Welcome to our thriving at the beach podcast, your reliable source of information and a peek under the tent regarding all of the amazing things taking place in our Grand Strand community. There are so many great things underway here that we believe it's time to start telling our stories. That's exactly what Thriving at the Beach will do. This podcast has been created for all the residents in this great coastal community because we want you to be the first to know things that are coming and get the most accurate and up to date details on every initiative. In this podcast, we'll be hearing from the community partners that are busy building a brighter and more vibrant tomorrow.
These partners will include the city of Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance, the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Team, the multiple chambers of commerce, the HTC Aspire Hub Emerge leadership, key business leaders, assorted community partners, and many more. It's our hope that you'll catch the momentum of how we are and will be thriving at the beach. I'm Peggy Masterson, and I'll be your host for Thriving at the Beach. I'm the director of the Partnership Grand Strand Foundation. And in case you haven't heard about us, we are the nonprofit foundation that's an extension of the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce.
We were created by local business leaders to serve local residents and local businesses across all of the 14 communities that make up our beautiful coastal area. Our work allows us the opportunity, a very unique opportunity, to collaborate and support all of the organizations that are busy building a better tomorrow. This provides us a wonderful opportunity to collect all this exciting information and share it with each of you. I could not be more excited to be able to facilitate a way for these experts to tell their stories and share their exciting news with you. So get ready, get psyched to get a peek under the tent on projects, businesses, and opportunities coming to our area.
I can't wait to watch you catch the momentum and then share it with others. Let's dive right in. Our guest today is Tracy Connor. Tracy's been super involved in serving our community for many years. He served on the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce board.
He's managed the Myrtle Beach Golf Course Owners Association and Golf Tourism Solutions. Thank you, by the way, for, being a sponsor of Partnership Grand Strand. We appreciate that. And he's also been very instrumental in securing the PGA Myrtle Beach Classic for our area. And, as many of you may know, that represents over $15,000,000 in economic impact in our local community.
So an amazing accomplishment, Tracy. So welcome. Let's dive right in, Tracy, and, just kinda kick things off with a little bit about you and your background. So, obviously, golf is a big piece of your life. Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got involved in golf and how it led to the leadership roles that you play today?
So absolutely. So my grandfather got me, connected to golf when I was six and just fell in love with the game and became relatively okay golfer, was was was able to attend University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and I had a golf scholarship and played there, so just up the road. And then, once I graduated, I moved here to Myrtle Beach to the golf capital of the world in 1989 and, have been connected with golf, ever since. Wow. Nineteen eighty nine.
You've been here been here a while. I have. I'm old. Well, time flies for all of us. There's no doubt.
But, tell me a little bit about, how you got involved with the, the Golf Course Owners Association here. So, I got involved with the Golf Course Owners Association through a gentleman named George Hilliard. And so George was the executive director and had been since, the, late eighties, and he reached out to me as, someone, working in the golf industry and really recruited me to, fill in his role as he was stepping down in retirement. And I really thought it was what a great opportunity to take that organization and and and hopefully move it forward and build on the the great work that George had done for the thirty years prior. So is is that exactly what it sounds?
It's a collection of private owners that come together under one association? Is that how it works? It is. And so Myrtle Beach Golf Course owners, we represent the the golf industry here in Myrtle Beach. And so each golf course from Georgetown to Shiloh, with the exception of four private equity clubs, are a member.
And we work with the owners and operators on the expense side and revenue side of their balance sheet, and so we've got a variety of programs that help, in both areas. Oh, okay. So you're helping them get the tools they need to be the best golf course managers and owners they can be. Right? Absolutely.
Okay. And how does golf tourism solutions tie into that? Can you tell me a little bit about that organization? And so that's a a sister organization to, Myrtle Beach Golf Course Owners, and it is the cooperative marketing organization for our community. And so its mission is really to brand, Myrtle Beach and that Myrtle Beach is a great place to come, vacation, and play golf.
They also have a, events division, And one of the events that they, manage is the Myrtle Beach World AM, and we bring 3,200 golfers here the last week in August each year Wow. To play four rounds of golf. And we've been doing that now. This is the forty first year. And these golfers are professional golfers or amateurs?
Amateur golfers. Amateurs. It's the largest amateur tournament in the world. Wow. And so there'll be golfers from, if not all, 50 states, at least 48 states, and a variety of countries, a lot of them for, in Europe.
Wow. And do they have to qualify to be able to come and play? They just sign up and Sign up and come play. Oh, wow. Everyone's welcome.
