Florence's Zeigler Receives SC Golf Associations Award and Joins Board of Directors

The Drawdy Award is given annually by the SCGA, and recognizes significant and exemplary service by a volunteer to the game of golf in South Carolina. In conferring the award on Ben, the SCGA commended his work as Tournament Chair of the recently rejuvenated Grant Bennett Florence Junior Invitational, South Carolina's oldest junior golf tournament, which has been held at the Florence Country Club annually since 1952; his work, in partnership with McLeod Health, to establish the John Orr leadership Camp for the South Carolina Junior Golf Association; and his work to fund the Pee Dee Chapter of the SCJGA, which operates a summer tournament schedule in the region.

“Ben has been a powerful force for growing the junior game in the Pee Dee and statewide,” said SCGA Executive Director Happ Lathrop. “He has been instrumental in bringing the Florence Junior Invitational back to the status as an SCJGA Major; he spearheaded the creation of the John Orr Leadership Camp that brings together top juniors from around the state in Florence in November of each year; and he has raised nearly $100,000 in the past two years to support junior golf in Florence, the Pee Dee, and at the statewide level.”

Ben, in turn, praised his fellow volunteers and SCGA/SCJGA staff. “Although I am honored and grateful to accept this award, everything that is cited in support of it is the result of the efforts of many—from the Grant Bennett Committee to junior golf parents around the Pee Dee to the Board and staff at the Florence Country Club and golf clubs and professionals from around the region. It has been my privilege to be a part of that team, and nothing I have done individually can match that collective effort,” he said. “I like to think I am accepting this award for them.”

In addition, Ben said, the junior game in South Carolina would not be thriving as it is without the SCGA and SCJGA. “What we volunteers provide are ideas, support and manpower - none of which would go very far without the infrastructure the SCGA and SCJGA have built in South Carolina, as well as the passion and hard work of Happ’s staff,” he said. “They are first rate, and make what we do the easy part.”

Past recipients of the Charles Drawdy award include former State Representative and Heritage Golf Foundation member Doug Smith, SCGA Board member and prominent golf supporter Charles Rountree and Former SCGA President Jim Finklea of Florence.

Ben, an attorney with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. in Florence, grew up and still lives on the Florence Country Club golf course, but came to golf late. “I messed around with it some as a kid, and worked on the FCC Range and in the cart shed as a teenager, but I usually tell people I did everything on that course but play golf,” he said. “I really did not become passionate about golf until my 30s, and that passion has ramped up significantly as the result of my eleven-year-old son, Gene, who plays competitive golf,” he added. “Engaging in golf to a significant extent through your child gives you an amazing perspective on the game, and has helped convince me that golf is not just an ornament or a recreation, but can be a powerful force for good in the world.”

Ben says he believes golf “can be a functioning metaphor for a good life,” as it “teaches self-reliance, honesty, focus, determination, the benefits of hard work, and perhaps most importantly, respect for 'the game' as something larger than oneself.”

Ben was also elected to a two-year term on the SCGA’s 18-member Board of Directors prior to the January 10 event. He also serves on the Boards of Directors of McLeod Health, the Initiant Health Care Collaborative, the South Carolina Historical Society and on the Florence County Museum Board, and presently serves as Chairman of the Florence County Historical Society, the Wright Foundation for Southern Art, and as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Belle W. Baruch Foundation, which owns and operates the 17,000 Hobcaw Barony in Georgetown.”