SCGA Hall of Famer Happ Lathrop passes the torch

ALTHOUGH you may not know Happ Lathrop, you’ve likely watched the result of some of his work on television.

When you see players who grew up playing golf in South Carolina including Dustin Johnson, Lucas Glover, Bill Haas, Jonathan Byrd, Kevin Kisner, Scott Brown and Wesley Bryan winning tournaments on the PGA Tour, it was all made possible by Lathrop.

Lathrop, the 40- year executive director of the South Carolina Golf Association ( SCGA) , the governing body for amateur golf in the state, is going into semi- retirement at the end of the year. He’ll continue to run some events and work with the organiza- tion’s junior foundation.

“It hasn’t been a job with me. It’s what I love. It’s been my passion, a lot of other things than a job,” said Lathrop, who recently turned 68. “It is a form of retirement. I’m stepping back, not out. I’ll still handle a lot of things I’ve been handling. I’ll probably be like one of these clubhouse dogs waiting for somebody to throw them a scrap or pet them or something.”

In 1976, Lathrop became the first full-time employee of the SCGA and helped create the subsidiary South Carolina Junior Golf Association in 1989 and South Carolina Junior Golf Foundation in 1995.

He built the statewide junior program into one of the most successful and respected junior development programs in the country. It has produced numerous PGA and LPGA Tour members, and in 2008 Golf Digest named the SCJGA the No. 1 junior golf association in the U.S. Since 2002, SCJGA alumni have won 39 PGA Tour events.

“It’s been a joy to watch, particularly with our junior program,” Lathrop said. “We tried to give them an arena to enhance their competition abilities. All those kids who have tour cards now [ from S. C.] have come through our program.”

Under Lathrop, the SCJGA has also awarded 106 scholarships worth approximately $800,000.

The SCGA included 99 clubs and about 11,500 golfers in 1976 and assets stood at $50,000. Today, the association commands more than $1 million in assets and represents the interests of more than 270 member clubs and 57,000 individual members.

The association conducts over 20 statewide championships, 71 one- day contest, 10 USGA qualifiers, seven 40- plus tournaments and six special events. It takes part in the organization and is a beneficiary of the annual Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro- Am held each April at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Club.

Lathrop was inducted into the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame in 1997 and Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame, which is housed at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, in 2008.

Lathrop will remain a SCGA senior advisor and his son, Biff, who has been with the organization for more than 20 years, will become the new executive director of the SCGA on Jan. 1.

“Things have changed so much with attitudes and technology and I’m not there with it,” Lathrop said. “It’s time to let somebody come up with young ideas.”

The CGA has been providing competitions and services to member clubs in the state since 1929. TNS