VIDEO SPOTLIGHT: PGA Professionals Nationwide Descend Upon Myrtle Beach to Experience, Learn

Learn more about the partnership Play Golf Myrtle Beach has established with the PGA of America and PGA Magazine, to bring PGA professionals from around the country to Myrtle Beach and let them experience The Golf Capital of the World® first-hand – many for the first time. As you’ll see in this short video they came away not just impressed, but vastly more informed about what Myrtle Beach has to offer as a golf travel destination.

Kayla Stewart:

So we started this partnership with PGA Magazine and the PGA of America to bring members to the Myrtle Beach area to show them a golf experience and really showcase what all Myrtle Beach has to offer in a golf experience, so they can see the area for potential opportunity for them. It could be the simplest thing as saying where they went and traveled, where they played golf, mentioning a course that’s here and what’s special to them, what they look for. And they also are a key, key piece to growing the game on what we all want to do and just shine light on the destination as a whole.

Bo Preston:

It’s different for everyone. It’s how you’re treated. It’s not necessarily how you play, but it is the experience. It is what is offered to you and how you accept that offering. I could tell you this week that we’ve been here, it’s just absolutely … People are just nice here and it’s nice to see. It’s nice to be recognized that way.

Rick Walcott:

The way they treated us, wonderful. And then today again at the (Barefoot) Dye Course, we were treated like royalty. I mean, everything was set up for us.

Bo Preston:

Well, playing with golf professionals that I’ve never met before, that was great. It was great to meet people from other parts of the country and get out and play. But Grande Dunes and the Dye Course, they’re both great hosts. Golf courses are in great shape and a lot of fun to play. A lot of fun to play.

Kayla Stewart:

I think that’s what’s the most special part about it is: our community coming together and what it means to be The Golf Capital of the World® (and) that Myrtle Beach, we work collectively to be a destination as a whole to shine light to it. And that’s what makes us really unique to other traveling destinations.

Bo Preston:

I was younger, a lot younger when I came the first time and it was a lot different than it is today. But now when I came back, I was very impressed with what it is today. It’s kind of grown up.

Rick Walcott:

Of course yesterday I saw the homes out there and the homes that they’re building across the river or the canal or whatever, that this place has exploded. It’s amazing. This is a great, great place and there’s tons of golf and other things that do too. I mean, the beaches are beautiful. I wish I had time to just walk up and down the beach.

I think, certainly as a PGA professional, we (get) a certain amount of respect at our clubs. This business, you’re so close with your members. You really are. And I think you have a huge influence on your members because they really respect you. If they trust you, you’re the person they’re going to go to get fitted for those wedges. You’re the person they’re going to go to ask, “Geez, what golf ball should I use?” And again, they’re going to trust you as an instructor.

Bo Preston:

It’s been enjoyable coming in to see what Myrtle Beach has to offer and there’s a lot of great things to be right here in Myrtle Beach and people don’t think of it that way and now they should.

Rick Walcott:

I mean, when I go home, I’m going to tell people, “You got to go there because it’s not like it used to be.” Myrtle Beach has had a different connotation than it does now. If people come here, I know they’re going to be impressed.

Kayla Stewart:

It’s an honor to be a part of it and just work to create something really memorable for them. And I think I always enjoy the piece when it’s towards the end of the trip and you get to just talk to them about where they’re traveling from and their overall experience as a whole and you see this spark in their eye and that’s what I like to say the little piece of that magic of Myrtle Beach. And I just hope that they have these memories that they’ll hold onto for a really long time. And then I also hope it sparks that interest to say, “Man, I really enjoyed my time in Myrtle Beach, and I would love to come back and visit it again.”