Will 2011 be the last Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn?

The Greater Hickory Classic has been played at Rock Barn Golf and Spa since 2003. I think this tournament has been great for our area since its inception, but I don’t know that it has been given the support that it has truly needed and deserved to insure that it will continue on for the foreseeable future. There is a feeling amongst many people I have spoken with that this tournament has run its course. I certainly hope not, but what I am hearing, and what we are seeing, makes one pause to think that 2011 will be the last year for the tournament to be held here.

Now I know that it might not be popular to bring this subject up and I will probably catch some flack for running out ahead of the curve on this subject with this story, but I believe this article and this story needs to be told. The area’s Ostrich complex, in my opinion has done more damage than necessary, because it has allowed the public to be blindsided on many counts where it wasn’t necessary. Our local paper is only going to print what the Marketers of the Classic and the Powers That Be hand over to them. They certainly can’t ever be accused of doing any critical thinking. I am typing this because I want the public to know that it is important that we lose egos and work together to support important events that attract people to our area or we will lose those events.

I worked at Rock Barn, both full time and part time, as a Chef’s Assistant from June 2001 until August 2006. During this time period was when the Robert Trent Jones Jr. Golf Course was built, opened, and became the venue for the Senior PGA tour event. Rock Barn was a special place during that time. Youssef Amrani was the General Manager under the direction of Don Beaver (Rock Barn’s primary investor). Special things were being done to entice the public to visit and join the club and there was an excitement surrounding the operations.

Youssef wanted us to take pride in the club and he took care of those who worked under him in turn. At that time, public officials and business people felt like we had hit a bump in the road with the economy, but no one felt like we were headed towards the period of malaise that we slid into that has lasted for nearly a decade. Rock Barn hummed along during the early part of the last decade. We usually fed a hundred people in Alexander’s Grill at night and double that on the weekends. There were always multiple events taking place in the clubhouse every day and Sunday brunch was always a packed house. I don’t know if the club was making money during this period, but we certainly had a lot of people hanging around the place. During this time the spa was also built and received a lot of public attention.

Mr. Beaver took on the mission of supporting and growing the Rock Barn community and I am sure that he understood that challenges would lie ahead; but I know that he, nor anyone else, understood the burden that would beset the area and make it hard for entertainment and social operations to be viable due to the effects of the struggling economy and its correlation with the income of people in the local area. Clubs and many of the area’s finer restaurants have struggled over the past decade, because people have had to cut back. During the early part of the last decade, wealthy people could afford to be a member of all three local “County Clubs” (Lake Hickory Country Club, Catawba Country Club, and Rock Barn). With the slowdown in the economy, people have had to (or decided to) cut back. And they are going to remain at the club where their family has established roots. Most of these families have been members at Catawba or Lake Hickory for generations. The loss of memberships has hurt Rock Barn’s progress and caused the club to suffer due to inactivity.

I remember meeting Robert Trent Jones Jr. and speaking with him briefly about his course at a party that was held in his honor in 2002. This course is truly one of the best golf courses in America and has been nationally recognized as such. The other course, the Jackson Course, is also one of the nicest courses in the area and when I was a teenager I would play that course on a regular basis, but it is not considered to be a PGA level course. The Jones course is a signature golf course designed by one of the preeminent golf course designers in the world and as such I am sure that Mr. Beaver looked at its development as one of the defining achievements of his business career.

I remember the first tournament and how packed the tournament was and the energy that it created in the area. It received big time coverage by the major news outlets in Charlotte and the surrounding area. The event is a Champions Tour (Senior PGA) event and that is a second tier event in comparison to the PGA (regular) tour, but the Classic was lauded as one of the most prestigious venues on the tour at that time and it received positive reviews from many of the experts.

I have attended several professional golf events (multiple times) in the area including the Greater Greensboro Open, the senior event that was held during the 1990’s at the TPC Course at Piper Glen, and I have attended the Wachovia/Wells Fargo Event held at Quail Hollow. The Rock Barn event was every bit as nice as attending those tournaments. I know that when I worked there that we worked our tails off to put our best foot forward.

There have been rumors floating around over the last several years that the tournament has been winding down and would soon no longer take place. Mr. Beaver has sunk a lot of money into the tournament and I believe he wants to see it stand on its own two feet. He has been responsible for the appearance money to bring big time names and prize money to be paid out to the participants. That is just the reality of how one of these big events work, but every businessman wants to turn a profit, if not at least break even.

This event has been giving some much needed charity money to the area. It is a shell game to say that there were profits that could go to these charities. Let’s be honest, Mr. Beaver might as well have been cutting the checks and paying these monies to these charities himself. People need to realize that this golf tournament is an expensive proposition, but it has served a prominent position in the region over the last eight years and it would be ashamed to allow it to flame out. It should never have been taken for granted by our local community.

I don’t think it has been good for the event that it has bounced around the calendar over the last 8 years. It began by being played during the last week in September 2003 under perfect weather conditions. Then in 2004, it was played during the third week in August which made it a much hotter, more humid, venue. In 2005 and 2006, it was moved to the first week of October, then it was moved back to September in 2007, 2008, and 2009 and last year it was moved back to the first week in October. This year it will be played during the second week of June (June 6-12); because I believe that the event wasn’t secured until late, because of the loss of the one year Ensure (Nutritional Drink) sponsorship, and the later calendar date slots were already filled and this date was made available by the Champions Tour (Senior PGA) as a courtesy.

I have been told by several people that no communities other than the City of Hickory would give money for marketing the tournament, because the name Hickory is attached to the tournament. This event is directly beneficial to the local communities of Conover and Claremont, because that is where it is played. And people need to realize that this event has a direct economic impact on the entire region. I just cannot understand why communities in the region would want to cut their nose off in spite of their face, because of a word. I understand animosities associated with Hickory, related to past issues, but I can’t understand why these communities are unwilling to participate in an event that brings traffic, attention, and notoriety to our region. That is some self-defeating sabotage that relates to unchecked egos if I have ever seen it.

Our local economy is not good. I know that I am labeled a doom and gloomer for stating the obvious in the face of some of the Kumbaya, sunshine salesmen; but we need to honestly assess reality. We are always talking about this area being great because it is located so close to Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Asheville, and the High Country. This is an event that can (and does) bring people from those other areas to our community and that should be our goal. That creates value and makes this event a valuable commodity. It brings outside dollars into our community and that is something that we need to do more of, not less of, in this community.

I hope that we don’t lose this tournament. This is a unique event that brings notable people to our area and by God we need the attention. I certainly think that our community should make sure that we put our best foot forward and do whatever we can to support and maintain the event. I just hope that it’s not too late. If you ever planned to attend, but never found the time, I suggest that you find the time this year, because that time may never come again. We have lost a lot over the last decade in this community and I hope that this tournament is not lost, because of the status of our local economy. I certainly hope that I am wrong … that I either am wrong in my assessment of where this tournament stands or that the local communities will wake up to what this tournament means to our area and save it. All of the communities in the area should wake up and understand what we have in this commodity. If we do lose this tournament, then it is unlikely that we will see this level of a sporting event ever return again.

P.S. I hope that you will let me know what you think.