players.   A native of High Point, he is a Wake Forest graduate and played his freshman year on a team that included Arnold Palmer.  Gerring began his long list of honors by winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.  A member of the PGA Hall of Fame, he served a number of prestigious clubs including Biltmore Forest, Green Valley,  Greenville, SC, Peachtree and Bloomfield Hills.

The chance for an eleven-year-old to make 25 cents carrying a bag of golf clubs for nine holes doesn’t sound like much today. But for Johnny Bulla in 1925, it was the first of many opportunities that he turned into a Hall-of-Fame career.

From those humble beginnings in Burlington, Bulla went on to set a standard of great golf that was finally recognized earlier this year with his induction into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame.

Bullas father, a Quaker minister, moved the family from Asheboro to Burlington as young Johnny was starting grade school. After a few years kicking around Bigger Better Burlington, Bulla found out you could make some good money as a caddie at Burlington Country Club. The old country club is no longer around but stood near what is now Williams High School. Bullas father wasn’t very fond of his son being a caddie. At the first sign of spring, Bulla would kick off his shoes and walk barefoot down the fairways looping for the members. He liked the money but he didn’t have any interest in playing.

“I didn’t start playing until I found out they had a caddie tournament and all the caddies had to play. I finished last and was embarrassed”, laughed Bulla. “I worked my fanny off after until I got better.” Bulla learned a lot about life from his parents and from those early years as a caddie. He was Burlington Industries founder Spencer Loves favorite caddie.

The best lesson he ever learned in life was when Staley Cook, owner of the newspaper in Burlington, offered him a dollar if Staley beat this doctor he always lost to.

“Staley was a good player but had a terrible slice off the tee”, Bulla recounted. I would race ahead and pick up the ball with my toes and place it on top of the Bermuda grass. Cook won the match and Bulla collected the dollar.

Two weeks later the doctor invited Bulla to caddie for him in Pinehurst. It would be Bullas first trip to Pinehurst, but Bulla never saw the course. When they arrived the doctor gave him 50 cents and told him to catch the bus back home. He told me, I saw you cheating for Staley picking the ball up with your toes and teeing it up. That stayed with me all of my life. I never cheated anyone again.

At age 18, Bulla hitchhiked to Pinehurst to play in his first professional event. His curiosity led him to hitchhike to Georgia to see the course Bobby Jones was building. Along the way he slept in the back seats of cars. In 1933 he hitchhiked to Chicago to watch the U.S. Open; he could not have imagined he would play in the same tournament three years later. That same curiosity led him to frequently visit Pinehurst and watch Donald Ross create his magic on the No. 2 course.

Bulla joined what is now the PGA Tour in 1935 and played into the 1960s. At the 1935 Louisville Open, Bulla became friends with Sam Snead; and, for the next few years, they traveled together. Snead noted, Traveling with Johnny in those days probably helped me handle the successes and the failures. I always remember what he said about life. It's like a three-legged stool with equal parts spiritual, mental and physical. It can't stand up without solid foundation in each part of your life.

Bulla was a hard worker on tour; the number of practice balls he hit rivaled Ben Hogan's. Bulla was among the best long-game players of his day.

I was one of the top four or five longest drivers on tour and I was very accurate. Sam used to say I was the best one-iron player of our time. But, he admits, I was probably the worst putter on tour. The shorter the shot, the worse I got.

Bulla was a naturally left-handed but was told to do everything right-handed growing up. Later in his forties he tried playing left-handed and finished second in the National Lefties Tournament.

His greatest moment might have been the 1939 British Open at St. Andrews. In miserable conditions, he drove flawlessly and never missed a fairway. The driver is on display in the Royal & Ancient Golf Club Museum, but his name is missing from the claret jug. He finished early that day and was the leader in the clubhouse. He held the lead until Dick Burton, playing in the final group, caught him and won with a birdie on the last hole.

All was not lost; Bullas wife bore him a son that day named Robert Bob Jones Bulla named after his Georgian friend.

The British Open was suspended until after the war. When it resumed Bulla picked up where he left off and finished second to Sam Snead in 1946. He tied for second in the 1949 Masters Tournament. He came close to winning all four events now considered the Grand Slam. In 1939, he led the U.S. Open after 54 holes but finished sixth; and he gained the round of eight in the 1948 PGA Championship.

