Wofford boasts percentage of students accepted into country clubs

Written by Suzy Quarantine

“We’re dedicated to providing your student with a liberal arts education in four years,” Wofford College president Bill Banks announced to families of first-year students at the annual convocation ceremony, “and to ensuring they have an easy entry into their top-choice country club upon graduation,” he added. 

Since 1854, Wofford has groomed its male students to be socially upstanding citizens and well-respected country-club members. The descendants of these gentlemen are the charming female debutantes recently permitted to reside and study on Wofford’s campus. Generations of Wofford alumni enjoy lifelong memberships at the country’s most prestigious country clubs, due largely to the top-notch membership training they receive at Wofford.

Kyle Malarkey, ‘71, spoke highly of the smooth transition from college to country club after graduating from Wofford: “Well, in my day, my Kappa Alpha brothers and I set the standard. We always dressed sharply for the football games, and that really impressed the sorority girls. They were especially drawn to the brothers that wore the golden coat on game days. That’s still around, ya know. But anyway, I really got used to dressing up, coat and tie, ya know, on Sundays, when the KA faculty sponsor would take a couple of us boys to the Piedmont Club for lunch. They’d serve fried chicken and fixins, but you had to eat it with a fork and knife. Real etiquette type stuff, ya know. We’d sit on the rear porch and smoke cigars when we’d finished eating. After college, I was so used to fine dining on Sunday afternoons, I called up that KA sponsor who was a member of the Piedmont Club, and he put in a good word for me at a couple of the clubs in Charlotte. I’ve been a member of Myers Park Country Club ever since. My granddaughter, who’s a sophomore Theta at Wofford, is even having her debut there this Christmas. We couldn’t be more proud.”

Sunday dinner at the Piedmont is one of many ways Wofford grooms its students to become the next generation of socialites. Wofford’s administration and faculty understand that the country club lifestyle is just that: a lifestyle, not just one day of the week. 

Martha Ann Moseley, a junior, said of Wofford’s groundskeeping: “Most days, I don’t even have to set an alarm to wake up in the morning. The hum of lawnmowers, edgers and blowers outside my first-floor Lesesne window does the job. It actually works out, though, because I get up early to run anyway. I love the smell of fresh cut grass as I make my loop around campus. I really appreciate how the grounds crew keeps the campus in pristine shape. It reminds me of my country club at home in Buckhead.”

The electives and extracurriculars at Wofford are also geared toward preparing students to be competitive, even legendary, members of the country clubs they will call home in their post-graduate lives. Tennis, of course, is a staple physical education elective. It’s well known that any proper country club prospect must be able to serve, play a backhand and keep score in the game. 

Golf is another non-negotiable skill for those pursuing a country club membership. Students partake in this sport, offered as Interim course, in order to attain a foundational knowledge of the game and get a few pointers on their swing. By the end of the course, the hope of the instructors is that students will, at minimum, know the difference between a driver and putter and know how to measure themselves up against future business counterparts by asking, “What’s your handicap?”

For students who are relocating after graduation, and are unsure how to get their foot in the door at their country club of choice, Wofford boasts a state-of-the-art Country Club Services center. Here, students can bring their rèsumè to experts in the field who will direct them to the facilities and locations best suited to their individual needs. In addition to the center’s Placement Director, Malcolm Pardee, other staff include USPTA-accredited Tennis Pro Courtney Fields, Augusta National’s former PGA Head Golf Pro Mark Driver, and Events and Recreation director Sally Matcher. 

“Finding the best [country club] match for students is our job, but it couldn’t be done without a top-notch concerted effort from the entire college,” Pardee said.