Municipal course Whispering Pines thriving under private management

Approaching two years since the city of Myrtle Beach surrendered management of the city-owned Whispering Pines Golf Club through a concessionaire agreement, the arrangement has reportedly been a resounding success.

When Atlantic Golf Management took over management of the course on Oct. 31, 2014, city officials reported that it had been operating at an average loss of about $250,000 a year over the previous four years.

With its first full fiscal year complete under the arrangement from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, Atlantic Golf Management owner Chip Smith gave an encouraging report to the city council last week.

Smith said the course is on pace to play 50,000 rounds in 2016 – a number that harkens back to the glory days of golf in the 1990s and would put it at or near the top of rounds played at courses on the Grand Strand – and he made a payment of more than $52,500 to the city per terms of the agreement.

“Council couldn’t be more pleased with what Mr. Smith has done,” city councilman Phil Render said. “A year or two ago we were very close to closing that golf course. I think the overall thought is Whispering Pines provides an affordable option for both city and county residents to play an affordable community golf course, and we did not want that opportunity to slip away from us.

“… For the immediate future it’s a community asset we need to cultivate. We did not want to close it down but we could not weather those losses. We’re excited. Mr. Smith showed it can be done.”

Smith said the Whispering Pines has increased rounds played every month compared to the same month the previous year since his company took over.

“We’re really pleased with that, and compared with market averages on the beach I think we’re 10,000 to 12,000 rounds ahead of the average in our category and type of course,” Smith said.

Whispering Pines has traditionally been near the low end of green fees on the Strand, and Smith said rates are still within $2 of what they were when the city operated the course and he doesn’t plan on any significant price hikes.

“We think we’ve got a good thing going and we don’t want to try to mess that up for us or for the residents,” Smith said.

Though the course receives some package play and rounds from airport travelers because of its location across Harrelson Blvd. from Myrtle Beach International Airport, Smith said the bulk of his play is from locals.

“We’ve held the pricing to where it’s competitive and locals feel they’re getting a great value,” Smith said. “We haven’t built the business off package business as much as we have locals who feel good about what we’ve done, so I feel good about that. It’s fun to walk in there and finish a round and feel happy about the quality of golf and price they’ve paid.”

Myrtle Beach had to receive approval from the U.S. National Park Service for the concessionaire agreement because the U.S. government gave the former Air Force base golf course to the city when the base closed in 1993, and the course must be used for golf or other recreation and cannot be leased to another entity.

Per the agreement, Atlantic Golf is paying the city 3.5 percent of gross revenues each year once the course makes more than $1.1 million.

The agreement includes a capital improvement program, through which Atlantic Golf contributes to improvements and it is recommended that the city returns its profits to the course for a list of improvement projects.

Smith said the more than $52,500 Atlantic Golf paid to the city was earned through the 3.5 percent of gross revenues and 10 percent of the practice range revenue. Atlantic Golf also has to contribute additional funds to capital improvements if gross revenue exceeds $1 million.

The city council has an upcoming vote to appropriate its profits back into capital improvements. Smith said his company has spent $114,000 on capital improvements and the city contributed to renovations to the clubhouse that included a new roof and cosmetic additions to the exterior, and heating and air improvements on the property.

Smith plans to rebuild outdated restrooms on the course, repair cart paths and upgrade the irrigation system in upcoming projects.

“I gave a number I spent on capital improvements which well exceeded my responsibilities,” Smith said. “It’s come a long way in terms of improvements of the facilities. When we came in for the pitch to get this, one of the things that we wanted to do was make this golf course something that the city could be proud of, and we certainly are proud of it on our end.

“Overall I’m very pleased and very proud to bring anybody out to that golf course, whereas a couple of years ago that wasn’t the case.”

The municipal course has retained 12 of the original city employees, Smith said, while some former employees chose to retire and at least one is working for the city in a different capacity.

The success hasn’t been without some struggles, as Atlantic Golf recently had to deal with the irrigation pond near the eighth hole nearly going dry. Water was pumped last week from other retention ponds on the course so it again has full watering capabilities.

Diaz in finals

For the first time, Roberto Diaz of Myrtle Beach qualified for the four-event Web.com Tour Finals.

After narrowly missing being inside the top 75 on the money list in each of the past two years – finishing 78th and 82nd on the money list following late-season swoons – Diaz was well within the cut line this season and ended the regular season Sunday 51st on the money list.

The four finals events each have $1 million purses, beginning next week with the DAP Championship at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, Ohio, and concluding with the Web.com Tour Championship from Oct. 6-9 at Atlantic Beach Country Club in Atlantic Beach, Fla.

By being inside the top 75, Diaz is guaranteed full status on the Web.com Tour in 2017.

But he now has the opportunity to earn 2017 PGA Tour status.

“I’m very excited,” Diaz said. “It’s the first year I’m inside the top 75 and have a chance to have at least full status on the Web.com. I’m improving every year, every year has been better and better. I think I’m pretty ready for the playoffs. It’s going to be a good chance and a shootout to try to get the tour card. That’s what we work for.”

