These three men were inducted into the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame at Pine Lakes
The Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame has three new members.
Pawleys Island, the Waccamaw Neck and parts of Murrells Inlet look the way they do today in large part to the vision and efforts of Arthur Herbert ‘Doc’ Lachicotte Jr.
His many contributions to the area include being largely responsible for the building of Wachesaw Plantation Club, Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and True Blue Golf Club, and he was involved in a transfer of land that led to the creation of TPC Myrtle Beach for the betterment of the Myrtle Beach golf industry.
Because of those contributions, Lachicotte was one of three men inducted into the hall of fame in a ceremony Wednesday in the Hall of Fame Garden at Pine Lakes Country Club. Mickey McCamish and the late Larry Young were also inducted.
Young was a visionary and pioneer in Myrtle Beach golf who built eight courses and operated a total of 13 over four decades.
McCamish helped bring a pair of significant golf tournaments to the Grand Strand that brought with them national television coverage, and helped the market prosper as executive director for 12 years of the marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday.
“It’s just such an honor to be inducted. I think of the giants that I’m among,” McCamish said. “I owe so much to [current HOF members] Cecil [Brandon], General [James] Hackler, Clay Brittain, the Brittain family, there are so many good people there and I just feel so fortunate to be included among those giants of the golf industry in Myrtle Beach.”
McCamish and Lachicotte attended the ceremony and Young was represented by his son, Danny Young.
Doc Lachicotte
Lachicotte turned 95 a week before Wednesday’s ceremony and is living in his longtime home of approximately 60 years in Pawleys Island.
After serving in World War II — as part of the occupation forces in Japan following the dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki — and receiving a Horticulture degree from Clemson University, Lachicotte returned to Pawleys Island to open a nursery and run his family’s business, The Hammock Shops, which he grew into an internationally-recognized rope hammock brand.
He later founded The Lachicotte Company in 1991 and led the development of Wachesaw Plantation in Murrells Inlet.
As a partner in Ponderosa Inc., Lachicotte and his friends purchased Caledonia Plantation along the Waccamaw River in 1971 and used it as a place to gather, hunt and fish.
In 1992 the group decided to build its first golf course, Caledonia, and hired Mike Strantz to design his first course as an independent designer. Known for his attention to details and his love of natural beauty, Lachicotte’s handprints can be found throughout Caledonia, from the preservation of its centuries-old live oaks and its beautiful landscaping to the old English brick and mortar joints used throughout its clubhouse and retaining walls.
The visually stunning nature of Caledonia and Strantz’s design would catapult it into being one of the most awarded courses on the Grand Strand.
“If it wasn’t for Doc, Caledonia wouldn’t look like it does,” said John Springs, president of Ponderosa Inc., and Lachicotte’s cousin. “. . . Doc was instrumental and very involved in the construction and details of everything at Caledonia. The design of the clubhouse was pulled from the Bull family home in Georgetown. He was familiar with it and had the architect copy the front facade. Things like old English brick, the way the brick was laid, the shrubbery, taking care of the trees. He just had a lot of influence in the way Caledonia looked after it was a golf course. In addition to his abilities, it was his love for the place that really intrigued me. If Doc wanted it a certain way it was going to be right.
“It was Doc’s attention to detail that really made us successful. Not many people have that. I used to tell my employees, ‘If there is something that isn’t going right or doesn’t look right, you tell me first because Doc will find it and then he’ll tell me.’ ”
Following Caledonia’s success, Ponderosa hired Strantz to build True Blue, where Lachicotte again took the lead in working with him and contractors to construct a one-of-a-kind layout.
Lachicotte has been involved in the development of several areas of the Strand as a developer for most of his life and owner of Lachicotte Realty for several decades. His company built in the 1970s and operates Pirateland Family Camping Resort in the Surfside Beach area, and the original Ponderosa campground in the 1960s was in the Windy Hill area of North Myrtle Beach.
Ponderosa developed Waverly Plantation in Pawleys Island, and was involved in a land transfer that led to the building of the TPC and surrounding property to enhance golf and give the area a tournament site.
