The South Carolina Golf Association Golf Day each year celebrates the success and history of the state organization.

The event usually includes a pro-forma business meeting to officially elect officers, but this year under new business the SCGA made a major announcement.

“We are taking a bold step to continue our ability to innovate and serve golfers in the state,” said SCGA president Rob Reeves, from Greenville.

Reeves announced the SCGA had purchased a substantial piece of land in Columbia to aid in the future growth of the SCGA.

“The plans we have for the location are still being developed, but the opportunity will be there for our offices, maybe a putting course or a location for meetings and work shops. We have several ideas and they are all designed to serve golfers in the state,” said Reeves.

The annual Golf Day highlight this year was the induction of long-time South Carolina club professional Russell Glover into the SCGA Hall of Fame.

As a competitor, Glover won state titles from his days as a junior high school student to a Carolinas PGA Senior Championship.

“I’m so grateful to the SCGA for this honor,” he said. “I’ve had a long career and I’m not done yet,” said the 79th member of the SCGA Hall of Fame.

Glover’s playing highlights included the 1974 SC Carolina Open, the 1976 Carolinas Open, the Carolinas Pro Pro Championship in 1979 and 1981, and the CGA Pro Amateur Championship in 1985 and 1993.

As a PGA Senior golfer Glover won the Carolinas PGA Senior Section Championship in 1996 and Carolinas PGA Senior Player of the Year.

The former Memphis State college golfer served as the PGA professional at several golf clubs during his long career.

His resume as a club professional included 22 years of service at the Lake City Country Club. He finished his distinguished career as the head professional at the Country Club of South Carolina from 1997 to 2013.

Glover was a champion for the development of junior golf in the state. During his career as a club professional he gave juniors lessons for free.

The Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year awards were presented at the gathering.

Sam Jackson of Columbia won the Player of the Year award for the third straight year.

Jackson joined D J Trahan as the only golfers to win the top honor for three consecutive years.

“Winning Player of the Year for the third time is truly special,” Jackson said. ” South Carolina is packed with amazing players, and competing with them is always a blast, but what makes it even better is the incredible people you get to meet and spend time with at every event,” he noted.

Playing in 12 ranked events, Jackson earned top-10 finishes in seven events including a runner-up finish at the Palmetto Amateur.

Nationally, Jackson again advanced to match play at the USGA Mid-Am championship for the third consecutive year.

White, who has won five SCGA Player of the Year Awards added his second Senior Player of the Year award in 2024.

The former Furman golfer book-ended the USGA Senior Amateur championship he won in 2023 with a win at the R&A Senior Championship this year.

“I’m honored to be recognized as the 2024 SCGA Senior Player of the Year, said White. “The quality of golf that is played in South Carolina – throughout the junior, amateur, mid-amateur, and senior ranks – is second to none in the country. Our state has a rich and storied history in the game of golf and I’m proud to be a part of that history,” concluded White.

The SCGA also honored the Charleston Municipal Golf Course as the SCGA Club of the Year. The Charleston “Muni” has been the site of the SCGA Public Links championship.

The SCGA presented the Tom Fazio Service to Golf Award to Jeff Block.

Block has been instrumental in helping the South Carolina Junior Golf Association conduct its junior match play championship at the exclusive Congaree Golf Club.

Stan Olenik, the editor and publisher of The Golf Club Newspaper and SCgolfclub.com website was presented the Charles Drawdy Distinguished Service Award for his contribution helping to publicize SCGA events and activities.

The Golf Club newspaper has been distributed at upstsate golf facilities for 32 years while the http://www.scgolfclub.com website has extended the reach of the publication since 2014.