The heart of Dunes West

Dale Carnegie’s renowned book How to Win Friends & Influence People states, “To be interesting, be interested.” To gain respect, you must first have respect. Building relationships and investing in people is important in personal lives, as it is with your career. As a superintendent, forming relationships with staff and members can be the most essential part of the role. Hilda Rose’s relationship with the maintenance staff at Dunes West Golf & River Club in South Carolina is a revelation of that. 

Hilda, 89, moved with her husband to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, in 1998, into a home on the second green of Dunes West’s property . They have resided there since. 

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Hilda can be found teeing off in the first slot of the day, 7:15 a.m. She walks and uses a pushcart, and is joined by friends and staff members. When not playing, she’s known as the “resident watchdog,” keeping an eye out for rulebreakers.  

Hilda’s long-term dedication to Dunes West is displayed through her golf game, and also in how she treats the maintenance staff. Starting in 1998, Hilda and the women at the club have provided lunch for the crew, as a thanks for their hard work. Meals are prepared with a thank-you note. 

Superintendent Rob Mackie, who joined the staff in 2002 as assistant superintendent, says the lunches aren’t the only time Hilda delivers food. “She’s just always randomly stopping by the shop to drop off snacks for the crew,” Mackie says. “She is always smiling, always in a great mood.” 

When she’s trying to find a new home for furniture or discovers a good find on the side of the road, Hilda will drop by to offer it to the team. “She thinks of us first,” Mackie says. 

Over the years, Hilda’s appreciation for the grounds crew has grown. Their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. “I think they do such a fabulous job,” she says. “They work so hard. They know that I’m there for them.” 

Dunes West is home to an 18-hole Arthur Hills design. Located less than 20 minutes from Charleston, the course opened in 1991. Around the time of Hilda’s arrival, water had damaged the majority of the tees and fairways. Mackie, who arrived shortly after the ordeal, only has photographs, but Hilda witnessed the mess firsthand.

“She inspires me to keep going and just remember the days when it was a different kind of chaos,” Mackie says, “because now the chaos is managing around the golfers. I think Hilda can definitely tell you in the bad times how bad it was. It was still a beautiful place, but there wasn’t a ton of grass.” 

The course is semi-private, and since the COVID-19 pandemic, has hit record numbers of rounds played each year, with 2024 bringing 65,202. “With the popularity of golf and people moving to the South, it’s probably majority member play now,” Mackie says. “It’s very, very busy, high volume.”

Located in an affluent, booming area, Mt. Pleasant’s population has nearly doubled since 2002, from 48,990 to 95,232. Greens were renovated in 2019, when the club replaced aging Bermudagrass with seashore paspalum and returned them to their original size. “That’s been very timely, considering the amount of play we’re having now,” Mackie says.  

Through business and “chaos,” Hilda and the other members’ relationship with the maintenance staff provides a morale boost. “I think it’s very important because it’s easy to just get caught in the drive of the day, the week and all that,” Mackie says.

The importance of relationships carries into Mackie’s interactions with the staff. Focusing too much on the work can lead to distance with employees, so Mackie makes an effort to remind them that “they’re still human and not just a robot” and need to take some breaks. Dunes West carries eight full-time maintenance employees.

Forming relationships with members also provides a relaxing environment for discussing issues on the course, according to general manager Rich Rankin. “They’re just more comfortable coming to me or coming to the head pro or manager and just letting us know and talking about it,” Rankin says. “And it’s not like the end of the world. It’s more of a friendly conversation rather than a combative conversation. I think having relationships just makes everybody feel a little bit better about the club itself as a whole and more relaxed.” 

Hilda’s dedication to health and athletics didn’t start in 1998. She played basketball in high school and started a team during nursing school. She picked up golf when she moved to South Carolina, and her game has continued to grow. She is active in the club’s Ladies Golf Association, has played in many tournaments, and even has a hole-in-one.

The opportunity to play provides an outlet of friendship and exercise. “I love the game. I would play seven days a week,” she says. “I’m a good golfer. I’m not in the single digits for a handicap, but it’s the camaraderie with the people that you come in contact with.” 

She continues to walk with a pushcart, despite what her friends and family say. “Everybody keeps asking, ‘Why am I still walking?’ I said, ‘Why not?’” she says, laughing. “I carried my clubs until everybody complained. I said, ‘Well, why does it matter to you?’” 

Because of family circumstances, Hilda needs to tee off as early as possible. For Mackie, there were no questions asked: “I said, ‘It’s easy.’ It just means that we’ll get out earlier.” 

Crew member Randy Richardson joins Hilda each day after moving cups. Hilda hands Richardson an apple on the first hole, and on the walk from 13 green to 14 tee box, they share homemade goodies and smiles. “I’ve played with her for six years now. I bet she hadn’t missed five fairways in that amount of time,” Richardson says. “This is a true story.” 

Loyal and dedicated are just two words Richardson uses to describe Hilda. “Not only to golf,” he says, “but the whole golf community.”