Tutor: Holt, longtime pro at Old Town, still teaching

Jim Holt never thought he'd last this long in the golf business.

And he never thought he would last so long in one place. Holt has been the head pro at Old Town Golf Club for 28 years, one of the longest running current streaks in the PGA's Carolinas Section.

"It has gone by fast but it's been fun," said Holt, 56, who three years ago received the semicoveted quarter-century plaque from the PGA of America.

Holt hadn't realized that his 25 years meant he would get an award, which he has displayed in his office at the quaint Old Town pro shop.

"I guess that award says you are old," he said laughing. "But seriously it was quite an honor and it's really been an honor to be here at Old Town for so long."

One of the benefits that Holt and Old Town enjoy is a great relationship with the men's and women's golf teams at Wake Forest. While Wake Forest doesn't have its own course, its teams share Old Town as its main practice course.

From Billy Andrade to Bill Haas to Webb Simpson, Holt has gotten to know a lot of the former Deacons. He has a prominent autographed picture of Arnold Palmer on his wall and counts Jesse Haddock, the former Wake Forest coach, as a friend.

Holt said that a lot has changed through the years, from equipment to junior golf to even how he teaches the game.

It used to be Holt taught players how to work the ball with a controlled swing, but when the power game hit several years back his teaching philosophies changed.

"You compare back in time to watching the Wake guys in the late 1980s they would all work or shape the ball," Holt said. "And some 15 years later all you see is them killing the ball and that's what equipment has done.

"When I first started out playing I was taught to swing slow and control the ball. It's changed in a big way and even our teaching has changed because now we teach kids to swing fast."

Holt and his family moved to Winston-Salem when he was in fourth grade and because he was so small (70 pounds by the seventh grade) he competed in different sports, such as the pole vault. He said he was a state champion in the seventh grade in pole vault.

He also started dabbling in golf around the age of 13. His family lived near Polo Road across the street from Wake Forest.

"There was a guy hitting golf balls on this field and I went over there to see who he was and what he was doing," Holt said. "It turns out the guy's name was Stan Self. That's when I first saw the game, and you know what, I ended up giving him lessons about 25 years later."

Holt is well respected by the former Deacons who have made it to the pros. He used to be Billy Andrade's swing coach years ago and Andrade said that Holt was somebody who really helped him along the way.

"He's just a fantastic man," said Andrade, a 1987 graduate of Wake Forest. "He's kind of like a big brother, coach and friend all wrapped into one. He's just a classy guy and he's been there such a long time at Old Town, it's a good indication he must be pretty good."

Andrade said that Holt has been a great friend to the golf program for many years.

"He was a friend of Coach Haddock's and Wake Forest and now with Jerry (Haas).… That's kind of our home track and when we went there as players it's nice to have a head pro that's really cool."

Holt remembers in the mid 1980s when Andrade and Jerry Haas decided they were going to play at Old Town, even though there was frost on the greens.

"Billy is from Rhode Island and Jerry's from Illinois and they were out there playing, and on the third hole I ran out there and told them to get off the course because of the frost," Holt said. "It's funny but Jerry still brings that up to this day."

Through the years Holt has also worked with several assistants who, after working under Holt, went on to become head pros. Holt can remember at least nine former assistants who went to become a head pros.

"I'm very demanding on them because I want our members to have a great experience when they are out here, so I'm tough on my assistants," Holt said. "When I interview them, I tell them, ‘There's only one way in my eyes and that's the perfect way.'"

Holt said that one of the satisfying things about staying at one place for so long is seeing how the club has evolved.

When Holt first started, the course did about 4,000 rounds annually but he said that in recent years they have had as high as 22,000 rounds a year.

"This used to be kind of a sleepy little club but to watch all the changes here has been satisfying," Holt said about the classic Perry Maxwell design that's been tweaked through the years to keep up with technology. "Interacting with this membership and seeing the junior players develop into adults and watching the progress on this golf course has been nice.

"Just being here has been great and we've gotten some exposure being ranked in the top 100 (by Golf Digest) for classic courses, so that's nice to see."

Around the green

Another big name has committed to play in the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn from Sept. 12 to Sept. 14. Fred Funk, who won the JELD-WEN Tradition earlier this month, finished tied for 25th in last year's Greater Hickory Classic. Funk, who still plays a lot on the PGA Tour, has won twice this season on the Champions Tour….

Len "Pork Chop" Calvert of Easley, S.C., shot 68-68-74 to win the South Carolina Open in Ninety Six, S.C. His 6 under for three days was one better than Greensboro's Simon McGreal. John Faidley, the head pro at Forsyth Country Club, shot 68-74-78 to tie for 21st….

John Conners of Apex won the Carolinas Golf Association's Dogwood State Junior Championship in Gastonia by shooting 73-69-74 at Gaston Country Club. Christian Hawley of Kernersville shot 73-70-75 and tied for third. Also, Isaac Spencer of Winston-Salem tied for seventh (76-71-74). In the girls overall division and Nimeeta Bhasker of Advance tied for fourth with 77-80-82.

■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.