Millstone Executive Golf Course opening as a community project

Randy and wife Lynn Meekins have invested their time and money into the rebuilding of the former Hideaway Golf executive course and driving range hoping the surrounding communities will support the facility.

Considering the role community members have played in reconstructing the course over the past couple years, that shouldn’t be an issue.

The retired educators will reopen the property as Millstone Executive Golf Course on Friday.

“We’ve been so blessed and so surprised at the number of people who have come out of the woodwork, volunteers helping to rebuild,” Randy said. “I’ve had to turn help down.”

The nine-hole par-31 course measures 2,150 yards, and the Meekins want people on the west side of Georgetown and in surrounding towns like Hemingway, Johnsonville, Plantersville, Lake City and Kingstree to all consider Millstone their local course.

“In two years if it’s paying for itself we’re going to leave the doors open because it’s a community course,” Randy said. “If it makes money that’s wonderful. If it breaks even that’s okay. If it’s not making enough to sustain itself we’re going to close it down. But from the reaction we’ve had from I mean everyone, I think we’ll be okay.”

Randy, 58, will be at the course daily performing just about all duties, and appreciates the change of venue his new profession brings. “This is pretty exciting stuff for us,” said Randy, who retired from his position as an assistant principal less than two years ago. “This has been a lot of fun. You compare this to a classroom and it’s night and day. I feel like I’ve been paroled.”

The course name references a milling factory that was once on or near the property. In milling, mules turn two circular millstones stacked atop one another in opposite directions to grind grain or corn and make products including flour and cornmeal. The millstone is incorporated in the course logo and some millstone is being displayed on the property.

The Meekins live adjacent to the course and the land has been in Lynn’s family for more than a century. Her stepfather, Joe Pope, a retired engineer, built Hideaway Golf for a 1998 opening and operated it for 15 years before closing it in 2013 while in his 80s.

The 18-hole Wellman Club in Johnsonville had closed around 2010, so players in the area were left without a nearby golf course.

“We had so many people call in this community, people saying, ‘Why don’t you do something with this. We have nowhere to play golf,’ ” Randy said. “We decided to go ahead and give it a try.”

The Meekins say they have put between $150,000 and $200,000 into the course to reopen it, with the investment largely funded by proceeds from their 12-year embroidery and screen-printing business Embroidery By Design. “We’re industrious,” Randy said. “If we want to do something we figure out a way to do it. We didn’t know anything about screen-printing.”

Randy reconstructed the course despite having no prior experience with golf course maintenance. He’s had no problem gleaning knowledge from generous superintendents on the Grand Strand.

Randy called Horry-Georgetown Technical College and a couple professors in the school’s Golf & Sports Turf Management Program visited the course and gave him leads on what to do and who to call, and numerous superintendents have provided equipment and service.

“As superintendents found out we were doing this, one would call another and . . . they came out of the woodwork for us,” Randy said. “They really want golf courses to succeed. They don’t view us as competition. They have been so supportive.”

Ocean Ridge Plantation superintendent Clint Bryant has made several visits and been particularly helpful, Revels Turf & Tractor territory manager Rankin Armstrong helped the Meekins acquire affordable equipment and reconditioned some of it, and former superintendent Nelson Cato, now a sales rep at Vereen’s Turf Products “has kind of taken us under his wing and he’s constantly calling and texting,” Randy said.

The Meekins have purchased a pair of fairway mowers, a couple green mowers, an aerator and a top-dresser.

Allen Poston of Cherry Hill Golf Club in Andrews has also assisted, the Meekins’ sons Blake and David, both of Columbia, have taken roles and there have been numerous volunteer laborers.

“When we tell them we’re on a shoestring budget and ask what they can do, they’ll find a way to make it happen,” Randy said. “It’s very cool. They want you to succeed.”

Millstone has four par-4s measuring between 266 and 415 yards and five par-3s measuring between 112 and 200 yards, with four longer than 170.

All tee boxes and greens have been rebuilt, greens have been enlarged and collars have been added, and the clubhouse has been remodeled. A few ponds and a cart bridge across one of them have been added.

The greens feature Sunday ultradwarf Bermudagrass and generally have only mild slopes. Randy hopes to have them running at a quick 10.5 on the Stimpmeter.

All bunkers were removed to save money on maintenance but Randy intends to strategically add bunkers in the future.

“We tried to listen to golfers in the past and what they would have done differently, and we tried to implement that here,” Randy said.

A wide driving range is 325 yards deep with several target greens and is lighted.

In addition to volunteer workers who will have golfing privileges, the Meekins’ plans to hire local college students to work part time. “It can provide some income for some people around here,” Randy said.

Randy hopes to make Millstone a First Tee of the Grand Strand host facility and it was a host course for the Johnsonville and Carvers Bay high school teams this past season despite not yet being open to the public.

The course will host tournaments and a gazebo is planned for events. Millstone hosted three events in May – a bridal shower and two graduation parties in the clubhouse.

A grand opening with live music will be scheduled in the coming weeks. “We’ll play a little bit instead of working,” said Lynn, who was a teacher for 28 years. “We feel we’ve kind of earned that little play time.”

The Meekins own enough land to expand the course to 18 holes. “We want to see what the reaction is to the executive course,” Randy said.

This story was originally published June 9, 2016 at 10:07 PM with the headline "Millstone Executive Golf Course opening as a community project."