Jim Woodring, who was a mentor to many in the Myrtle Beach golf industry and a digital innovator in the market, died this week at the age of 73 at his home in Pawleys Island, where he lived with his wife of 43 years, Kathy.
His contributions to the golf market were celebrated last September when he was inducted into the Myrtle Beach Golf Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Pine Lakes Country Club, where the Hall of Fame Garden resides.
“Jim was a mentor to many of us in the golf business and I was proud to also call him a friend,” wrote longtime True Blue Golf Club and Caledonia Golf & Fish Club general manager Bob Seganti in an online tribute. “His intellect, passion and wicked sense of humor will be missed dearly.”
Woodring spent most of his years in the industry working as the vice president of marketing and golf operations for Myrtle Beach National Company.
The company owned 10 Grand Strand courses – many of which it built – and managed a total of 14 by the time it merged with Burroughs & Chapin Company’s golf division in 2012 to form National Golf Management, which had nearly all of its assets purchased in 2015 by Founders Group International.
Woodring became National Golf Management’s executive vice president responsible for strategic planning and all marketing.
Woodring, whose full name was James Chauncey Woodring Jr., was born in Akron, Ohio and earned a degree at Kent State before spending 20 years in the retail industry prior to moving to the Strand in 1993 and joining Myrtle Beach National Co.
He also became a shareholder in Grand Strand Golf & Travel, which was one of the area’s leading golf package providers.
Woodring helped Myrtle Beach National Co. prosper through visionary and innovative digital strategies, and his affable personality made him a natural marketer. His positions and disposition allowed him to be a bridge between courses, package providers and hotels.
“Although he was on the golf side, he understood the importance of the hotel component and continually reached out to the hotels to try to give them what they needed to market the golf better,” said Matthew Brittain in September. Brittain, the former Myrtle Beach National Co. CEO, was inducted with Woodring into the Myrtle Beach golf hall last year.
“I think he understood that connection as well as anyone and added his finesse in the internet marketing arena as it was getting started,” Brittain added.
Woodring helped bring the Myrtle Beach National Co. and market overall into the digital age by developing new and innovative golf packages, and new ways to attract golfers to the area.
That helped Myrtle Beach remain competitive in a golf booking and package realm that has become largely digital.
“He was a visionary and understood the importance of the internet for the golf industry,” Brittain said at the time of their hall induction. “He knew that the internet and online booking phenomenon would be important, and got us to invest in things like URLs – such as MBN.com and MyrtleBeachGolf.com – some of those early URLs that were important at that time.
“He bought those, then implemented them into a tee time structure that didn’t just sell our courses but sold all courses. He understood the importance of that to the end user.”
Woodring retired in 2015, and health issues limited his involvement in the industry thereafter.
A visitation for friends and family will be held from 5-7 p.m. Monday at Goldfinch Funeral Home’s Beach Chapel in Murrells Inlet. The guestbook can be signed remotely at www.goldfinchfuneralhome.com.
