The Chicago to Myrtle Challenge, a promotion Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday launched in conjunction with Comcast SportsNet and 670 The Score to celebrate Spirit’s new direct air service from Chicago to Myrtle Beach, allowed both winners to bring two friends. Each group was paired with a Windy City celebrity – Armstrong played with Bears Hall of Famer and 670 The Score radio host Dan Hampton, and Cockerill partnered with Chicago Tribune Live host Dave Kaplan.

Each team spent half-a-day at Ted Frick’s renowned Classic Swing Golf School, played Grande Dunes, one of America’s 100 Greatest Public Courses, and they played Pine Lakes Country Club, Myrtle Beach’s first golf course, which just reopened after a two-year renovation project.

Throw in accommodations at the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes, one the region’s most posh resorts, and it was a trip no one will soon forget.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been to Myrtle Beach,” Kaplan said. “I (had) a great time. I can promise you I will comeback. I was talking with my wife about looking for property here. I love to play golf and the weather is better than it is in Chicago, so why not come down a good portion of the year or on the weekend when I can get away and play golf. I think it’s awesome.”

While a good time was on the top of everyone’s priority list, the Armstrong-Hampton team competed against the Kaplan-Cockerill squad with the winner receiving free entry into the 2009 PGA TOUR Superstore World Amateur Handicap Championship. Led by Hampton, Armstrong’s team prevailed by one stroke.

“The three guys I had the pleasure of playing with, they couldn’t have been any nicer,” Hampton said. “It was a terrific getaway; it was a great holiday. The golf courses were fantastic and the camaraderie was terrific. It was an A+ (trip) … a terrific experience.”

The trip started with a four-hour session at Classic Swing Golf School, where everyone got a short-game tune-up and some lessons they could take home.

“I’ve been to a lot of golf schools, but this was by far the best experience I’ve ever had,” Kaplan said. “I picked up a lot of good tips. I would rave about Classic Swing.”

While Kaplan is an accomplished player, Cockerill, who brought his father and father-in-law on the trip, hasn’t played much golf, but Frick and his staff were able to meet the needs of the entire group.

After attending golf school, the group hit the links at Grande Dunes and Pine Lakes.

“Pine Lakes is a phenomenal golf course,” Kaplan said. “You won’t go wrong playing the Granddaddy.”

While the two groups and their celebrity partners were strangers prior to boarding the Spirit flight, they returned home, as so many Myrtle Beach golfers do, with new friends.

“(Kaplan and Hampton) treated us like they’ve known us a long time and like to hang out with us,” Josh Talbot, who accompanied Armstrong on the trip, said. “They aren’t shy about telling stories or anything really.”

Myrtle Beach has always been a popular destination for Chicagoans, but the addition of daily, direct service has made access much easier, something Hampton is grateful for.

“It’s been 15 years since I’ve been here but it won’t be 15 years before I come back,” said Hampton, who starred on the Bears 1986 Super Bowl champion team. “It was an exemplary (flight). I had no idea you could jump on a plane and come to Myrtle Beach (in 1:40).”

Just as Armstrong and Kaplan asked themselves if the trip was real when they’d been told they won, they had a similar reaction after arriving in Myrtle Beach.

“This place is great,” Armstrong said.