Golf in South Carolina looking for an encore in 2026 — only better
OK, Golf, you had a great year in South Carolina in 2025. Tournaments produced plenty of drama, a long-time state stalwart won a national championship and recreational players — the backbone of the game — continued to flock to courses in record numbers.
So ... Golf in the Palmetto State, what will you do for an encore in 2026?
“More of the same, only better,” said Biff Lathrop, executive director of the S.C. Golf Association.
“So many exciting things are happening,” echoed Clarissa Childs, who heads the Women’s South Carolina Golf Association.
Both organizations will gather in the next few days to celebrate the past year and simultaneously look ahead, in connection with the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremonies.
They will have plenty of moments to remember. Among them: Dawn Woodard’s victory in the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur, Sam Jackson’s earning the player of the year award for an unprecedented fourth-straight time and Michael Carlisle’s induction into the state golf shrine.
“We want to keep going, keep rolling,” Lathrop said. “A lot of things will be the same, but we’ve made some changes, too. We’ve moved our Par-3 championship to the spring. Maybe the most important change is expanding our Hootie Series for juniors from a couple of months in the summer to a year-around schedule. Off the course, we’re looking forward to moving into tour new headquarters (in Irmo) by the middle of the year.”
According to Childs, “The best thing about 2025 is we didn’t have to deal with a hurricane,” remembering the storm that played havoc in the 2024 Women’s State Amateur. “We had a great 2025.”
The WSCGA is seeing more women “participating and enjoying the game,” Childs said. And that led to the association’s adding three clinics to the schedule.
“We’re seeing more mid-amateurs playing and being involved,” she said. “Some of them are on our board and bring a different perspective. We get some new ideas, and that’s great asset moving forward.”
Lathrop noted recently he had added three new staffers to keep up with the association’s demands, and the WSCGA is in the process to bolstering its personnel, too.
“We have grown to about 17,000 with GHIN handicaps, and a lot of them participate regularly in our events,” Childs said. “By adding staff, we will be able to do more for all of our members.”
Major SCGA championships will be played at Quixote Club in Sumter (Amateur), Spring Valley CC (Mid-Amateur), Callawassie Island Club in Okatie (Senior) and CC of Spartanburg (Junior). The Women’s Amateur is set for Santee Cooper Country Club and the Women’s Open at Cobblestone Park.
The PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage, a signature event set for April 16-19 on Hilton Head Island, headlines the professional schedule in the state. The Tour also will stage ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, an opposite-field tournament, May 7-10.
The Korn Ferry Tour comes to the Midlands for the first time with the Colonial Life Charity Classic at Woodcreek Club May 14-17 and moves to the Upstate for the BMW Charity Pro-Am in June at Thornblade and the CC of Spartanburg.
Individually among the Tour pros, Andrew Novak heads into the year at No. 34 in the world rankings. He joins Lucas Glover (No. 62) and Jacob Bridgeman (No. 81) in highlighting the South Carolina contingent on the PGA Tour.
“Lots of opportunities to play and lots of opportunities to watch the pros,” Lathrop said. “More and more people are playing.”
To illustrate the latter, he shared a conversation with pro Tom Mason, who owns Par Tee Golf Center in West Columbia.
“Tom told me he not only had 15 to 20 people hitting balls on the range on one of those 40-degree days but also that he had phone calls from people who wanted to know if he would be open on Christmas Day,” Lathrop said. “People want to play golf, and we want to provide the opportunities.”
Chip shots. Clemson senior Sydney Roberts won the CGA’s Carolinas Young Amateur tourney for the second time in three years. She finished at even-par 142 for the two rounds at the Mid-South Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
This story was originally published January 9, 2026 at 8:26 AM with the headline "Golf in South Carolina looking for an encore in 2026 — only better."