By David Droschak

 

The owner of Linville Ridge Country Club talked to anyone who would listen about the great job architect George Cobb had done in creating the 16th hole, a dramatic par-3 that showcases an elevation drop equivalent to an 11-story building and a 50-mile view of the glorious Blue Ridge Mountains off in the distance.

 

One day Cobb interrupted the owner, saying “I can’t take all the credit; I have to credit God for this.” Cobb then hesitated for a second or two before saying “but we worked closely with him.”

 

Cobb’s sense of humor, among many other talents, served the golf course architect well over a magnificent career, which saw him design or revamp more than 200 courses, many in the Carolinas, earning him induction into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame Class of 2019. 

 

Cobb passed away in 1986, but most of his golf architectural works live on, capturing the imagination of millions upon millions of golfers since his career began in 1945 with the first golf course at Camp Lejeune. He joins other such architectural legends such as Donald Ross, Tom Fazio and Ellis Maples in the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame.  

 

Cobb, a World War II Marine, would go on to design numerous other military courses, as well as maybe his most famous work – The Par 3 Course at Augusta National.

 

“Mr. Cobb used to say the Par 3 Course at Augusta National was his best golf course when critics would ask him about his favorite design,” said John LaFoy, who as a teenager was best friends with Cobb’s son and would later go on to team up with the elder Cobb on golf course design work. “He was proud of working at Augusta National but he also knew it would not offend any of the other clients he had ever worked for. I’ve always thought that was a good answer.”

 

Despite growing up in Savannah, Ga., a majority of Cobb’s designs stretch from the coast to the mountains of both the Carolinas. “My father was a Georgia native but a Carolinian by choice,” Cobb Jr. said.

 

A few of Cobb’s early designs were instrumental in helping Hilton Head become a national golfing Mecca. 

 

“Dad always thought that the design of his first two Hilton Head courses was the main reason for the continued success and overall popularity of the region,” Cobb Jr. said. “If those inaugural courses – The Ocean and Sea Marsh at Sea Pines – had turned out to be mediocre maybe Hilton Head wouldn’t be the popular destination it is today.”

 

Cobb’s designs serviced a diverse section of the nation’s golfers, from those on the Armed Forces who have played on his military designs to students at colleges in North Carolina, Maryland and New York.

 

“I can only imagine how many University of North Carolina students have played Finley Golf Course while they should have been studying,” Cobb Jr. said.

 

Cobb helped mentored LaFoy, who he worked with at Linville Ridge, and fellow Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame member Tom Jackson.

 

“I learned so much from watching what he did and just being around him,” LaFoy says. “One of the biggest things I learned was his interaction with clients. He was such a personable guy, had a good sense of humor and he just knew how to not only treat clients but he knew how to get new work. I tell people this all the time that the only criteria of becoming a golf course architect is to get somebody to hire you.

 

“He was able to do that. He just had a way with clients. He was old school. He knew as much about golf architecture as he did course construction, which is really, really important.”

 

Cobb was a member of the first graduating class in the school of landscape architecture at University of Georgia, and was one of a very few golf course architects in his time to hold memberships in both the American Society of Golf Course Architects as well as the American Society of Landscape Architects.

 

LaFoy laughs about one encounter he and Cobb had with a golf course owner, who had been divorced six times. There was a slight disagreement over a portion of the course construction and the owner told Cobb, “You know George, I can divorce you, too.” Cobb, like he had done so many times in his four-decade career, smoothed it over and rolled on to complete yet another golfing masterpiece. 

 

“Mr. Cobb never disagreed with his clients, but he was firm when he felt they were not right,” LaFoy said. “I learned another great lesson from Mr. Cobb that I still use today. He was always extremely fair to the golf course contractors. Even though he was working for the course owner Mr. Cobb new how hard a job golf course contractors have. He was tough on them but always fair.”

 

Golf course architecture is a unique blend of artistic ability, science and engineering – a combination of several different diverse disciplines, all of which Cobb had an abundance of.

 

“Mr. Cobb was so very gifted artistically; everything he did just kind of meshed together,” LaFoy says.

   

 

Bobby Long, a Greensboro businessman, is credited with helping save the PGA Tour stop in Greensboro a decade ago.

 

Long, chairman of the Piedmont Triad Charitable Foundation, convinced Wyndham to sponsor the PGA Tour event in Greensboro with a $25 million letter of credit. The Wyndham Championship has since been transformed in a move back to Sedgefield Country Club in large part to the vision of Long.  

 

“When I heard the news that I was being inducted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame I felt completely unworthy because basically my deal has been to be a cheerleader, and all these other people do the work, and do it in such a wonderful way,” Long said. “I am in awe of them, certainly not of me.”

