Pro of the Week -
It's A Family Thing for the Brothers Weldon

By Shane Sharp,
Contributing Writer

May 9, 1999

MYRTLE BEACH, Sc -- Maybe on a trip to Myrtle Beach you have had the good fortune to test your mettle at two of the Grand Strands most popular layouts, the Caledonia Golf and Fish Club in Pawleys Island and the Man O' War Golf Course in west Myrtle Beach. If you have, then you have experienced two of the premier playing experiences the golf capital of the world has to offer, courtesy of the brothers Weldon.

Wayne Weldon is the Head Pro at Man O' War, and the older of the Weldon brothers Head Pro combination, which also includes younger brother Todd - Head Pro at Caledonia. Products of Iowa countryside, Wayne and Todd are a pciture of contrasts in both their personalities and their management styles.

Todd is guarded, and seems reluctant to divulge the details of his personal life and his day to day operations. Wayne is cordial and outgoing, the type of guy that might sit and chew the fat with you for hours about basketball, golf, or any myriad of topics. Todd's management style has been politely referred to as "hands on" and "hard nose", Wayne's modus operandi is usually perceived as "hands off" and "laid back."

In an almost perfect image of his home state, Wayne was on track to be a tough skinned blue collar worker in the family ready-mix and bridge building business. While he had played golf in high school, Wayne did not make the team at the University of Iowa and transferred to Northern Colorado University where the golf team had been abandoned and dismantled.

Five years Wayne's junior, Todd was no more set on a career in golf than his older brother. Post graduation from college found Todd hanging out in Steamboat Springs passing the time of day on the slopes or the links. Did Todd find his true calling somewhere on a black diamond run in the midst of a rocking Warren Miller soundtrack moment? Hardly. He had just left Louisiana where he and some friends had started a landscaping company, and working in golf was as distance a concept as the swamps of the Bayou.

But ultimately, the brothers Weldon decided that while useful, the ability to pour concrete or run a drip irrigation system would not peak their interests for the long haul.

"I decided I was sick of the weather in Iowa and I moved to Myrtle Beach," says Wayne. "I moved on the fly, so I just packed up and moved on out. I ran into a guy who was the Head Pro at Indian Wells and he hired me to work out at his course."

As for Todd, during the offseason in Steamboat he decided it was time to head east at see Wayne in Myrtle Beach, which at the time was only sporting the likes of 45 to 50 golf courses.

"I came out to see Wayne and I ended up getting an assistant pro job at Pawleys Island," says Todd.

But despite his new job and new locale, Wayne was skeptical that Todd would stick around Myrtle Beach, meteorologically speaking.

"Shortly after Todd came to Myrtle Beach, Hurricane Hugo hit," says Wayne. "I was surprised that he stayed."

But stay he did, and it was not long before Todd was offered the Head Pro job at Caledonia.

"I had my eye on the job at Caledonia, and when it open up I just applied and got it," says the younger Weldon in his typical understated fashion.

They may work in opposite corners of the Strand, but Wayne and Todd both reside in the south Strand in Surfside Beach. But despite their proximity, both brothers are quick to point out that they don't see each other as much as you would think.

"Todd lives up next to the baseball diamonds, so we see him when we take the kids up to play," says Wayne.

"We get together quite a bit, but we don't get out to play golf much together," adds Todd. "When we do, he usually gets the best of me."

You may not find Todd and Wayne out on the course together, but Wayne has been admiring Caledonia and the way that his younger bro is getting it done at one of Myrtle Beach's hottest layouts for some time.

"I play out at Caledonia twice a year," says Wayne. "It has been the most successful course in Myrtle Beach over the past few years. Todd is doing an outstanding job."

While Todd's attention span had dwindled to the size of golf ball after a few minutes of questions, Wayne's was still going strong. So it was the elder brother who had the opportunity to opine about the differences between Caledonia and Man O' War and the management styles employed by the Weldons.

We are more wide open, water is the key feature here," says Wayne about Man O' War. "We've got the best greens in Myrtle Beach . . . they are almost perfect. The greens and the water are a huge attraction here. Caledonia is one of the most beautiful courses around. But it is hard to compare the two courses they are so different in styles."

Difference is styles is a concept that applies not only to their respective courses, but the management styles of the brothers Weldon as well.

"Todd and I talk a lot of business philosophy, but we don't run things the same," says Wayne. "He is more hard nose, I am more laid back. He gets wound up in it in sometimes. But both of us have great owners and they leave us alone and let us run the show."

How hard nose is the younger Weldon? "I have heard that the assistant pros have to grab the toothbrushes and clean the tiles in the bathrooms," confides Wayne, "but that could just be a rumor."

But just as the easy going Joe Torre and the no nonsense Davey Johnson can manage successful major league ballclubs each season with diametrically opposed approaches to managment, Todd and Wayne Weldon use their contrasting management styles to make Caledonia and Man O' War two of the top places to place in a region inundated with tough competition.