photo-sharing app. He began posting
pictures and compelling narratives about
golf courses, clubs, travel and other stuff
under the Sugarloaf Social Club flag. Sug-
arloaf, since closed, was a Florida course
Gilley frequented in college.
However social media posts find fol-
lowers, Gilley’s musings—he’s compared
them to Bat signals for golf nerds—found
plenty of them. The like-minded audience
has mushroomed to nearly 30,000.
Social media are full of “influencers,’’
but Sugarloaf, while hardly alone in the
golf space, is clearly an ascendant voice.
“The point of Sugarloaf above all else is
connecting these sort of folks and creating
a community,” Gilley says. “Instagram,
Gilley and Lewis have found a
home at Richmond’s Jefferson
Lakeside Country Club, which
features a classic Donald Ross
design golf course.
26
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 19
Sugarloaf Social Club frequently scouts
and shares courses that kindle their
golf spirit. From left to right: Sperryville’s
Schoolhouse Nine; Laurel Mill Golf Course
in Ridgway, Pennsylvania; and Lewis on
the hunt in Maine.
because it was really devoted to photogra-
phy with some light storytelling, was a per-
fect way to share the journey of a golf nerd.”
Yet Sugarloaf never pigeonholes what
golf should be to people, because the
true golf journey never stops being
about discovery.
“There’s so much individuality in personal
tastes, interests and curiosity,” Lewis says.
So Sugarloaf’s ethos “is all about being an
individual. If you’re interested in something
that’s not the mainstream, go explore it.”
YOUNG GUYS, BUT OLD GOLF
SOULS
Pinehurst’s president Tom Pashley took
that flier on Sugarloaf when he accepted
Gilley’s and Lewis’ impromptu invitation
for a meeting two years ago. Impressed by
their passion and attitude toward posi-
tioning renovated Pinehurst for a newer
demographic, he hired them on.
“We all sit down and just like that we’re
talking about Donald Ross and the nuanc-
es of design and the simple but crucial
importance of just helping people have
fun on the golf course,” Pashley recently
told GOLF magazine.
“These were young guys, from a differ-
ent generation, but their golf souls were
as aged as mine.”
Former Pinehurst golf pro Jeff Crabbe,
now general manager of Jefferson Lake-
side Country Club in Richmond, says he
had the exact same sensation when he
met the Sugarloaf boys.
vsga.org
Gilley resides in Oakton, Lewis in Rich-
mond, and both are Virginia State Golf
Association members. The pair met in
the halls of D.C. bureaucracy about eight
years ago, working for a Florida con-
gressman. Lewis was chief of staff, Gilley
the communications director. Golf was
a shared passion, although they came at
the game from much different directions.
Gilley, now 30, was an accomplished
junior golfer who played at Florida’s Rol-
lins College. Lewis, 36, was a relative golf
greenhorn. But it wasn’t long before golf
became their bond and brainchild.
When Instagram launched a decade
ago, Gilley intuitively recognized the
fun and connectivity potential of the