SOS History
The history of the Sold Out Survivors as remembered by Pat Hughes.
The Sold Out Survivors Golf Club had its start as the Northrop Recreation Golf Club Electronics Division which started in the early 50’s. I was not around when the club started but took over the club Presidency from Ted Deguisne around 1987. I have been the club president since that time and a lot of things changed. The club named changed to Northrop Grumman Recreation Club in the 90’s when Northrop bought out Grumman Aerospace.
Then in 1997 the Hawthorne Northrop Grumman Electronics division plant was closed down and the club had to strike out on its own. We had a club meeting with about 20 of the remaining members of the club and decided we needed to keep this going. The first order of business was to rename the club as we could no longer use the Northrop Grumman name. After several suggestions we came up with the Sold Out Survivors because we were sold out by Northrop Grumman but we “survived” the sell out. I do not remember who came up with the name, it might have been Bob Sanders but I just don’t remember. After the vote we continued the club we have today, Sold Out Survivors, (SOS for short).
In 1997 I went to work for Allied Signal (Honeywell today) and as people here found out about our club they wanted to get handicaps so they, the Honeywell Hackers (the name of the club here at Honeywell), joined ranks with us and their members joined our club. Over the years the size of the club has fluctuated from 100 to 200 members. We currently have about 116 members of which about 25 or so participate in our tournaments each month.
In the 90’s my wife Melissa and I went to Myrtle Beach on a golf vacation and had a great time. We wondered if the group would like to go on such a trip and the very next year we had about 40 golfers attending out week long golf vacation in Myrtle Beach. There were some hitches and not all went well but most everyone had a good time. We have had 1 “big” trip each year since that trip and we still get from 10 to 40 people attending the events. We have traveled to places like Alabama, Robert Trent Jones Trail which was held during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Okanogin in Canada, Bend and Sunriver Ogegon, Arizona, Coeur d Alene Idaho, etc. The goal is to play in every state in the union. Not sure all of us will be around but we hope to make all 50 states.
One of the best things that ever happened to our club was when Fred Woods took over form Chuck Edmonson as handicap chairman who also did a fine job. Fred a computer whiz, has set up an excellent scoring program, handled all the SCGA membership duties, sends out all the results (the same day as the tournament) which is never done in other clubs, among numerous other duties.
We hold monthly tournaments at some of the upscale clubs in the area. Some are more upscale than other at certain times of the year but we TRY to get nice courses most of us do not usually play. We have a pretty good list of courses we play each year. We play for the SOS Golfer of the Year Club Champioship by winning points throughout the year. An additional highlight is the yearly match play tournament we have. Match play has 2 or 3 qualifying rounds to determine the seeds for the 32 person event which is played over 4 or 5 tournaments to crown a match play champion each year.
Taking a page from the PGA tour and the FedEx cup, in 2007, we have inagurated the Ultimate Survivor Cup as to determine the SOS Golfer of the Year.
Also starting in 2007, we added this web site as a communication tool for our members. It is an ongoing project, with more information being added each month. Some works, some doesn't, but it IS growing so peg it up and join us for the game.
An Invitation to Join
SOS is an SCGA affiliate golfing club that is open to all golfers looking for a club that is not attached to a golf course facility. We offer monthly tournaments, match play,out of state golfing trips, electronic tournament scoring system, as well as an up to date web site that you can go to anytime with tee times, tournament results, and club info.
The SCGA has an electronic handicapping system which allows posting of scores on-line and monthly email notification for news and handicap. SOS has a certified handicap chairman that can assist the golfer in understanding the handicap system.
Contact Pat Hughes, President or Rich Hoag, Handicap Chairperson if interested.