Remembering Inez Long, a trailblazer for women’s golf in South Carolina

Players who win championships earn the headlines.

People like Inez Long make those heroics possible.

Indeed, Long — to use a cliché — checked all the boxes in making contributions to the game of golf.

Call her a pioneer, call her a trailblazer, or, as Lea Venable said, call her special.

Let’s count the reasons why:

▪ A tireless administrator in basically a one-person operation in her role as the first executive director of the Women’s South Carolina Golf Association.

▪ “A very good amateur player who did her (WSCGA) job very well,” said Happ Lathrop, retired executive director of the South Carolina Golf Association.

▪ An LPGA Class A Professional who excelled in teaching the game.

▪ An acclaimed rules official whose decisions “you might not like, but she was always right and always fair,” said Hall of Famer Lea Anne Brown.

▪ A breaker of glass ceilings by becoming what is believed to be the first female head golf professional at a private club in South Carolina.

“She meant everything to women’s golf in South Carolina,” multi-time state champion Lea Venable said. “She’s the reason the women’s game has grown and continues to grow in the state.”

Inez Long’s contributions to and achievements in the game of golf come into focus now in the days following her death earlier this month at age 75.

“She did it all,” said Clarissa Childs, the WSCGA’s current executive director said. “Women’s golf is thriving in the state now and she’s the reason. The women’s game would not be where it is without her. Nothing grows without roots, and Inez established great roots for our organization.”

A graduate of A.C. Flora High and the University of South Carolina who liked all sports, Long got a taste of golf in instruction from the late Melvin Hemphill, renown teaching pro at Forest Lake Club. But her passion for the game kicked in later, after a 10-year stint working for United Airlines.

She earned her LPGA Class A status in 1983, participated on United States Golf Association committees and stepped into uncharted territory by becoming head professional at the old Coldstream club. She followed by serving other area courses. Meanwhile, she led the WSCGA from 1986 until her retirement in 2012.

Long liked to remember working with Lathrop and Carolina Golf Association officials in creating a partnership for a centralized handicap billing system for all three organizations. Dear to her heart was starting the WSCGA Junior Golf Foundation that is dedicated to nurturing young talent and instilling a love for the game.

“Her passion for the game was contagious,” Lea Anne Brown said. “She was always positive. I can’t say enough about her contributions.

“Really, she was a one-woman band with the WSCGA. She got the schedule together, handled the entries, saw to the scoring, ran the tournaments. All the time, she found time to teach the game.”

Friends note, too, that Long always provided an example for newcomers to the game to emulate.

“Inez grew the game in South Carolina, and just watching her showed me what I should do,” Venable said. “We go back a long way, and she made me a better person. She treated everyone the same, and she made you better both in golf and beyond. I have so many good memories of her.”

One of those moments to remember for Venable came after her win in the State Women’s Amateur the first year after officials named the championship trophy in Long’s honor.

“I cried,” Venable said. “That’s what Inez meant to me. She was such a very special person and we’re blessed for knowing her.”

Long cheered for her alma mater teams and her living in Chicago made her a fan of the NFL Bears and MLB Cubs. She could be found each April behind Augusta National’s 16th green during the Masters.

More, though, are her contributions to golf. The game in the state is better that she passed this way.

Chip shots. Mike Poe (Hilton Head Island) eagled the final hole to win the SCGA’s Harry Wilson Super Senior Championship at Florence CC. James Cillo (Aiken) finished second, one shot behind in competition for players ages 65-69. John Long (Murrells Inlet) led the Legends Division (ages 70 and older). ... With Chloe Holder finishing 14th individually, Clemson’s women placed sixth in the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate in Knoxville, Tennessee. ... Clemson’s men shot a season-best 10-under-par in the final round and took 12th in the CG of Georgia Collegiate in Alpharetta, Georgia. Jonathan Nielsen placed eighth individually.