‘A visionary and pioneer’: Young joins Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame hours before death
Larry Young was elected for induction into the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame on Wednesday, just a few hours before the Myrtle Beach golf catalyst and visionary died at the age of 79.
Young built eight courses on the Grand Strand as a hands-on builder and developer, and operated a total of 13 area courses over about four decades in the golf business, including the three-course Legends Resort.
He had been battling a long-term illness.
The board of the hall of fame met on Wednesday to expedite a vote after learning of Young’s failing health, according to board president and hall member Gary Schaal.
“Everybody knows what a visionary and pioneer my dad was for the greater Myrtle Beach area,” said Young’s son, Danny, 58, who worked with and for his father in the golf industry since his youth. “Millions of golfers all over the world play these golf courses and have wonderful memories of what he’s created here.”
Young was involved in several aspects of the Strand golf and tourism industries. He also owned a golf package company, operated several hotels and was an investor in an airline based in Myrtle Beach.
“I’m a little jaded, but I think he’s the one who changed the whole face of golf in Myrtle Beach,” said Chip Smith, managing partner of Atlantic Golf Management who worked for Young as the Legends Group marketing director in the early 2000s. “It went from a few small courses to him building the caliber of courses he built, and golf changed forever in Myrtle Beach.”
Leaving a legacy in the market
Young entered the Myrtle Beach golf market in 1975 with the leasing and running of Eagle Nest Golf Club, where Danny would park carts and water fairways as a teenager.
Danny said his father purchased Robber’s Roost and Possum Trot golf courses and began building courses with the development of Marsh Harbour Golf Links in Calabash, N.C., in 1980.
The course near the Intracoastal Waterway began a prolonged expansion of the Myrtle Beach golf market into Brunswick County, N.C.
“Everyone in the greater Myrtle Beach area said no one would ever drive to North Carolina to play golf and he was crazy for doing that,” Danny said. “Then Marsh Harbour was very successful — booked up months in advance — so then he did the same at Oyster Bay [Golf Links].”
Oyster Bay in Sunset Beach, N.C., which like Marsh Harbour was designed by N.C.-based course architect Dan Maples, was named the best new resort course in the country in 1983 by Golf Digest.
Young built Heritage Club in Pawleys Island in 1986 and built Heather Glen Golf Links in Little River for what would become the Glens Group course operating company. Heather Glen, designed by Willard Byrd, was named Golf Digest’s best new public course in the U.S. in 1987.
Young then focused on the master development plan for his most ambitious project, the three-course Legends Resort complex, that included neighborhoods of condominiums and homes.
The Heathland and Moorland courses opened in 1990, and the Parkland course opened in 1992. Moorland was named the fifth best new public course the country in 1991 by Golf Digest.
With an expansive lighted driving range and practice area, and both the clubhouse and Ailsa Pub for food and beverages, Legends of U.S. 501 became a self-sustained resort where golfers could stay and play.
“I think everybody knew the golf courses my dad did were great. Marsh Harbour, Oyster Bay and Heritage were very successful and very beautiful, and of course they were on beautiful pieces of land,” Danny said. “So my dad said I’ll just take a flat piece of land with no specialty trees like live oaks, like these other courses had, and we’ll create something. We wanted to do three courses that were all three very different and artificially create these.”
Young lived in the Legends development, and much of his family continues to reside there.
“He built an amazing development here with a lot of green space. He didn’t stack things on top of each other,” Danny Young said. “I think everyone in this community at Legends is very appreciative of what he created here.”
Young helped build Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in 1994 with designer Mike Strantz, with whom he worked on the building of Heritage Club, for the property’s owners, and sold some land from Heritage Club to create the first hole.
Caledonia has been listed numerous times in Golfweek’s lists of the Top 100 Modern Courses (post 1960) and top 100 public courses in the U.S.
Young partnered with Barefoot Resort owner Sammy Puglia to operate the property’s three resort courses for a few years, and the Youngs also partnered with Smith in the ownership and operation of TPC Myrtle Beach.
Young’s involvement in all facets of the golf industry included operating a golf package company that booked rounds throughout the Strand, and owning condominiums at Legends Resort and operating hotel and condotel properties known as Sands Resorts that included Ocean Dunes, Sand Dunes, Sands Ocean Club and Sands Beach Club.
Danny said Young was also an investor in the Myrtle Beach Jet Express airline based in Myrtle Beach that was created to assist tourism in the area. It halted operations in 1999 after three years in business.
Young was briefly involved in Golf Trust of America, which operated dozens of courses throughout the country.
“My dad’s unyielding energy and imagination in business and his hunger for the next project was massive,” Danny said.
Smith believes Young was the primary catalyst for a second surge of Myrtle Beach golf — the first being the creation of the marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday and promotion of golf packages in the 1960s — that featured more upscale courses.
“I feel once he started building the caliber of courses like Legends, Heritage, Marsh Harbour and Oyster Bay, a lot of high-end courses followed and made us the golf capital of the world,” Smith said. “He didn’t just build golf courses. He built great golf courses.
“In my opinion he’s the single largest contributor to the growth of Myrtle Beach golf.”
Building through relationships
Atlantic Golf operates Whispering Pines Golf Club and the Aero Short Course in Myrtle Beach, and owns and operates a pair of courses in Brunswick County, N.C.
“I would have probably never stayed in the golf business had I not learned what I learned from Larry,” Smith said. “He was my mentor and I feel I owe everything I ever did in this business to Larry.”
Young partnered with Strantz to build the Stonehouse and Royal New Kent courses in the area of Williamsburg, Virginia, which were named Golf Digest’s “Best New Course” in back-to-back years in 1996 and ’97.
Prior to developing and operating Strand courses, Young worked for Eastern Airlines, was a golf professional and ran his family’s golf course in Gastonia, N.C., adding nine holes to make it an 18-hole facility.
Young was largely a quiet man who cared deeply for his family, Danny said. He and his surviving wife, Judy, were married for 59 years, and he has two sons (Kyle and Danny), five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
“I think the most important thing about my father was what kind of husband he was, what kind of father, what kind of brother and what kind of papa he was to his grandkids and great-grandkids.” Danny said. “His family was everything to him.”
Larry was a member at St. Andrews Links in Scotland, and this summer Danny plans to take his ashes on a walk around the Old Course in addition to a Myrtle Beach area celebration of his life in April. “He has so many dear friends over there [in Scotland], so we want to do a celebration with them, too,” Danny said.
Later this year, Young will be the 28th inductee and take his place among the other greats of the Grand Strand golf industry in the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame Garden at Pine Lakes Country Club.
“I wish it would have happened when my dad was alive so he could have enjoyed it and got the recognition personally,” Danny said.
This story was originally published February 27, 2021 at 9:00 AM.
