Wells retiring after nearly 38 years with Scotch Meadows Country Club

LAURINBURG — If the number of holes on a regulation golf course was doubled, it wouldn’t be enough to match Chip Wells’ time with Scotch Meadows Country Club.

Wells, who was the head professional manager at Scotch Meadows, recently announced he’s in the process of retiring after nearly 38 years with the club.

“At the moment, I am basically semi-retired,” Wells said. “My title now is Director of Golf here at Scotch Meadows so I’ll be working 25 hours or so a week doing the same stuff I’ve been doing, helping out with tournaments, just not totally responsible for everything quite like it was. We’ve hired a new head professional manager here at the country club, so I’ll be working with him and doing the same things I’ve basically done in the past. But I’ll still be around so I’m not going anywhere, at least for right now. It’s a good situation.”

While he’s not completely done working at Scotch Meadows, Wells will get more time to spend with his family, citing the time away from home as the main reason why he decided to begin retiring.

“I would say the only negative of the golf business are the hours, are the weekends, are the holidays,” Wells said. “That’s when everyone is off and wants to come play golf so you need to be here a lot of those times. This affords me a little more time off to do things with my family so that’s why I chose to do this.”

Wells grew up in Hartsville, South Carolina, and began golfing when he was 11 years old with some friends that lived close to him. His love for the game eventually grew into passion and that led him to join the Hartsville Country Club.

“I almost aggravated my mom and dad to a point with it,” Wells said. “They knew I was enjoying it so I kind of talked to them and I finally joined a country club there in Hartsville, and that’s when I really started concentrating on golf. We were members at the Hartsville Country Club where I played all the time and worked during school. I worked in the golf shop on the golf course and did all those things around the country club there.”

Wells’ golf game started to pick up as he played nearly every day, which led to him joining the Hartsville High School golf team — as a seventh grader.

“Back when I was in school, once you got to junior high school, you could play on the high school golf team,” Wells said. “So I played the first year I was able to play. I won our conference championship and I was a medalist in tenth grade. We had a really good golf team and that kind of got me into playing.”

Once Wells graduated from Hartsville High School, he knew he wanted his career to be based around the game of golf. He attended Spartanburg Methodist College and was a member of the golf team, where he was an all-region player. After two years there though, Wells transferred to the University of South Carolina but didn’t join the golf team, as he wanted to focus more on his studies.

After Wells graduated from South Carolina in 1980, he was ready immediately to begin a golf career — and it didn’t take him long to find a job.

“I started sending out resumes to different courses and I got a call from a gentleman in Columbia, South Carolina, went to an interview, and he hired me on the spot to become the assistant professional,” Wells said. “I had to go through business schools and oral interviews and play ability tests that’s a part of the program to get into the PGA. It took about three years to do all that because you have to get credit points; you’ve got to have like 36 credit points and you get a point a month working under a professional.”

Wells’ head professional he worked under at the time was Jeff Howell, whose family has ties with Laurinburg and Scotch Meadows.

“His dad, Ellis Howell, was the pro here at Scotch Meadows years and years ago,” Wells said. “Jeff grew up in Laurinburg; he came back to Laurinburg as the head pro, he left, and I came back as the head pro in Laurinburg. So it’s kind of a crazy little circle we’ve got going on.”

Howell made the decision to return to Laurinburg after he was released by the club he and Wells worked at. Wells stayed at the club for six more months while working as the head pro, but didn’t have his class A status, which means he didn’t have all of his education through the PGA.

The club was eventually bought out, which led to new employees being hired. While that happened, Wells saw a position available at Scotch Meadows, where Howell was currently working.

“It was kind of a crazy situation,” Wells said. “He (Howell) needed somebody to work, so I came down to Scotch Meadows as an assistant for six months and I got my class A status.”

Once Wells received his class A status, he saw that there was a head pro job open at Darlington Country Club. A year and a half later, after he earned the job, he got a phone call that led him back to Scotch Meadows.

“I got a call from the board of directors here at Scotch Meadows, and asked me if I’d like to come down an interview for the head professional job,” Wells said. “So I did and I got the job in 1985 here, and I’ve been the club manager and head golf professional ever since.”

Wells’ career hasn’t been just working at different courses; it’s been playing at them too.

But Wells won’t hesitate to say that his work at the course always came first.