Wow. That's that's incredible. I'll have to tell my husband about that and have him go out and take a look at it. He loves golf as well. So, as we talk about golf, I know that you and your team at the, Course Owners Association had a lot to do with bringing the PGA Myrtle Beach Classic here.
And I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about what was involved in getting the PGA to seriously consider Myrtle Beach and make the final decision to actually bring the tournament here. Absolutely. So, a lot of credit needs to go to Karen Reardon. So, Karen, was the inspiration, and then, Karen and I worked together, hand in glove, for six to nine months with the tour, first and foremost, to find the right event for Myrtle Beach. And we looked at LPGA senior tour events.
We ended up with, the PGA, tour and the Myrtle Beach classic, and we're very, very pleased at the success in year one. I'll say I mean, I just saw a press release today that talked about over a $15,000,000 economic contribution to this area. So not only should we be happy, we should be ecstatic about the fact that, it's bringing that kind of revenue. And I think a lot of people underestimate the power of, a golf tournament like that and, really, the golf industry in general because people think about it as a kind of a leisurely or, something that we just do for fun, but it's a huge business as well. So It is.
And and and in that press release, almost half of the visitors to the golf tournament were local residents. And so, I wanna highlight how important the golf tournament is to our local community and a great, a great benefit for our local residents. Yeah. Absolutely. And such a good turnout too for year one.
I got a chance to be there, and I was so impressed because a lot of times it takes a bit for those tournaments to take root and, get the kind of people to come out that that we saw, especially on Mother's Day weekend. So, I think we all have a lot to celebrate as it relates to that. And, obviously, as as we transition, I'm glad you mentioned Karen, as it relates to her role in the, Myrtle Beach Classic, but you're also finding yourself in a interim CEO role right now for the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. And, we we know that's a challenging role. You're in, an interim position, but I'm curious what you've learned in the time that you've been in the interim responsibility.
Absolutely. So I I did serve on the, board here at the chamber and on the executive board and felt like I had a a handle or a feel for the organization. But, really, I only touched on a small piece of the organization. This organization is such a a big important organization, not just for tourism, but for our community. And, wow.
There there's there's a lot here. Well, I know I've seen you walking or I pass you in the hallway now and then on one going from one meeting to the next. So I know they're keeping you busy, and, you're getting an opportunity to, really immerse yourself into not only what happens here in this building but, in the broader circle that affects our whole community. So thank you for your interim leadership as it relates to that. And as we wrap things up, I I wanted to ask you a little bit about how you feel about the future of Myrtle Beach and maybe, any thoughts that you might have for our local residents as it relates to the role that the Chamber of Commerce plays in that future growth and prosperity?
Yeah. I would start off by saying, wow. What a great place that we live in. Right? And what a great place that many of our friends from around the country come and visit, throughout the year.
But, I really see the chamber as one of the leading forces in not just bringing people here to Myrtle Beach, but improving the quality of life for the people that live here in Myrtle Beach. And that will, and has been a focus, but will even become more of a focus of the chamber moving forward. Yeah. I know there are so many things, and I've learned a great deal in the time that I've, been in this role at PGS, but the chamber is immersed in a lot of things that maybe folks don't necessarily know or recognize. I know, you had mentioned to me earlier that the chamber is really working closely with our first responders and our police department.
Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yes. And so we've partnered with the City of Myrtle Beach, and our role is to support the city on recruitment of police officers. And, we have been we feel like we've been very, very successful in that, and we appreciate, our friendship and partnership with the city. Perfect.
Well, Tracy, we appreciate your time today. We appreciate your leadership in this interim position. I know that's never easy, and, we look forward to the bright future that, we know this community is gonna be experiencing in fairly short order. So thank you for your time, and have a great day. Let's keep driving.
So it was so great to hear from Tracy Connor today. You know, he's so modest in speaking about his many contributions to the Myrtle Beach area, but that's just who he is. As we listened to him today, I was reminded how important golf is to our local economy and how many people are actually working in the golf industry in the golf capital of the world. He also stressed the important role that the Chamber of Commerce plays in serving our local residents. He recognizes this must be done in partnership with all the municipalities across the Grand Strand and all the local stakeholders.
He's committed to making that happen, and we're, fortunate to have him in the leadership role as our interim CEO for the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce at this point in time. We appreciate Tracy, and, until we meet again, keep thriving. We'll talk soon. So that's all for this episode. Thanks so much for listening.
You can find this podcast as well as a transcript of the podcast on partnership Grand Strand's website, which is partnershipgrandstrand.com or wherever you get your podcast. We'll release a new episode every other week, so stay tuned to get that behind the scenes info on how we are thriving at the beach and across our entire coastal community. Till next time. Keep thriving.
