General Manager/Head Myrtle Beach Golf Pros Steve Shaffer has been working at Aberdeen since July 2005. Steve is from Cumberland, Maryland. His grandfather got him started in bowling when he was only three years old, and he continued to bowl throughout his high school years. He started playing golf casually around the age of eight with a friend and his friend’s mother.
Steve continued to play golf, going to the driving range as often as possible. At Fort Hill High School he played on the golf team, never missing a match in all four years of school. In 2001 his team won the local area championship. At age 14, Steve caddied at Cumberland Country Club, and at age 16 he worked as cart attendant and in the pro shop at Rocky Gap Golf Resort in Flintstone, Maryland, outside Cumberland. This helped pay for his car. When he graduated, he worked fulltime at Rocky Gap.
About a year after graduating high school, Steve moved with a friend to Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived for nine months and got his twenties out of his system. During that time, he worked at a restaurant in front of Vanderbilt University.
Realizing that it was time to get some kind of career going, he moved back to Maryland and went back to work at Rocky Gap Golf Resort. There he met a man who had just graduated from the Golf Academy in Orlando, Florida. Steve admired the business savvy the man had gained from attending the Academy, so in 2002 he decided to attend the Golf Academy in Myrtle Beach. He graduated with an Associate’s Degree in December 2003.
During his schooling at the Golf Academy, Steve worked at a large golf supply store in North Myrtle Beach and then as an assistant in the pro shop at Waterway Hills. Then he worked at Long Bay, where he was promoted to First Assistant.
Steve now enjoys his life in mid-Myrtle Beach with his yellow lab, Bella.
Thomas Matthews is Aberdeen’s First Assistant. From Franklinville, North Carolina, he is a retired Army veteran after 22 years of service, where he worked in explosives and also as a recruiter. Thomas started working at Aberdeen Country Club February 2012 as Assistant. He loves living the dream: surrounded by golf and playing for free!
Fred Barden, retired from Bartlett, Illinois, has been living in the area for 20 years. Fred has worked at Aberdeen from the beginning, in 1989, when the club opened as Buck Creek. He started on the maintenance crew and now is working as a cart attendant. A veteran, Fred is active in organizing the Wounded Warriors tournament.
Randy Chum, an Assistant, recently moved from Colorado, and previously came from North Carolina. He works at the counter in the pro shop and does some of the outside work.
Chris Varrell, who has been here since about 2009, is our Superintendent.
Chuck Sennif, formerly our Irrigation Tech, has worked at Aberdeen more than 10 years and in December was promoted to Assistant Superintendent.
Gloria Konrad is our fulltime Grill Room attendant. From Middletown, New York, she has been in the Grand Strand area for about 15 years and has worked at Aberdeen since 2006.