“A lot of people think that you play a lot of golf if you’re in the golf business but that is far from the truth,” Wells said. “You don’t get to play nearly as much as the members do if you’re doing your job like it needs to be done. Early on, when I was younger, I tried to play in events that might last a day or two, so I wouldn’t be gone away from work for much time; I was pretty successful in that.”

When Wells was away at events, he played them on the Carolinas PGA (CPGA) Tour and even qualified for the 1990 PGA Greater Greensboro Open through the CPGA Open Qualifier.

“I was medalist so I got into that event to play in that event,” Wells said. “I played okay, didn’t play my best round of golf. I shot 74 first round, I shot 76 the second round; I missed the cut by about four shots. It was in March and the weather was never really good, it was kind of cold, the grass was really high, so one or two under was winning the golf tournament so I really was not far out of making the cut. At that point in time, I was a pretty good player, but my level to those guys’ level, there’s a little bit of distance in-between; those guys are really, really good. But it was quite an experience, one I’ll never forget.”

At the Greater Greensboro Open, playing well wasn’t the only thing on Wells’ mind — proposing to his wife, Maggie Wells, was also.

Brian Bounds, whose first cousin is Maggie Wells, recalled how Chip Wells proposed to his, then-girlfriend.

“I’ve known Chip about 30 years,” Bounds said. “Right before they got engaged, he was playing in the Greater Greensboro Open and Maggie was his caddie. I think he proposed to Maggie right before they left to go to that.”

Chip Wells gave his description of how it all played out, as well.

“When I did qualify for this PGA Tour event, we had been dating for a while, she got pretty good at golf, and I asked her to caddie for me,” Chip Wells said. “So I did and the day we were fixing to go up for a practice round for the tournament, we got one day to practice around, then, the tournament was the next day, I actually asked her to marry me. So you’re asking about my emotions, my emotions were kind of all over the place.”

Throughout his CPGA career, Chip Wells played in eight events from 2008-2020 and totaled $2,653.75 in career earnings, according to his profile on bluegolf.com.

Chip Wells said for anyone that wants to be a professional in something, “you have to put a hundred percent into it.”

“It doesn’t matter what sport you’re playing, the talent out there is unbelievable,” Chip Wells said. “You have to be on top of your game, whatever game it is, and you have to be totally committed to it. Part-time just doesn’t work if you’re gonna be a professional athlete; you’ve got to do it one hundred percent of the time and that’s got to be almost like your job. You just have to be committed to what you’re doing and, most of all, you’ve got to love what you’re doing. If you don’t love it, you’re definitely not gonna stick to it and you’re not gonna give it your all.”

Those who are close to Chip Wells said he’s done that, and then some.

Larry Lee, who was a high school football coach for 50 years, hasn’t known Chip Wells for as long as some may have but told about the time he offered him a job at Scotch Meadows, where he still works today.

“I’ve probably known him a little more than four or five years,” Lee said. “Even though I was a member at the club, I would help him with tournaments from time to time. And, then, when I finally thought I was getting out of coaching, he said ‘well, how about you come work for me?’ He said, you’re retired, it’ll get you out of the house, give you something to do. And I’m going on my fifth or sixth year here with him; couldn’t ask for a better boss. We work well together, we feed off of one another, and I’m not the golfer he is; I’ll be the first to tell you about that. When Chip hired me, I told him I’m here for two things; one, to help you be successful, and the club to be successful. Everything else is a perk for me; that’s the way I’ve always been.”

Joey Hartwell, one of Chip Wells’ best friends, explained how the two of them go back and forth on the golf course and show off their competitive natures.

“I’ve always loved to beat him on the golf course; we’ve always been competitive,” Hartwell said. “Chip is a man of impeccable character and I’m honored to call him one of my best friends.”

While he’s moved around from place to place a lot throughout his career, Chip Wells’ stay in Laurinburg has been the longest.

He said the people have been one of the best parts about Laurinburg and explained a story about his parents of why it’s been such a special place for him.

“My parents were living in Hartsville and my dad passed away, and my mother was basically in Hartsville by herself,” Wells said. “I normally went down to see her every Monday almost on my day off and visit with her, and I didn’t want to get real far away from her to be honest. I’m an only child so I felt responsibility that I needed to be close to her and the people here in Laurinburg, they have been nothing but supportive of everything I’ve done here. It’s been a great place for my children to grow up.”