Strand icons Hilliard, Weldon honored by S.C. Golf Course Owners Association

Both George Hilliard of Murrells Inlet and Gene Weldon of Ocean Isle Beach, N.C., will be honored when the South Carolina Golf Course Owners Association (SCGCOA) holds its annual awards luncheon and ceremony Oct. 13 at Kiawah Island Resort’s Turtle Point following a board meeting.

Weldon has been named the organization’s Tommy Cuthbert State Employee of the Year, while Hilliard is receiving its seldom-awarded Terry Florence Lifetime Contribution to the Golf Industry Award as a unanimous choice by the board.

Hilliard is just the fourth recipient of the Florence award since it was created in 2008. The other three are its late namesake, Happ Lathrop of the South Carolina Golf Association and Chuck Borman, formerly of the Carolinas Golf Course Superintendents Association.

Hilliard, 76, was hired in 1988 as the first executive director of the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association and held the position for 26 years before retiring last year.

In that post he helped create the Grand Strand Tee Time Network – the area’s first computerized tee time reservation system – the Myrtle Beach Golf Passport discount rounds program and the industry’s health insurance program for course employees, and his lobbying efforts nationally and statewide gained significant tax reductions for course owners.

Hilliard and SCGCOA executive director Terry Sedalik helped form the state owners group in 1993 and create its five chapters – Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head Island, Charleston, Midlands and Upstate.

“George was probably one of the real leaders in this state as far as the growth and development of the promotion and protection of golf course owners’ interests through our association. There was a clear need for it,” Sedalik said. “You think about the PGA course professionals and superintendents, they all had groups to support their interests in the golf industry.

“It’s been a big change since the formation of it. We relied on people like George to come together as competitors and colleagues. George had the right integrity and personality to work with the people involved.”

Hilliard also served for a decade as tournament chairman of the American Junior Golf Association’s Ping Myrtle Beach Junior Classic and ran the GSTTN for its first 18 years through 2007.

Weldon, 66, was considered for the annual state employee award after being named the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association’s employee of the year.

Weldon has been a golf professional on the Strand for 43 years and is currently the director of new business development for East Coast Golf Management.

He was the only head pro at Gator Hole Golf Club for the course’s entire 20-year existence from 1980-99, and his other stops include Beachwood Golf Club, Arcadian Shores Golf Club, Waterway Hills Golf Club, Surf Golf and Beach Club, Sandpiper Bay Golf Club and Thistle Golf Club.

His contributions to the area golf industry include being on the ground floor of the Myrtle Beach Junior Golf Program in 1981 and representing the area at consumer golf shows throughout North America for more than three decades.

“He was well respected by members of our board; out of the group most everybody had met Gene or knew him throughout his career,” Sedalik said. “That’s pretty good if you get people from all over South Carolina who know you somehow.”

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Strand icons Hilliard, Weldon honored by S.C. Golf Course Owners Association."