 

Long, 62, stepped in to help one of the nation’s oldest PGA Tour events when no sponsor arose in 2007, helping form a regional coalition of business leaders that included support from not only the Greensboro area, but High Point and Winston-Salem.

 

“While the tournament name included the word ‘Greensboro’ since it was created in 1938, Bobby saw a bigger picture – an opportunity to use the Wyndham Championship to promote Piedmont Triad regionalism and market the metropolitan statistical area as a great place to live, work, expand or start a business,” said Wyndham Championship tournament director Mark Brazil. “As the regionalism effort began to gain footing, companies that would never have done so if it remained a Greensboro event began joining as tournament partners.” 

 

The CBS Sports broadcast of the Wyndham Championship now reaches nearly a billion people in 225 countries in 32 different languages.

 

“Mark (Brazil) and his team are incredible, and have been relentless in everything,” said Long, who grew up playing golf at Alamance Country Club. “They really do all the work, but then look at the community leaders, because the old GGO was predominately Greensboro and now the vast majority of the money comes from outside of Greensboro. I can’t sing their praises enough.”

 

“The world gets a look into the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, and that kind of exposure of golf in the Carolinas is truly priceless,” added Brazil. “When Bobby saved our PGA Tour event, he also saved many charitable organizations that benefit from it each year.  Had the tournament gone away, their donations would have followed.”

 

One such organization is The First Tee. Long is one of the top donors for The First Tee of the Triad and is perhaps THE major donor of the First Tee of Wilmington.

 

“I’ve been pretty fortunate, so think about these kids who don’t necessarily have the same access and opportunity like I did,” Long said. “It’s a wonderful thing to try to enable them to have the same chance I did. I was sort of born on third base by comparison. Why not try to give them a shot?”

David Strawn reached the final of the U.S. Amateur in 1973, losing to future Masters champion Craig Stadler. The rest of Strawn’s resume also can’t be matched by many across the Carolinas, including playing in 8 U.S. Mid Amateurs and 14 Carolinas-Virginias Team Matches, along with winning the club championship at Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte a record 11 times and the club’s senior title five times. 

 

Strawn, 68, lived next to his father’s driving range growing up and started hitting balls when he was 6 years old, playing in his first tournament when he was 11.

 

“It was about the time that Arnold Palmer was getting popular and golf was getting very popular, and my dad Robert used to say ‘Hey boys, you have this great opportunity to practice whenever you want so you ought to take advantage of it.’ So we did,” Strawn said.

Strawn went on to play college golf at Furman, where he was a two-time Southern Conference champion.

 

Over a two-year span (1973-74) Strawn tied for second at the Eastern Amateur and Carolinas Open, was runner-up at the U.S. Amateur, won the Sunnehanna Amateur, and played in The Masters and U.S. Open. He later turned pro in 1974 and went on to play golf across the world, including in the Dutch, German, Portuguese, French and Spanish Opens before regaining his amateur status in 1986.

 

“I always liked amateur golf,” Strawn said. “When I played pro golf I was young and traveling and it was kind of fun, but amateur golf really is more fun over the long haul. You are trying to play the best you can, you are not mixing it up with trying to make a living.”

 

The real estate lawyer took a few years off to start his practice when he return to amateur status, then began playing at a high level again later in life, becoming a semifinalist in the 1993 U.S. Mid Amateur. Strawn also went on to win the N.C. Senior Four-Ball championship four times – each time with a different partner.  

 

“It’s a great honor for me, but at the same time I am humbled by it because of all the people who are in there like Billy Joe Patton and Harvie Ward and Bill Harvey and Paul Simson – just extraordinary people and golfers.”

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.

Willie McRae became a legend in Pinehurst after caddying at the famed No. 2 course for seventy-three years, beginning in the 1940s.  During his colorful career, he carried the bag of five US presidents and numerous celebrities including Michael Jordan and Mickey Mantle.  He also caddied for such prominent  golf names as architect Donald Ross, Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead. McRae’s father and his son Paul also  were noted Pinehurst caddies. He worked in the 1951 Ryder Cup matches at Pinehurst and has participated in numerous major tournaments, including the US Open.

Dean Cassell’s resume is so impressive that it appears to the work of a fantasy writer with a gift for the improbable. And his diverse contributions included successful work in amateur, professional, business and organizational activities.

 

For instance, he was president of the Acushnet Titleist Company, president of the Dunlop Sports Company, president of the National Golf Foundation, and president of the Golf Ball Manufacturer’s Association.