The top 25 players on the Web.com Tour money list through Sunday have already earned PGA Tour status. Another 25 players will earn PGA Tour playing privileges through the playoffs, which include fields consisting of the top 75 on the Web.com money list as well as players who finished 126-200 on the FedExCup points list at the conclusion of the PGA Tour’s regular season.

A separate money list for the Web.com Tour Finals determines the final 25 PGA Tour cards, and the player who earns the most money during the four finals events (excluding the top 25 from the regular season) will earn fully exempt status on the PGA Tour and an invitation to The Players Championship.

Diaz again faded late in the Web.com season.

He missed just four cuts in his first 13 events, and vaulted into the top 20 on the money list with a tie for second in early June in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, that was his second top-10 of the season and worth more than $46,000. Diaz finished the season with $96,968 in 18 events.

Diaz snapped a string of four consecutive missed cuts this past week with a tie for 38th at 6-under 278 in the WinCo Foods Portland (Ore.) Open with rounds of 68, 69, 71 and 70.

His four missed cuts came after he missed two events over about a month in July with an injury/illness that he did not want to disclose. In those four events, Diaz shot seven rounds between 70 and 76 with a 67 in the Digital Ally Open in early August, where he missed the cut despite a 4-under 138 through 36 holes.

“Right now I’m fully recovered and those weeks were a good test to see what I needed to work on getting ready for the playoffs,” Diaz said.

Diaz, a Mexico native who has lived in Myrtle Beach and trained at the Greg Norman Champions Academy at Barefoot Resort since 2010 after graduating from USC Aiken in ’09, now hopes to get hot again for the playoffs. He flew back to Myrtle Beach on Monday for a week of preparation.

Among those who finished in the top 25 on the money list to earn their 2017 PGA Tour cards were Bluffton resident Richy Werenski, Beaufort resident and South Carolina alum Mark Anderson, J.T. Poston, a 2016 member of the Grand Strand-based Swing Thought Tour, and Swing Thought alums Trey Mullinax, Rick Lamb and Mackenzie Hughes of Charlotte, N.C.

Werenski, a 24-year-old Springfield, Mass., native and Georgia Tech alum, won the BMW Charity Pro-Am in Greenville and had three runner-up finishes this year to finish second on the money list in his second season on the Web.com Tour.

Golfweek event sold out

The Myrtle Beach-Wilmington chapter of the Golfweek Amateur Tour is hosting a regional tournament this weekend that has drawn a sellout of 132 players from several states.

The Grand Strand Classic is being held at Pine Lakes Country Club on Saturday and the Grande Dunes Resort Course on Sunday, and more than $13,000 in prizes will be awarded through the tournament and an affiliated skins game Friday at the Grande Dunes Resort Course.

A welcome registration party will follow the skins game from 7-10 p.m. Friday at Grande Dunes and feature the band Painted Man, and a long drive contest with men, women and senior divisions will be held at Grande Dunes on Sunday morning prior to the final round.

There are 12 local Golfweek tours represented in the tournament, including those in Kentucky, Michigan; Salt Lake City, Utah; El Paso, Texas; Washington, D.C.; Tampa, Fla.; Orlando, Fla.; and Atlanta. Sixty-six single-digit handicaps will be competing in the championship and A Flights.

Golfsmith, TaylorMade and the OnCore Golf Balls are presenting tournament sponsors.

“I’m really happy about the first regional event in Myrtle Beach being a sellout with a waiting list, and I’m definitely happy about pulling from that many tours,” said Myrtle Beach-Wilmington tour director Jason Dores. “It’s definitely giving courses here at the beach some exposure.”

The regional event is the final event of the Myrtle Beach-Wilmington tour, but Dores will hold a five-event winter series with one event per month from October through February. Events will have two-person team net formats and the winter tour will cost $40 plus entry fees. Players can register at golfweekamateurtour.com or by calling Dores at 703-474-0920.

The 54-hole Golfweek Amateur Tour National Championship will be held Oct. 21-23 on eight courses in Hilton Head Island.

Juniors moving on

Two Grand Strand juniors advanced Saturday from a Drive, Chip & Putt Championship Sub-Regional on Saturday at Fort Jackson Golf Club outside Columbia, and have qualified to compete in a Sept. 4 Regional qualifier at Pinehurst Resort (N.C.).

Regional winners in each of eight age and gender division qualify for the finals at Augusta National on April 2, 2017, the Sunday before the 81st Masters Tournament.

Walker Devers of Murrells Inlet won the boys age 14-15 division, while Braeden Barnett of Galivants Ferry finished second in the boys 12-13 division. Two participants advanced from each division.

Madison Messimer of Myrtle Beach is the second alternate in the girls 7-9 division, and Eleanor Brown of Myrtle Beach is the second alternate in the girls 10-11 division.

Fourteen Strand residents ages 7-15 qualified to compete at Fort Jackson from a July 12 local qualifier at Legends Resort.

This story was originally published August 29, 2016 at 8:29 PM with the headline "Municipal course Whispering Pines thriving under private management."