A man who has been involved in just about all facets of the golf industry over more than 60 years, and a golf writer who helped spread Myrtle Beach’s story across the nation will be the next inductees into the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame.
Charlie Floyd has been a course employee, hotelier, golf package provider, course owner, and course owner association board member, while Bob Drum helped Jimmy D’Angelo establish the annual Golf Writers Association of America Championship that was held in Myrtle Beach for 50 years.
They will be inducted into the hall on Sept. 23 at Pine Lakes Country Club, home to the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame Garden, during an invitation-only ceremony.
“I’m one of the most blessed people there is in this world,” said Floyd, who is joining his brother, J. Bryan Floyd, in the hall.
Drum is being inducted posthumously, as he died at the age of 78 in 1996.
Charlie Floyd
Floyd, 85, the 11th of 12 children in his family, took his first job in the Myrtle Beach golf market 66 years ago and remains a course owner.
His passion for the game took root as a student at Furman University, where he played the college’s course, and was reinforced in 1960, when he began working for a couple summers on the maintenance crew at The Surf Golf and Beach Club under pro Ed Bullock, another member of the hall.
After graduating, Floyd became an educator and coach at Myrtle Beach High School, eventually serving as head football coach and athletic director. With summers off, he became one of the first employees at Myrtlewood Golf Club when it opened in June 1966, and worked two summers in roles that included being a starter.
“Whatever needed to be done is what I did,” Floyd said.
He then transitioned into a connection between golf and hospitality.
He said he and friend/partner Henry Coan leased an oceanfront lot and borrowed money from a bank to open a hotel in 1970.
From there, they brought in partner Ralph Jones to develop and open several more hotels, including the Paradise Inn and Sand Castle Resort North and South, and he remained in the hotel industry for more than five decades.
He got involved in the golf package business through the hotels, “and that motivated me to get into the golf course business,” Floyd said.
He and his partners then got involved in the development and ownership of several golf courses, including Buck Creek Golf Club (now Aberdeen Country Club), River Hills Golf Club, International World Tour Golf Links, and Arrowhead Country Club. He remains a partner in Arrowhead.
He served the golf industry with two four-year terms on the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owners Association Board of Directors, and 12 years on the National Golf Course Owners Association Board.
Throughout his careers on the Grand Strand, Floyd has exhibited a combination of leadership and faith that has inspired those around him.
He still takes part in fellowship meetings every Wednesday morning at an area restaurant.
“His commitment and service to our golf business has been lengthy and positively impactful,” said longtime area golf professional and administrator Tim Tilma, the general manager at Sandpiper Bay Golf Club who nominated Floyd for induction. “. . . [Floyd] has always promoted our game and the business of golf in Myrtle Beach, and has had the long-term vision to do the right thing for our industry.”
Floyd has a wife, Gayle, three children – Chad, Trina and Branden – and three grandchildren.
Bob Drum
Drum is best known as a longtime golf writer who discovered a young high school hotshot named Arnold Palmer and later brought laughter to CBS golf coverage with his amusing insights.
He also helped Myrtle Beach become known as the Golf Capital of the World through his contributions to the annual GWAA tournament that attracted writers from around the country who extolled Myrtle Beach’s offerings, as well as his many articles about the area.
Drum was an All-American basketball player at the University of Alabama before service in World War II derailed his professional aspirations. In 1948, he became a sportswriter on the golf beat with The Pittsburgh Press, where he worked for 20 years, and later wrote for just about every major golf magazine.
He knew D’Angelo, a founding hall member who was perhaps the greatest promoter of Myrtle Beach golf, and in the 1950s he attended the first gathering of writers hosted by D’Angelo at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club. He then helped D’Angelo build the gatherings into a coveted tournament and event with his influence in the GWAA.
He never missed a GWAA tournament until his death, and turned the gatherings into family vacations just before the Masters Tournament.
“He literally changed our vacation destination to Myrtle Beach as a family before I was born,” said Kevin Drum, the youngest of Bob’s five children who will speak on his father’s behalf at his induction ceremony. “It was a big part of the camaraderie of the golf writers. It became a must-attend event. It went from an idea Jimmy D had into a must-attend event.”
Palmer attended and spoke at the 50th GWAA tournament at The Dunes Club in 2003.
Drum first saw Palmer, of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, play in his early teens and predicted he would become the world’s best golfer.
They built a unique friendship as Drum became Palmer’s friend, de facto publicist, confidant, and collaborator. He was a ghost writer for many of Palmer’s books and helped shape the public story of a man who built his “Arnie’s Army” following.
They both brought personality to the game.
“He was a common-man golfer and my dad was a common-man writer. It was a match made in heaven,” Kevin Drum said.
Drum and Palmer are credited with identifying and naming the current Grand Slam in golf.
As president of the GWAA in 1960, Drum proclaimed during the GWAA tournament in Myrtle Beach that the Masters, U.S. Open, [British] Open Championship and PGA Championship constituted the Professional Grand Slam.
Up until that point, the four tournaments that Bobby Jones won in 1930 – the U.S. and British Opens, and U.S. and British Amateurs – were considered the Grand Slam.
After Palmer won the 1960 Masters and U.S. Open, he and Drum touted that he was chasing the pro Grand Slam.
According to Palmer’s autobiography, “A Golfer’s Life,” he and Drum – while on the transatlantic flight to The Open Championship at St. Andrews – agreed that adding it and the PGA would complete the modern Grand Slam. Palmer finished second at St. Andrews by a shot, but the Grand Slam notion persisted.
Drum had a broadcasting career on CBS.
Known for his gravel-voiced, curmudgeon wit, he brought humor and unique insights to coverage with his weekly segment, “The Drummer’s Beat,” which earned him an Emmy nomination and designation as the “Andy Rooney of Golf.”
Drum was also hired by Pinehurst, N.C., to be its public relations director, and he helped create the World Golf Hall of Fame, which is housed in Pinehurst, and Hall of Fame tournament on the PGA Tour, which was held for a decade.
Drum’s five children are scheduled to attend the induction ceremony: Debbi Drum-Basset, Denise Drum-Baker, Donna Drum-Thomas, Bob Drum Jr. and Kevin, of Drum Media and the Drum & Quill Pub in Pinehurst.
“I’m very appreciative of this and I think it’s a tribute to all golf writers,” Kevin said.
Hall history
The Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame was created in 2008 to honor individuals who have had an indelible impact on the Strand golf industry, and now has 40 members.
The charter inductees were Clay Brittain Jr., Cecil Brandon, Carolyn Cassidy Cudone, D’Angelo, General James Hackler Jr. and Robert White.
The other members are Charlie Thrash, Phillip Graham, George ‘Buster’ Bryan, Charlie Byers, Paul Himmelsbach, Jack Himmelsbach, Gary Schaal, J. Egerton Burroughs, J. Bryan Floyd, Edward Jerdon, Casper Leon Benton, George Hilliard, Critt Gore, Russell ‘Doc’ Burgess, Sandy Miles, Phillip Goings, Edward Burroughs, Kelly Tilghman, Vernon Brake, Bob LeComte, Ed Bullock, Larry Leagans, Dustin Johnson, the four members of Hootie & the Blowfish collectively, Mickey McCamish, Larry Young, Doc Lachicotte, Gene Weldon, Matthew Brittain, Jim Woodring, Charlie Thrash, Phillip Graham, Dr. Bruce Martin and Arthur L. ‘Max’ Morgan Jr.
The Hall of Fame Garden in the courtyard behind the Pine Lakes clubhouse includes a permanent display of inductee plaques.
