Longtime Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort Director of Golf Instruction Doug Weaver has been selected for induction into the Lowcountry Golf Hall of Fame.
Weaver and famed landscape artist Linda Hartough were selected as the Lowcountry Golf Hall of Fame’s third induction class. They join Sea Pines founders Charles Fraser and Joseph Fraser Jr., well-known professionals Mike Harmon, Tim Moss and Jim and Karen Ferree, successful amateur Kevin King, longtime Sea Pines executive Cary Corbitt and golf writer Charles Price.
“I am both honored and humbled to be included with such outstanding individuals who have been my mentors and role models uplifting and protecting the game of golf,” said Weaver. “I want to thank Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort for providing the platform to do what I love.”
Palmetto Dunes is a 2,000-acre resort destination located in the middle of Hilton Head Island, S.C., bounded by three miles of Atlantic Ocean beach on one side and a sheltered Intracoastal Waterway marina on the other. Named to the top 25 World’s Best Family Getaways by Travel + Leisure in 2013, the resort features three world-class golf courses, an award-winning tennis center, an 11-mile inland salt-water lagoon system for kayaking and fishing, and Hilton Head Outfitters for bike rentals, canoes, kayaks, fishing and much more.
Weaver certainly knows golf, particularly Lowcountry golf, as well as anyone.
A former PGA Tour player, Weaver has coached 23 years — the past 13 serving as Palmetto Dunes’ highly respected Director of Golf Instruction. One of the resort’s popular attractions is the complimentary Monday golf exhibition and clinic, where participants experience Weaver’s effective and entertaining style. The weekly event is hands on, interactive and prizes are given.
Weaver also stays busy helping others improve and grow in the game. He has been faithful for 23 years to the HHIPGA Junior Golf Programs. He has led programs with Special Olympics, the Boys and Girls Clubs, and both Boys and Girls Scouting. Weaver has been the golf coach for all three area high schools and he hosted a local TV golf show for 10 years.
A Hilton Head native, Weaver played golf at Furman University alongside future PGA Tour star Brad Faxon. But when graduation rolled around, Weaver wasn’t confident about his chances on the PGA Tour. He moved back to Hilton Head, manned the bag drop of the Robert Trent Jones course at Palmetto Dunes and pondered his future.
“I did not have the desire to compete professionally,” Weaver said. “I enjoyed competing as an amateur while also playing tennis and fishing. During those years, Weaver co-founded the Golf World Magazine Intercollegiate at Palmetto Dunes and also served as Vice President of the Hilton Head Fishing Club.
At age 24, Weaver began selling timeshares for Dunes Marketing Group in Palmetto Dunes. It was during those three years that Weaver found his focus.
“I matured a lot,” he says. “I grew up a lot and became a Christian. God got hold of my mind and taught me how to think about myself. It gave me a more positive outlook about my future. I knew it was time to go back to golf.”
Weaver mustered the courage — and the game — to tackle professional golf.
“At first I couldn’t make a check,” he said. “But gradually I started to lower my scores enough to be in contention against veteran players.”
His mini-tour breakthrough came in 1987 at the Zell Wood Country Club Open in Florida, where — despite playing in a final group with three former PGA Tour players — Weaver birdied the final hole to capture his first title. “I knew then that I could play with these guys and beat them.”
And beat them he did, winning 14 mini-tour events and earning his PGA Tour card in 1988.
Once he reached the professional Mecca, Weaver flirted with success, making about a third of the cuts in tournaments he played and missing a number of others by a shot. But a PGA Tour victory eluded him and his full-time status on tour only lasted a year.
Nevertheless, it was an experience that Weaver firmly believes trained him well for his ultimate calling as an encouraging coach.
“I didn’t fulfill my potential as a player but the mistakes I made are ones I can help others prevent from making today,” he says. “ I played a practice round with Tom Watson at Pebble Beach. I played with Lee Trevino at the Buick Open and was in the top-10 after Saturday’s round. I played in two U.S. Opens and practiced with greats like Vijay Singh, Nick Price, Payne Stewart and many others. I took lessons from the top teachers in the world not knowing I would become a golf instructor. My wife Trish and I had dinner with Arnold and Winnie Palmer several times.”
At Palmetto Dunes Golf Academy Weaver and his team present a holistic, keep-it-simple approach to learning golf. The resort atmosphere is service oriented, classy and relaxed. The coaching style is the same, making many students much better golfers. Weaver’s student’s reviews on Trip Advisor call him the “Golf Whisperer,” and say things like: ” He made golf fun again.”” He set me free for success.” And, “He lowered my score.”
Last year, his colleagues voted Weaver as Golf Digest magazine’s No. 2 Instructor in South Carolina and he was named the Hilton Head Island PGA chapter’s “Teacher of the Year.”
To sign up for one of Weaver’s free, Monday clinics at Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort or any of its other world-class golf instruction programs, please call 866-744-7558 or visit www.PalmettoDunes.com.