Lachicotte is a philanthropist. He has served on many boards, is a trustee emeritus of Brookgreen Gardens and a former member of the Clemson University Board of Visitors.
He’s been involved in charitable community endeavors through All Saints Church and has been a fundraiser and advocate for the AMIKids home for troubled youth in Georgetown.
“He’s just a wonderful fella. He’s very generous,” Springs said. “Anybody that had a problem and they came to Doc, Doc would help them. I’ve never seen the man turn down anybody.”
Lachicotte, who has been an avid fisherman and sportsman who enjoyed golf, has deep connections in South Carolina. Astronaut and Palmetto State native Charles Duke took a miniature Pawleys Island hammock and S.C. state flag to the moon and back and gave those to Lachicotte, and he was one of former Clemson football coach Frank Howard’s pallbearers at his funeral. The two became good friends after Lachicotte was a student trainer for the team in the late 1940s.
“Doc knows all kinds of people,” Springs said.
Growing up during the great depression in Pawleys Island, Lachicotte speaks with a Gullah-influenced creole brogue.
Mickey McCamish
After a decorated 27-year Navy career followed by employment with the DuPont Company, in part as its tournament director of the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, McCamish was recruited by marketing cooperative Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday to be the tournament director of the Senior PGA Tour Championship.
McCamish used his business connections and visited and corresponded with several companies to land a tournament title sponsor, and eventually Eveready Battery Company and its Energizer brand were signed as the title sponsor for the Energizer Senior PGA Tour Championship.
The tournament brought national television and media attention to Myrtle Beach for seven years from 1994-2000. It was played at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club from 1994-99 and TPC Myrtle Beach in 2000.
He was also instrumental in bringing the LPGA Tour to the Grand Strand for a four-year run from 1997-2000 at Wachesaw Plantation East.
McCamish became executive director of Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday and helped Strand golf prosper with an aggressive community effort to bring direct air service to Myrtle Beach, which was needed to help fill 120 golf courses. Additionally during his tenure, member dues were restructured to become more equitable based on rounds of golf played, and he was able to secure tourism dollars from the state to help promote Myrtle Beach golf.
McCamish, who lived in Myrtle Beach with his wife Carol, daughter Shannon and son Chad, now lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he is executive director of both the city’s largest event, the Riverbend Festival featuring multiple genres of music, and the non-profit Friends of the Festival that produces it. He’s also involved in several veterans-related events.
Larry Young
Young arrived in Myrtle Beach with his family in 1975 to lease and run Eagle Nest Golf Club. That was the beginning of a career in the Myrtle Beach market that included building eight courses as a hands-on builder and developer, and operating a total of 13.
The courses included Marsh Harbour, Oyster Bay, Heritage Club, Heather Glen and his crown jewel, Legends Resort. Young’s courses helped elevate the level and quality of layouts in the market, leading to the market’s elevation to one of the world’s top golf destinations.
His development of Marsh Harbour Golf Links in Calabash, N.C., in 1980 helped lead to the expansion of the market into Brunswick County, N.C., which is a big part of the market today.
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.
He also partnered with Strantz to build Stonehouse and Royal New Kent in the area of Williamsburg, Virginia.
This year’s three inductees are joining 27 existing members of the hall: General James Hackler, Cecil Brandon, Clay Brittain, Carolyn Cudone, Jimmy D’Angelo, Robert White, George ‘Buster’ Bryan, Charlie Byers, Paul Himmelsbach, Gary Schaal, J. Egerton Burroughs, J.Bryan Floyd, Edward Jerdon, Casper Leon Benton, George Hilliard, Critt Gore, Russell ‘Doc’ Burgess, Sandy Miles, Phillip Goings, Edward Burroughs, Kelly Tilghman, Vernon Brake, Bob LeComte, Ed Bullock, Larry Leagans, Dustin Johnson, and collectively the four members of Hootie & the Blowfish.
This story was originally published June 12, 2021 at 11:00 AM.
