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The Long Drivers of America “Super Qualifier” is coming to Myrtle Beach,  offering a beginning opportunity for “Long Drivers” to show their power and qualify  for The RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship held each year in Mesquite  Nevada. This popular event evolved out of the National Long Drive Championship,  which began in 1975.  It has grown to a world wide event with competitors from 125  countries vying for a purse worth over $450,000. This qualifier will give the Grand  Strand “big hitter” a chance to make his mark in this grass roots event of world class  power golf. Participation is great experience for future progress and achievement.

The 2010 RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship is open to pros and  amateurs alike, men and women, with 7 divisions based on age. Each year over  10,000 competitors participate at approximately 300 sites around the world in local  and regional qualifiers and at the finals in the Fall in Mesquite, Nevada.

The Super Qualifier is for Men’s Open Division (any age) and Men’s Senior  Division (age 45+).  Entry fee is $40 for each 6-ball attempt. There is no limit on the  number of times any one hitter may attempt to qualify. Drives must land and come to  rest inside the 45-yard wide grid. The longest drive from each competitor will be  counted  (16 hitters grouped by multi-state regions). Slazenger golf balls are used for  all competing sites.  Driver heads listed on the USGA’s conforming list can be used  with shaft lengths that are no longer than 50 inches measured vertically. One of the  largest Super Qualifiers this year is being held in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,  recognized as “The Golf Capital of the World” with 100 golf courses along The  Grand Strand 50-mile Atlantic coast. The competition site is the exclusive Barefoot  Golf Resort in North Myrtle Beach. Their 28 acre driving range facility can  accommodate the 400-yard long and 45-yard fairway width set up for the Long Drive  Event, and also a long drive practice tee for contestants. Barefoot Resort’s regular  range set-up provides 5 acres of teeing area which includes a designated Members  area. With 12 different target greens, 3 separate fairways, chipping green, and  practice bunker, the facility gives you everything you need to satisfy your practice  needs. When your game is ready to head to the course, Barefoot offers four golf  courses designed by four of the world’s preeminent designers. Greg Norman, Pete  Dye, Tom Fazio and Davis Love III have all left an indelible impression on what  many consider to be the world’s No. 1 golf destination. Please call  www.barefootgolfvacations.com to allow us to help plan your next golf vacation.

The small-town, rural life suits McBee High School football coach Terry Sowell just fine.

He fits right in with anyone who appreciates the simpler things in life and who does not mind working hard to earn a measure of success.

It’s the same concept he brings to the field in his quest to move the Panthers’ program into the upper echelon of Class A prep football in South Carolina.

He knows he has a considerable way to go yet.

But there are signs of life. Two years ago, McBee went 8-4 and won the school’s first playoff game.

The Panthers slipped last year and won just four games, but now they’re off to a 3-0 start, fresh off a 44-34 win over Darlington last week.

And McBee is doing things just the way Sowell likes it: Work hard, keep it simple.

Power trip

In a day and age when many teams are scrapping the old-fashioned way of doing things by going to faster-paced, more wide-open spread offense, there are still a few teams that play old-fashioned, power football. McBee is one of them.
The Panthers run the wishbone. It’s not the true, triple-option wishbone Oklahoma’s teams ran in the 1970s. It’s power, isolation plays and traps.
And it works.

Heading into tonight’s game at Lee Central (2-0), the Panthers have amassed 904 rushing yards in three games against North Central, Scott’s Branch and the Falcons. Sophomore running back Dashawn Allison has gone beyond the 100-yard mark in each game.

And McBee is making the few passes it does throw count. Quarterback Julian Steen is 12-of-18 for 229 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions — just enough to keep defenses somewhat honest.

And that, Sowell said, is what opponents will see every week. The Panthers’ opponents know what’s coming. It’s a matter of stopping it.

“The spread just does not fit our makeup here,” Sowell said. “We try to do what we think we can do well and what fits our type of kids. Jonathan (Dixon) is a good receiver, but we don’t have a lot of guys who can go get the ball. We don’t have a lot of speed.

“But we do have a lot of tough kids that have bought into what we’re trying to do, backs that block tough and we’ve got most of our offensive line back from last year.”

The same philosophy applies to the defense: simplicity and power. The Panthers play an eight-man front and blitz often.

“It’s 11 hats to the football,” senior linebacker Santoneo Wright said. “I love the blitzing. When you sit back, it gives the offense a chance to get on you. We try to take it to them.”

‘Country boys’

Sowell played fullback and safety at South Florence High School for coach Mike Watts and graduated in 1988.

After finishing college at Clemson, Sowell said he wanted to find a home in a more rural setting than Florence, and Chesterfield County was it. After stints as an assistant at Chesterfield and then Central Pageland, Sowell took the job at McBee after Trey Woodberry left for West Florence.

The way Sowell sees it, it can’t hurt to be surrounded by other winning football programs, and he didn’t have to move to take the job.

“Right close to us, we’ve got Central, Cheraw, Lamar, Camden, Hartsville and now Chesterfield who all win,” Sowell said. “We’re right in the middle of them.”
But that’s not the only thing that made McBee attractive. Sowell simply likes the kind of players he has to work with.

“I think we’ve got tough country boys here and that’s kind of what drew me here,” Sowell said. “We’re never going to dress more than the other team, but we don’t use that for an excuse. We have to be tough.”

Like many of the smaller Class A schools, most of McBee’s starters play on both sides of the ball. Sowell said 18 or maybe 20 players see action on any given Friday night.

“It takes a lot of toughness,” Dixon said. “We know we have to work hard from the beginning in order to play both ways. We probably have to condition a little more than some to be able to do that.”

Sowell said he believes that’s where the hard-work mentality really comes into play for his team. He said his “tough country boys” wear that label as a badge of honor.

“It fits right into what we try to do,” he said. “We’re not flashy. We grind it out. To us, a 3-yard gain is a good play. And I think our linemen love to run-block more than pass-block. Our backs are the bigger, more physical types and they block well. I think they take pride in keeping the ball away from the other team.”

Next step

It won’t be easy for the Panthers to elevate their program to where they would like for it to be. They play in the same conference with Chesterfield, a program that has won back-to-back state championships, and Lewisville, a program that has a few state titles for its trophy case.

North Central and Great Falls appear to be down, but Indian Land and Buford will offer challenges, too.

But the feeling of winning a playoff game two years ago is still fresh enough in the minds of this year’s seniors, and they want to experience it again.

“It was kind of like a big relief to win that game,” guard Scottie Sanders said. “It still gives us motivation because we’ve only won one playoff game. We need to get a tradition going here.”

Sowell sees signs that the Panthers are on their way to doing that.

Up until about five years ago, Sowell said, there was a junior high team and any players in grades 9-12 played varsity. Now, there is a 37-member middle school team and a junior varsity program, as well as a recreational program that fields more than 100 players.

“I think we’re on a really good, solid footing,” Sowell said. “Down the road, I think our numbers will cease to be a problem.”

The next step is not only getting back to the playoffs, but getting a home playoff game. Two years ago, the Panthers started 6-0 and stumbled to a 7-3 finish in the regular season. They won their playoff game on the road before losing in the second round.

Sowell said the last time the Panthers hosted a playoff game was in the early 1990s.

“Not many of our kids were born prior to that,” Sowell said. “In their lifetime, we haven’t had a home playoff game. I think our realistic goal now is to get ourselves in a position to host playoff games And now with the two divisions in Class A, you win three playoff games in a row and you’re playing for the state championship.”