Another great accomplishment was his string of cuts made in the U.S. Open from 1936 to 1954. He played in 18 U.S. Opens, 15 Masters and 9 British Opens. Bulla played in 40 consecutive Los Angeles Opens, the site of his lone tour triumph in the 1941.

Bulla endorsed Walgreens Drug Store's low-priced Po-Do golf ball. This cost him invitations to many tour events, and he was banned from the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup from 1936 to 1946.

Walgreens offered Bulla a plane to fly to the tournaments back in the 1930s. He was the first tour player to fly his own plane to tournaments. During World War II he moved to Greensboro and flew the Atlanta-to-Chicago route for Eastern Airlines. I played a lot of golf with Bobby Jones during the war. We normally played several times a week at East Lake , commented Bulla.

After the war he purchased a C-47 and converted it to a DC-3; Hogan was his co-pilot. He would charge players a small fare to ferry them to the next tournament.

In 1946, Sears and Roebuck signed him to a 10-year contract to represent them and create a line of Johnny Bulla clubs and balls. During this time Sears became the leading golf retailer in the nation.

It was also at this same time he moved his family to Arizona and founded Arizona Airways with Bob Goldwater. Bulla reflected, We were a little before our time in founding the airline. America West and Southwest Airlines are really doing well here now.

In Arizona, he helped design a half dozen courses. He won 42 sectional titles, including 10 PGA Chapter Opens and four Arizona Section Opens.

Today, at 86, he walks three miles a day and can be found most every day at Ocotillo Country Club in Chandler, Arizona.

In January of this year (2000) the Carolinas Golf Reporters Association inducted him into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame. A fitting tribute to a man that took every opportunity the American dream had to offer.

If North Carolina had an “Ambassador of Golf,” the title would go to Johnny Harris of Charlotte, long one of the state’s most active and most effective golf promoters.

Harris’ list of accomplishments in the industry is long and impressive.  Following in the footsteps of his father, James J. Harris, who was a founder of the Quail Hollow Country Club, Harris came by his enthusiasm for the game naturally, and he has worked tirelessly to bring the sport to the forefront.

Harris’ father brought the Kemper Open Tournament to Quail Hollow and his young son was a keen observer of the process.  He would use his influence and promotional skills later on to spearhead the Wells Fargo PGA tour event in the Queen City.

The success of that event over the years brought much attention to the area and, at the urging of Harris, the PGA began to look seriously at Charlotte as the site of its annual championship.  And it had a tournament chairman in Harris who would oversee the event in 2017.

With the PGA on the books, the next step for Harris was to procure the prestigious President’s Cup.  That event is schedule for 2021 at Quail Hollow and will solidify Charlotte as a popular site for major tournaments.

Harris, a University of North Carolina graduate, is an accomplished player and a fierce competitor in addition to his promotional skills. His close friendship with golfing great Arnold Palmer has been a source of pride, and he has relied on that treasured association to help in his quest to boost the sport he loves.

Harris served on the board of the US Open championship in Pinehurst and has led numerous fund raising events for the betterment of the game.  He is president of Lincoln Harris, a real estate development and management firm in Charlotte and has been a director of numerous companies and associations throughout his colorful career. He was inducted in 2016.

Johnny Palmer was born in Eldorado, NC in 1918 and grew up in nearby Badin.   There he spent much of his free time caddying at the Stanley Country Club and learning as much as he could about the game of golf.  Then in 1938, feeling confident that he could earn a living playing golf, he turned to the professional tour.  However, it was not until a long nine years later that he proved to himself that he was indeed a winner.  That year, 1947, he won his first of eight PGA Tour events when he won the Western Open, at the Salt Lake City County Club.  Two years later, in 1949, at the Hermitage Country Club in Virginia, he came close to winning one of golf’s four “majors.”   He lost in the match play finals of the PGA Championship to Sam Snead three down and two to play.  In route to the finals, he beat such tour standouts as Jim Ferree and Lloyd Mangrum.

From 1946 to 1951 he averaged winning over $13,000.00 a year — very good money in those days — a figure broken only by Hogan, Snead, Middlecoff, Demaret, Mangrum and Ferree.  His best showing in the US Open was a 289 score at the St. Louis Country Club in 1947, which placed him in a tie for sixth. In 1949, he was fourth in the Masters Tournament and four back of winner Sam Snead.  He played in 13 Masters tournaments and in those days the scoreboard listed him simply as “Palmer” — until a second Palmer came along who, to differentiate between the two, was listed “A. Palmer,” for then Johnny was king.

