Hugh Royer III building golf learning facility

With his playing career encore behind him, former PGA Tour member Hugh Royer III of Myrtle Beach is fully immersed in teaching again, to the point of building a comprehensive learning facility on the east side of Conway.

Royer and a few investors plan to build the South Carolina Golf Center, a driving range, practice facility and learning center on approximately 13.5 acres, with the clubhouse entrance off East Cox Ferry Road in Conway between U.S. 501 and S.C. 90.

Royer and primary investor Al Hogan are in the process of receiving the necessary zoning from Horry County and permits for the approximate $500,000 project. They hope to have them by late January to facilitate a possible opening by early April when the property’s warm-weather Bermuda grows in with the rising temperatures.

Royer and Hogan will lease the property from owner Jimmy Jordan of both J.P. Jordan & Associates and Landmax Real Estate in Conway.

“It’s something I think will work,” Royer said. “I want to create a place that gives you the best of what’s available around here practice-wise.”

A permanent 3,000-square-foot clubhouse will include a pro shop, snack bar, lounge with TVs, bathrooms, three hitting bays with TrackMan launch monitors and V1 video swing analysis software, and a swing simulator.

The pro shop will likely feature predominantly Nike merchandise. The company sponsored Royer for more than a decade of playing and teaching through 2009.

The driving range will be close to 150 yards wide and up to 375 yards deep with tees that can be moved back or forward up to 45 yards. Royer is considering lights to stay open until 10 p.m.

The range will have up to 10 covered stations with mats for use in inclement weather, and Royer plans to leave a few trees on the range for effect. A par-3 hole over a retention pond at the back of the range is being considered.

There will be a 4,000-square-foot putting green featuring Champion Bermudagrass and a pair of chipping greens with bunkers. Royer plans a number of demo days and clinics.

He said he’ll hire clubfitter and repairman Al Cloyd, formerly of the Bogeys to Birdies Golf Shop in North Myrtle Beach, and he has already chosen an assistant teaching pro. The center will have various memberships for sale.

Royer doesn’t plan to have a beer or liquor license at first. “I [eventually] want to create an atmosphere that’s comfortable,” Royer said. “[Golfers] will have every amenity they need but I also want them to feel it’s a place they can feel comfortable to come and watch a football game.”

Royer has been teaching at Burning Ridge Golf Club and intends to remain there until the center opens. His students include National Golf Association Tour – formerly Hooters Tour – members Patrick Lundy of Little River and Paul Cormack of Scotland, and he wants to help produce stronger pro and amateur players from the area. “I want to create better players from Myrtle Beach,” he said.

He also wants the facility to be a base for younger players for a minimal cost. He said he’s spoken to Aynor golf coach Patrick Wilkinson about his team using the facility, and intends to speak to Myrtle Beach and Conway coaches and representatives of the Coastal Carolina University Professional Golf Management Program.

Royer played for three years on the PGA Tour and is a four-time winner on the Nationwide Tour. He taught for 31/2 years at the International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head Island and was the head instructor at Champions Golf Academy at Long Bay Club, which opened in 2007 and eventually adopted his name before he opted to resume his playing career in 2010. He played for the bulk of the past two years.

“I was playing and things were going pretty well and I was thinking about the Champions Tour,” said Royer, 47. “But I lost my sponsors, and looking for money these days is tough.”

The people he approached for support as a player suggested they instead support him in an attempt to open his own teaching facility. After playing for more than a year Royer was losing touch with his former pupils, but many have recently returned from around the U.S. and Canada.

“I have a passion for teaching,” Royer said. “I enjoy it and I feel I have a lot more to offer than the average instructor because I’ve been there and done it. My experience and the things I’ve learned over my career make it easier for people to believe, I think.”

Byrd in the BMW

Zack Byrd knows he’s in at least one Nationwide Tour event through May.

The Murrells Inlet resident and former Coastal Carolina All-American tied for 115th earlier this month in the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament Finals and has limited status on the Nationwide – the PGA Tour feeder circuit that features purses of approximately $600,000 per event.

He wasn’t likely to earn a spot in the field of the first 10 events through the May 31-June 3 Rex Hospital Open in Raleigh, N.C., unless he Monday qualified.

But he said he has received a sponsor exemption to play in the BMW Charity Pro-Am on three courses in the Greenville area from May 17-20. It’s the ninth event on the schedule.

Byrd has also applied for exemptions into the first 10 Nationwide tournaments. He was denied by the second event, the Panama Claro Championship from March 1-4, and hasn’t heard back from the other eight.

“It is relief for sure, but I want as many chances as possible,” Byrd said. “I don’t think I’ll get into any other ones. I figured the Rex in Raleigh and BMW were my only two shots, so it’s good to know I got into one.”

The tour reshuffles exempt status after the 10th event, and Byrd believes he’ll be eligible for events beginning with the 11th – the Mexico Open from June 7-10. If he can make a cut through the first 10 events, Byrd will have improved status through the remainder of the season.

“It’s good to know I’ll have at least one shot of making a cut before the reshuffle,” Byrd said. “Especially to be able to play in my home state is even better.”

Byrd plans to Monday qualify for five early-season domestic events for which he doesn’t receive an exemption including an event in Louisiana in late March, two in California and one in Georgia in April, and the Rex Hospital Open. He’ll miss one Monday qualifier in Georgia to marry fiancée Ali Garlinger on May 5. “It doesn’t look like we’ll be having a honeymoon,” he said.

Byrd was told he received the final sponsor exemption into the BMW. He had to find an amateur partner in order to play, and TPC of Myrtle Beach owner Chip Smith will participate at a cost of at least $8,000. The local duo may be paired with a celebrity.

IJGT big on SC

The International Junior Golf Tour based in Hilton Head Island will have seven of its 28 tournaments in the winter/spring of 2012 in South Carolina.

The IJGT hosts 60 tournaments annually and is the only junior golf tour with events every weekend during the September-to-May school year for children in grades 5-12.

Its 28 events from January through May will be held in 10 U.S. states.

The South Carolina events will be held Jan. 21-22 at Eagle’s Point Golf Club in Bluffton, Feb. 18-19 at Kiawah Island Resort’s Ocean and Turtle Point courses, Feb. 25-26 at Barony Golf Course in Hilton Head, March 17-18 on the Robert Cupp Course in Hilton Head, March 24-25 at Legends Golf Course on Paris Island, April 28-29 at Oyster Reef Golf Club in Hilton Head, and May 5-6 at Sanctuary Golf Club in Beaufort.

In addition, the one North Carolina tournament is The College Classic at Duke in Durham, N.C., from March 31-April 1, and there are a pair of events in Georgia. Other events are in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Ohio.

IJGT members represent 45 U.S. states and 43 countries, and tour alums include Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Paula Creamer. Each spring event will be nationally ranked by Golfweek, the American Junior Golf Association or the Junior Golf Scoreboard.

For more information visit IJGT.com or call 1-800-792-9143.

Clarification

It appears that some people read into my Dec. 18 front page story on the state of the Myrtle Beach golf industry that Barefoot Resort and Ocean Ridge Plantation have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That is not the case. Neither facility has filed Chapter 11.

To view Blondin’s blog, Green Reading, or Q&A Forum Ask Al, go to TheSunNews.com.