The idea for the Morcott Challenge was formed in the summer of 2004 over a lunch and beers with Jim Campbell, R.D.G.C. Junior Convenor and Woody and Cynthia Morcott of Hilton Head Island and also members at RDGC. Jim was explaining to Woody that the Winged Foot club of New York had reneged on a proposed trip over there after RDGC hosting the Winged Foot junior touring team the previous year.

Woody thought it would be feasible to produce a team of 8 from local schools in the Hilton Head area and the team members would host our team in their homes in the Hilton Head area.

The seeds were sown and after a frantic winter of fundraising by the RDGC junior team and their parents, Stuart Morrison club pro selected the final team of 8 to compete in a Ryder Cup style format of matches around easter 2005 and would accompany the team over there.

The criteria for selection was simple, choose 8 players from A section not necessarily the best players but players who were committed to the junior programme, regular attendees, enthusiastic about the section and proud to represent the club.

The American team would be chosen by Jim Ferree, a USA senior tour player still playing successfully on tour, from 4 schools in the Hilton Head area and would also include a number of cultural events in the programme as suggested by Jim and Woody.

The event was designed for our youngsters to experience different styles of golf over courses they would not be familiar with, enjoy cultural activities and more importantly develop life skills that will always remain with them.

If you take the time to look through the various history years of this event you will appreciate just how successful this has become and how well many of our juniors have done in their chosen careers.

In 2019 after many successful and exciting exchanges between Hilton Head and RDGC Woody and Cynthia Morcott decided to take a back seat and hand over the baton to their Son, Scott Morcott, and a new venue at Lake Forest Chicago was established and apart from the covid years the matches continue to be played for using the same criteria as the inaugural event.

Although the teams have changed over the years, junior convenors have also changed.  Big thank you to our head pro Gary Dingwall who worked tirelessly for the benefit of the junior sections and has been replaced by current PGA Teaching Professional, Alistair McNaughton, who has taken over the responsibility for the Morcott Challenge.

Jim Campbell and Woody and Cynthia Morcott were present at the first matches in the new locations in Lake forest and they look forward to this wonderful event continuing for many years to come.