Locally, Johnny was also successful in winning the Carolinas PGA Section title five times and the Carolinas Open three times.  He is a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, The Carolinas Section PGA Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 1983.

During his two and a half years in the Air Force in World War II, he served as a side gunner aboard a B-29 and flew 32 missions over Japan.

Mr. Palmer’s tournament victories:

1947

The Western Open

1948

The Philadelphia Inquirer Open  (now the Philadelphia Classic)

The Mexican Open

1949

The Nashville Open

1949

Member US Ryder Cup Team

1949

The Houston Open The World Tam O’Shanter

1949, 50  '52  '54

'Among top 15 money winners on PGA tour

1952

The Canadian Open

1954

The Colonial Open

Johnny Palmer was inducted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 1983.

U.S. Open champion 1952, 1963; National PGA champion 1968; National Senior PGA champion 1971, 1977; U.S. Ryder Cup team 1959, 1963, 1965, 1967; National PGA Player of the Year 1952, 1963; winner of 15 PGA Tour events; leading money winner PGA Tour 1952, 1963; PGA Hall of Fame 1974; World Golf Hall of Fame 1982; Connecticut Golf Hall of Fame 1961.

Julius Nicholas Boros was born in Bridgeport , Conn. , March 3, 1920, and without much dispute, he is the best golfer and, when measured against the singular standard of ultimate success in his chosen sport, the greatest athlete ever to have been born in Connecticut .

It is ironic, however, that if he were to be judged on his golf accomplishments in Connecticut alone, he would not be in the state's Golf Hall of Fame. For although Julius was clearly the odds-on favorite in the Connecticut Amateur and Open championships he entered in 1947, 1948 and 1949, his main competitive years here, he never won either of those state majors. He was a losing semi-finalist to champion Holly Mandly in 1947 and to champion Alpheus Winter Jr. in 1948; and, by the winner's own ready admission, he was an opening match victim of a career round by Pat Mazzarella, the losing finalist, in 1949. Julius was the Amateur's medalist in 1948 and again in 1949. In the Open at Indian Hill he finished at 1-over 289, four behind professional Frank Strazza, and in 1948 at Race Brook he made 6-under 278 for second all alone behind Frank Staszowski's 277.

But despite these disappointments at home, Julius was making some noteworthy moves on the national competitive scene, bearing out what many then believed was his inevitable destination. He led the national qualifying for the 1948 U.S. Amateur with tour-like numbers of 69-66-135, and went on to acquit himself commendably in the championship itself, losing to international-class player Charlie Coe in the 5th round. Then, in November that year, still an amateur, of course, he made a weak 3-over 39 on his final nine in the competitively respected North and South Open PGA Tour stop to finish in a tie for second with Sam Snead, two back of Toney Penna's 3-under 285. This standout performance against the world's best caught the attention of Joe Dey, then secretary of the USGA, and the following spring Julius was being seriously considered for America 's Walker Cup team that would play the British team at Winged Foot August 19-20. Though he wasn't selected, it was this high-level interest and the competitive deeds that had attracted it that confirmed Julius's growing self-conviction about making in on the big tour.

The clincher for him, however, was a 65 he made at Mid Pines in October to relieve Hogan and Snead of several twenties each. His record in the U.S. Open stands with the best, with the records of Jones, Hogan and Nicklaus. He twice won our national Open, acknowledged by most players to be the most difficult to win of golf's four major championships. And as late as 1973, a 53-year-old Boros was leading the Open at Oakmont with nine holes to play. Battling sudden heavy rain, fierce wind, and Oakmont's brutal length, he slipped to fourth place, a stroke behind Palmer, Nicklaus and Trevino, who were his junior by nine, 20 and 21 years.

His play in the Insurance City-Greater Hartford Open at Wethersfield brought him two seconds and eleven top-ten finishes. In 1979, at 59, he made the 36-hole cut but declined to play. For almost 30 years he returned to Wethersfield to compete as more than just a sentimental favorite, and for more than that time, playing in the ever-capricious public eye perhaps the most temperamentally demanding of games, Julius Boros consistently was a credit to his chosen profession and his home state.

Julius Boros was inducted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 2003.

