The Start Of It All

I began publishing my first magazine in Myrtle Beach in 1977. It was called On The Green and I was 37 years old. Before On The Green, I had a career that included being the Advertising Manager for Newsday on Long Island and Advertising Director for the Look Magazine group’s newspaper The Suffolk Sun, also located on Long Island, N.Y.

I had come to Myrtle Beach via Fort Lauderdale Florida where I was an advertising director with Hawthorne Advertising. Because of my background as a golf writer I took over the regional operation and marketing for American Golf Inc., which owned and operated the Golf and Tennis World stores in North Carolina; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and Florida. I was based in Myrtle Beach where we had two stores. There was no golf publication for the already booming golf business in Myrtle Beach, so with my publishing and advertising background I launched Myrtle Beach’s first golf magazine On The Green. With the help of a great mentor - General James Hackler (who eventually became my partner in Heather Glen), my wife Judy, and a receptive golfing community it immediately found its niche and I never looked back.

My skills as a writer and ad man were used to write and sell space for this fledgling golf publication. Two years later I launched Myrtle Beach’s On The Beach Magazine. On The Beach is a full-size, full-color tourist magazine with hard cover copies placed in 50,000 hotel rooms and 250,000 soft cover copies displayed at the airport and throughout the Myrtle Beach. It was an instant hit.

On The Green Magazine was also the reason I was fortunate enough to get in the golf course business and develop Myrtle Beach’s Heather Glen Golf Links. My brother Jack joined me in 1981. We have now been publishing Myrtle Beach’s golf magazine for 36 years and much has changed in the Myrtle Beach golfing scene.

Next: some of those changes…