A new era is upon us for the Hackler Course at Coastal Carolina University.
A new 16,000-square-foot clubhouse and learning center that is called the CCU Professional Golf Management Academic Learning Lab opened last week.
The first floor of the two-story red brick building houses a pro shop featuring course and CCU merchandise, and a fairly large restaurant and bar called the Wingman’s Grill for visiting golfers, while the second floor is reserved for teaching and use by students in the school’s PGA Golf Management (PGM) program.
“The stuff we’ll be able to do for teaching students, and have opportunities for real space to have events – things you can’t do in [the old clubhouse], there’s no room. It’s not built for what we’re trying to do with it,” Hackler Course general manager Chuck Johns said. “It will be a good atmosphere for the students.”
The Hackler Course has offered experiential learning for PGM students for decades, as many of them have worked at the course, including in the pro shop, during their schooling.
“We can quickly transition from the classroom space where we’re talking about theory, into an actual practical experience, where they’re doing merchandising and tournament operations,” said PGM program director Gil Feagin. “You just have to walk straight downstairs to see it in action.”
A reason to celebrate
The clubhouse is scheduled to have a ribbon cutting and grand opening celebration on Nov. 5.
The old single-story clubhouse, which was built in the late 1960s and has long had leaking issues, is scheduled to be demolished beginning Nov. 9.
In its place will be a circular drive with a wide grass median featuring flagpoles and parking on either side.
“It’s a long time coming,” Johns said. “I’ve spent 21 years of my life in [the old clubhouse]. Now I can have an office that’s not leaking. It’s way overdue, and it shows the commitment the university has to the PGM program.”
Feagin said the PGM program has 282 students this school year, which he said is the most among the 16 PGM programs at universities across the country.
The program has boasted a 100% internship and post-graduate placement rate for many years.
The second floor of the two-story building features a golf simulator fitted with a Trackman launch monitor, and putting green with PuttView laser technology and subtle undulations.
The upstairs classroom will seat 65 students, and the top floor also includes a club building, fitting and repair lab; conference room; and offices.
The club repair room features equipment and technology from club manufacturers including Titleist, TaylorMade, Srixon, Callaway and Mizuno.
“It gives us more space to spread out . . . [and] we’ve got the latest technology available in the market,” Feagin said. “This is going to help [students] expand their knowledge of the technology in the industry.”
The building has a few white columns on the front and back and looks more like a traditional college structure than a golf clubhouse.
Feagin said the university wanted to have the clubhouse and learning lab fit into the predominant architecture across university grounds.
The property also has a driving range and short-game practice area that features a green and greenside bunker, with the ability to hit shots up to about 75 yards.
The course also has a new logo that features a North American Aviation P-51 Mustang fighter-bomber plane that General James Hackler – a CCU benefactor and influential Myrtle Beach golf industry figure for whom the course is named – was known to have flown. It was used extensively during World War II, which Hackler served in, and the Korean War.
So it pays homage to Hackler and features CCU’s colors of teal and bronze.
History and embroidery
The Hackler Course is a modestly priced 6,886-yard Gene Hamm design that opened in 1968 as Quail Creek Golf Club. It was acquired by the university in 2010 after it began leasing it in 2005, and received a fairly extensive renovation in 2011 overseen by local course architect Craig Schreiner, after which it was renamed in Hackler’s honor.
In the past few years it has undergone additional changes and improvements including a redesign of the par-4 ninth hole to make room for the clubhouse, and a tee renovation project.
The Hackler Course is also home to University Stitch, a custom apparel and embroidery business that creates much of CCU’s apparel and merchandise. University Stitch is also overseen by Johns, and is based in a house off the second hole’s fairway.
It has provided the pro shop’s merchandise for several years, and also supplies two Teal Nation stores at Broadway at the Beach and downtown Conway, the CCU bookstore, and a Hudson News location in the new terminal at Myrtle Beach International Airport.
This year, it began providing merchandise for the football team, and this upcoming spring season it will be providing merchandise for the baseball and softball teams.
University Stitch products are also available through the Teal Nation online store.