L.B. Floyd was born in Lake City, SC in 1920. He is the father of PGA Tour professional Raymond Floyd and former LPGA Tour member Marlene Floyd. He retired from the US Army at Fort Bragg, NC, where he managed Stryker Golf Course. He bought Green Valley CC in Fayetteville in the mid-1950s and expanded it to 18 holes. Floyd did most of the design and work on the additional nine himself. Sold Green Valley and built Cypress Lakes Golf Course with co-owner, Al Prewitt, giving Fayetteville and Cumberland County its first truly public course. Credited with changing the face of golf in the area and generally known as its Patriarch of Golf.

Former winner of the Carolinas PGA Section’s Palmer Maples; Teacher of the Year Award and former Golfweek Father of the Year Award winner. Respected teacher of the game who dedicated himself to helping young players, including Chip Beck and Neal Lancaster of the PGA Tour and Todd Gleaton, of the Nike Tour, who won twice in 1997. Credited with helping several regional players earn college scholarships in golf. Has the distinction of having two pupils, Raymond Floyd and Chip Beck, finish 1-2 in the 1986 US Open.

Helped found and operate the annual L.B. Floyd/Dogwood Festival Charity Classic, one of the largest annual money-raisers for needy children in the area

Larry Boswell of Jamestown, N.C. holds thirteen Carolinas Golf Association championships which ranks third in CGA history behind Dale Morey (24) and Paul Simson (22). Larry didn’t begin his golf career until well after graduating from college. Starting in 1978, he won the South Carolina state match-play; then came the inaugural Carolinas Mid Amateur in l981, a tournament  he won five times. Larry has proved his longevity and consistency by winning CGA champions in five different decades.

Playing nationally, Larry has competed in eleven United States Golf Association championships: the U.S. Public Links (3), the U.S. Amateur (2), the U.S. Senior Open (3), and the U.S. Senior Amateur (3).  In addition, he won the International Four-Ball (regular and senior divisions) and the Society of Seniors Super-Seniors National Championship.  In 2009, Larry was recognized as the PGA Senior Amateur player of the year.

Words like “gentleman” and “respect” always accompany Larry’s name.  He is held in the highest esteem by his fellow competitors.

Larry Boswell was inducted in to the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.

Miss Burns, a native of Greensboro, NC, dominated women’s amateur golf during her heyday as a player.  Before turning professional in 1970, she won 10 North Carolina Women’s titles and six Carolina’s Championships.  She also qualified to play in 14 USGA Amateur Championships and six U.S. Opens.  In the U.S. Amateur, her best showings were in 1953 and 1956 where she reached the fourth round.

She won the Teague Award as North Carolina’s best woman athlete five times. Then in January of 1970 she joined the professional ranks and gained widespread fame as an instructor.  A short six years later, she was named LPGA Teacher of the Year, an award well earned from her years as a teaching professional at the Surf Club, Golf Acres Driving Range and Par Three, both in Myrtle Beach, SC and the High Meadows Country Club in Roaring Gap, NC.

In addition to her work as a teacher, Marge has also done considerable work as a golf administrator serving as an area consultant with the National Golf Foundation, a Director with the Southern Women’s Golf Association.  President of the NC Women’s Golf Association and the LPGA Southeastern Section Teaching Division.  Before turning pro she was a member of the USGA Junior Girls Committee.

Asked what were her biggest moments in golf she replied, “All the firsts were thrills, but probably one of the really big ones was playing with Patty Berg the first time at age 13.”  The year 1984 also provided Miss Burns with thrills as she was inducted into the NC Sports Hall of Fame and received her Master’s Professional Classification, the latter being the LPGA highest classification.

Miss Burns was inducted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 1984.

Her record speaks for itself as an outstanding competitor.

1940 Winner, Carolinas Junior Girls; Runner-up 1941-’42

1961 winner, Eastern Amateur

1962 Curtis Cup Alternate

1966-’67 Winner, Middle Atlantic Amateur Championship

Ten time winner, NC Women’s Amateur Championship

Six time winner, Carolinas Women’s Amateur Championship

Four time winner, Greensboro (NC) City Championship

Four time winner, Harder Hall Invitational ( Fla )

Four time South Atlantic Runner-up

Three time Women’s Southern Runner-up

Golf Digest’s “Top Ten,” 1959-1962

Mike Souchak was born in Berwick, Pa. In 1927 he moved to North Carolina to play football at Duke University and Durham then became his home for the next twenty-two years. He was a standout lineman and kicker; however, he could also play a decent game of golf and it was the latter to which he eventually turned to make his fame and fortune.

