By Scott Kauffman, Contributor, Golf Business
Like most peers in the business, Charwood Golf Club owner Rock Lucas, whose family-owned course in West Columbia, S.C. is now in its third generation of management, knows a thing or two about running golf championships. But Lucas, whose late father started building their 18-hole course in the late 1960s, now has the distinction of hosting championships for runners.
And these weren’t just any running events, which courses have done for decades with an occasional 5k or local high school tournament. Last October, Charwood played host to the 2023 Southeastern Conference Cross Country Championships that was nationally televised on the SEC Network. In some respects, you can say Rock and his son Daniel are now running with the big dogs. And that’s saying a lot considering Rock is a longtime NGCOA officer with rare PGA/CGCS status, while his son is the president of the South Carolina Golf Course Owners Association and newly minted Class-A superintendent.
For the Lucas Family, whose course is just eight miles outside the state capital of Columbia and home to the University of South Carolina, Charwood is no stranger to having regular visitors, patrons and members over the years with ties to the SEC. In fact, the Lucas Family, like many in the surrounding Midlands area, are ardent supporters of the Gamecocks and “huge Gamecock Club boosters for 62 consecutive years,” Rock Lucas proudly says.
But for the unique three-day affair his club and community just pulled off in front of an estimated 2,000-plus live spectators and many more watching via the broadcast, this was a ‘golf’ course event for the ages. And Rock Lucas says his SEC cross country event was nothing like it used to be when participants “ran through forest, jumped over logs and dead trees and ran through creeks and streams.”
At Charwood, the SEC’s respective 6-to-8 mile men’s and women’s layouts, which started on the 18th tee and cut across several fairways, open fields and practice areas before finishing on the first hole, had to be delivered in what amounted to be “almost perfect.” For instance, Lucas’ staff had to cut any random roots that happened to be in the path of runners and a double drum asphalt roller was brought on property because SEC officials wanted every “little undulation in the turf to be filled in.”
Ironically, Charwood maintained golf-like conditions for a cross country event.
“We rolled the entire track so they wanted it almost immaculate,” Rock Lucas says. “We had irrigation heads filled over and had to come back and vacuum them all out after the meet. … They wanted it almost perfect like an indoor track.”
But it was worth every minute – adds Lucas – whose staff, members and community took great pride in the exciting event as SEC buses rolled in and exclusively parked on site as if it were College GameDay coming to town for a big-time SEC football game. Lucas wouldn’t disclose what the SEC paid to rent the facility, but what initially started out in being just two half-days of shutting down for the event wound up being three full days of being closed to the golfing public.
“The exposure for the golf course, you couldn’t buy that,” adds Lucas, who ended up getting paid the equivalent of three day’s worth of tee times. “To get that coast to coast coverage on national TV is priceless … So it was good exposure for sure.
“Everyone took a lot of pride in it. Our members and staff took pride in being able to host it. And getting the track ready was something the team took a lot of pride in. And it was really good for the community.”
The only bummer for the locals was the fact South Carolina didn’t win it all. But Rock Lucas did proudly point out a Gamecock girl set the course record after recording it during the soft practice meet held prior to the championship run.
So in the end the USC cross country team will forever be champions in the hearts and minds of Rock Lucas and the greater Charwood Golf Club family.
This article was featured in the November/December edition of Golf Business Magazine.