Making Golf a Patriotic Rite of Passage

We could marvel at the sight of more than 1,200 golfers visiting the Grand Strand for one tournament, played on five different courses in May.

We could tell you who won, and reveal the lowest scores in a spirited competition.

But we wouldn’t be anywhere close to revealing the true spirit behind what made the 25th Annual National Retired Military Golf Classic – held Memorial Day week at Aberdeen Country Club, Long Bay Club and Myrtle Beach National Golf Club – so special.

To find that out, we didn’t have to wander beyond the post-round reception area, where we came across three men with a combined 69 years of proud military service.

They recounted the great shots and duffs they shared during the four rounds they just completed – chatting, joking and laughing like long lost friends. Only before this tournament, they had never met. And that was exactly the point.

”The common bond of having proudly served our country … that’s what makes the camaraderie so special here,” said Bob Glasgow of Wilmington, N.C., a retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Special Forces. “We look forward to getting paired up with new folks. Our backgrounds immediately draw us together, and give each other special memories.”

”Plus,” added Carl Cannon (Morgantown, W.Va.), a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, “there’s lots of history here,” citing the attendance of a former instructor for Carl Brashear – the first African American to become a U.S. Navy Master Diver in 1970, and whose military service was portrayed by Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the 2000 film Men of Honor.

Amid the sea of red, white and blue – and between the likes of Cannon’s patriotic golf attire and the gigantic U.S. flags gracing the lawns of the host courses, there was plenty of it – only one thing truly mattered to these guys. “Friendships … and meeting lots of different people,” explained Grant Little of Austin, Tex., a retired captain in the United States Air Force.

“That, more than anything, is what keeps me coming back every year.”