There’s No Reason To Leave

After 45 years in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore suburbs, Ken Coffey and his wife began thinking about what kind of life they wanted in retirement, still a few years away. Ken’s goal was to be able to play golf year round. His wife had always wanted to pursue a career working with flowers. Warmer weather, a lower cost of living, a slower pace of life, and reliable medical care were all must-haves.

One cold February day, they picked up brochures at a Retirement Expo and first learned about Lake Greenwood, South Carolina. As a long-time hospital director of development, Ken checked out the Greenwood website and, out of curiosity, clicked the link for Self Regional Healthcare. He was impressed with the depth of services and thought, “Someday, we’ll go down there and check it out.”

Someday came quickly. A recruiter reached out to Ken about a job in development at, of all places, Self Regional Healthcare in Greenwood, SC. As he and his wife explored the area, they discovered that golf was a big part of the community. “When The Masters® comes around, the area is electric with golf,” Ken says. “With the lake and the great group of guys that I get to golf with, there’s no reason to leave Greenwood.”

Six beautiful local courses provide year-round opportunities for golfers of every level of accomplishment. The largest, the Patriot at Grand Harbor in Ninety Six, is 27 holes designed by Davis Love III to take full advantage of the natural beauty. Also in Ninety Six is the 18-hole, family-friendly Golf Club at Star Fort. In Greenwood, the Greenwood Country Club has one of the best courses in the state, with PGA professionals available for lessons. The Links at Stoney Point is another championship course, home to a premier event on the LPGA tour as well as food from award-winning chef Larry Johnson at Bermudas. Two nine-hole courses, Cokesbury Hills and Ware Shoals have wide fairways and small, fast greens.

But golf is just the beginning in Greenwood. When Ken’s wife learned about Greenwood’s Festival of Flowers, she knew she had found her place as well. She completed her Master Gardener certification through a Clemson University program and works on the Festival of Flowers and other horticulture projects around town. As a bonus, their daughter transferred to Lander University and is putting her environmental sciences studies to use with the city’s horticulture department.

Ken has now played golf for more than 50 straight months. His family has enjoyed the variety of amenities, and the festivals (especially the barbecue). “We have first class cultural opportunities,” he says. “We have a very cool live music culture,” and plenty of interesting international cuisine at places such as Pascal’s and Danish’s Trattoria.

“The really, really best part of it is that the people here are amazing. We’ve made some great friendships here. This is home,” he adds. Oh, and one of his best friends from college, who had for years been inviting them to visit his lake house, will retire on Lake Greenwood…and is just eight minutes away by jet ski.