 

He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina, holds a masters degree from Harvard, was a Rhodes Scholar, and a national Woodrow Wilson Fellow,

 

At UNC, he was an All-Conference baseball player as a star pitcher and played for two years as a professional in the Philadelphia Phillies system.  On the golf course, he is a two-time winner of the Irish Senior championship, won the New England Senior Golf Association championship, and the National Society of Seniors Four Ball title.  He qualified for the USGA Senior Amateur on seven occasions.

 

He has served as Executive in Residence for UNC’s MBA program, on the Advisory Council at Furman University and the University of Massachusetts /Dartmouth, and a Trustee of the School of Social Work at UNC.  He is a frequent lecturer on sports management at a number of colleges and universities.

 

One of Cassell’s most cherished accomplishments was spearheading the campaign to adopt world-wide equipment standards, including a one-sized golf ball for all play.  The US ball was selected, and players can thank Cassell for not having to play the British sized smaller ball.  That historic event occurred at the Charlotte Country Club in 1972 during the U. S. Amateur championship.

              

Cassell is a native of Union City, NJ.  He made All-State in baseball, basketball and golf at Union City High School as a senior.  He currently resides in Charlotte and in Massachusetts. He was inducted in 2016.

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.

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.

Scott Hoch was one of the most consistent players of his era on the PGA Tour. Born in Raleigh, N.C. in 1955, he spent his early years with his dad who ran the pools at Wildwood and Raleigh Country Clubs. If he didn’t go play golf, his dad would put him to work at the pool. He played a lot of golf.

 

Hoch graduated from Wake Forest University in 1978 and is in the school’s hall of fame. He turned professional in 1979 and won 11 times on the PGA Tour, playing in 644 events and making 498 cuts, earning over $18 million.

 

He won the Vardon Trophy for low stroke average on the Tour in 1986 and was a member of two Ryder Cup teams in 1997 and 2002.

 

Although he never won a major, he finished runner-up to Nick Faldo in the 1989 Masters play-off and missed a playoff for the 1987 PGA Championship by one stroke.

 

When asked about his career, Hoch said, “It was a matter of determination. I knew I was never the best. I wanted to do well and prove myself. I didn’t have the highs of some players but I didn’t have the lows either. I was pretty even keel throughout my career.”

 

Since joining the PGA Champions Tour in 2007, Hoch has won three times so far with earnings over $3 million.

 

Scott Hoch was inducted in the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.

The quality of Howard Ward's writing and his longevity as a golf reporter for newspapers and golf publications put him in elite company in the Carolinas.

 

Ward's honest appraisal of the game and the people who play it has greatly benefited the sport. When circumstances called, he has shown the toughness required of a good reporter, but he was never one to take cheap shots for the sake of spicing up stories. He continues to cover golf with integrity that all reporters should emulate.

 

Ward worked for the Fayetteville Observer for 41 years, the last 27 years as sports editor, retiring in 1997. He has worked since 1998 as lead golf writer for The Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines/Pinehurst, and has freelanced for Golfweek, Golf World and Golf Magazine, as well as for newspapers in Great Britain and Canada. He was editor of the Golf Record of the Carolinas for eight years, has been a CGRA member since 1970, served as vice-president in 1979 and president in 1980, during which the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame was organized, and served on the Hall of Fame selection committee through 2008.

 

He's covered 22 Masters, seven U.S. Men's Opens, three PGA Championships, three U.S. Women's Opens, two U.S. Amateur Championships, two PGA Tour Championships and one LPGA Championship,. In addition, he has covered scores of other PGA and LPGA events as well as Carolinas Golf Association, CPGA Section events and numerous local events.

 

Ward penned what might've been the first national article on Michelle Wie for Golfweek when she competed in the 2000 WAPL Championship at Legacy Golf Links as a 10-year-old. He's won numerous North Carolina Press Association and CGRA awards, and has been recognized by the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association for continued reporting of members' activities.

Paul Simson of Raleigh, N.C., is the most successful player in the history of the Carolinas Golf Association. The CGA began honoring the Player of the Year in 1997 and Simson has won four times, in 1998, 2005, 2008 and 2009. His winning ways date back to 1990 with his first win at the Carolinas Mid-Am. This 58-year-old insurance executive has also won the Senior Men’s Player of the Year Award the past four years and is well on his way to winning again in 2010.

 

One of Simson’s most outstanding years was accomplished on both sides of the Atlantic in 2008. He won four times and competed in the U.S. Senior Open, the U.S. Amateur held at Pinehurst, and in the U.S. Senior Amateur.

 

Simson holds the all-time record that currently stands at 22 Carolinas Golf Association championships. Simson won the British Senior Amateur for the second time in 2008 and made the cut in the British Senior Open in 2009. He won back-to-back North and South Amateur Championships in 1995-96

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.