He turned professional in 1952 after leaving the US Navy and looked as though he would win many major championships. He was a likeable bear of a man with massive strength and a fine rhythmic swing, who won sixteen PGA tour events between 1955 and 1961, including three in 1955 and four in 1956. His consistently good showing earned him a place on the 1959 and 1961 US Ryder Cup Teams. At this writing Mike still holds the PGA 72 hole scoring record (60-68-64-65-257; 27 under par!) and shares the nine-hole record of 27, both scored in the Texas Open of 1955 at the Brackenridge Park Country Club in San Antonio.

Although he never won any of golfs four majors, he came very close to winning three consecutive US Opens. In 1959, at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, NY , he had four solid rounds of 71-70-72-71-284, which placed him in a tie for third place two shots behind the winner Billy Casper. The following year at Cherry Hills he had his best showing. He led through the first three rounds with scores of 68-67-73-208 was two ahead of Julius Boros and seven in front of Arnold Palmer. However, in the final round Palmer made one of his famous charges and fired at 65 to Mikes 75. Mike was again tied for third place at 283 - three shots back. Finally in 1961 at Oakland Hills he played well with rounds of 73-70-68 (one shot back at this point), but his closing round of 73 (total 284) placed him in a tie for third place for the third consecutive year and for the second year three shots back.

Since retiring from the tour he served as head pro at Oakland Hills and helped develop and build the Innisbrook Complex at Tarpon Springs , Florida . He has also played in a few PGA Seniors events.

Mr. Souchak was inducted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 1984.

A partial listing of his tournament victories:

1955

The Texas Open

1955-64

The Houston Open

1956

The Colonial Open

The Buick Open

1959 - 61

Member Ryder Cup Team

1959

The Western Open

1959

The Tournament of Champions

1960

The San Diego Open

1961

The Greater Greensboro Open

1964

The Memphis Classic

A native of Toledo, Ohio, Strantz was working at Inverness Club for the 1978 U.S. Open when he was discovered by Tom Fazio.  Over an eight year span Strantz worked with Fazio to create such notable courses in the Carolinas as Wild Dunes, Wachesaw, Wade Hampton, and Osprey Point.
 

Strantz went on to settle in Charleston, SC and over the next two decades emerged as one of the nation’s elite architects.  His first solo effort was Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, in Myrtle Beach, SC, which was quickly ranked in Golf Magazine’s Top 100.  Strantz was off and running.  His work in the Carolinas went on to include True Blue (SC), Bulls Bay (SC), Tobacco Road (NC) and Tot Hill Farm (NC).  Outside the Carolinas he created Royal New Kent (VA), Stonehouse (VA), Silver Creek Valley (CA), and Monterey Peninsula Country Club - Shore Course (CA). 
 

The awards piled up quickly.  Stonehouse was named the Best New Course in America 1996 by Golf Digest, followed by Royal New Kent, the Best New Upscale Course in America in 1997. Next came True Blue Golf Club (1998) and Tobacco Road (1999), both of which ranked in Golf Digest's top five new courses.  All of his courses have been ranked in the Top 100 Best Modern Courses in America by Golf Digest.

But the greatest honors came when Golf World named Strantz the 1998 Golf Course Architect of the Year and in 2000, GolfWeek voted him in the Top 10 Greatest Golf Architects of All Time.

Strantz was an approachable, hands-on designer, who worked along side the crew, marking every green, fairway and hazard himself. He lost his fight with cancer in 2005, but his unique designs will carry on an unforgettable legacy.

A native of Chicago who grew up in Memphis, TN, Orville White was a club professional at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro and at Forsyth Country Club in Winston-Salem.  At the time of his Hall of Fame induction, he was golf professional emeritus at Midland Valley Country Club in Aiken, SC.

White was inducted into the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Carolinas PGA Section Hall of Fame in 1985.

Described as “a big, rugged guy who was dynamite on the greens,” White won the Carolinas Open in 1938 and 1945, claimed the Carolinas PGA Section Championship in 1945 and took the South Carolina Open Championship three straight times from 1953-1955.

Outside the Carolinas, White played in five Masters and spent ten years on the pro tour.  He won the Southeastern PGA and the Mid-South Open at Pinehurst.  A fine teacher, his pupils included Clayton Heafner, Art Wall, Cary Middlecoff and Doug Ford.

At the time of his induction, White had been involved with the game, in some form, for over 65 years.

Orville White was inducted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 1991