Garland was raised cooking whole hog BBQ with family and friends in North Carolina. Always the traditional way, over a cinder block pit with rebar, fencing or hog wire, shoveling and spreading hardwood coals all night under a split hog…the good old days. Upon completing school, he spent several years moving around while working in the broadcasting and entertainment industries. He lost his way along the BBQ trail.

He finally met his wife, Rebecca, married and settled down in South Carolina. While he and Rebecca were dating, she introduced him to her uncle, who was also raised cooking whole hog BBQ. He invited Garland over to help with a cook. That is when it happen…from within the smoke memories came rushing back; the heat of the burn barrel, the smell of hardwood smoke, the sight of a split whole hog on the grate, the sound of fat dripping on hot coals, the camaraderie of working the pit and the wonderful taste of a freshly cooked hog. That was the saving moment! He found his way back to the BBQ trail and has been on it like hash on rice ever since.

One weekend, after recently relocating to Columbia, South Carolina, Garland cooked a hog for a house warming party for the new neighborhood. He invited friends, family and coworkers over for an old fashion pig picking. One of the new neighbors introduced him to a friend who invited Garland to be a BBQ judge in a new and fledging BBQ organization. Before long Garland was a charter member and a certified BBQ judge with the South Carolina Barbeque Association (SCBA). He moved up within the SCBA to become a Master Judge and Event Marshal. He later joined the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) as a certified BBQ judge.

Garland has always cooked and experimented with different ideas. He focuses on backyard party type cooking and loves to try out his culinary adventures on family and friends. Whether it be oyster roasts, frogmore stews, frying turkeys, smoking prime ribs, grilling steaks, roasting beer can chickens or throwing a whole hog on for a pig picking, Garland simply enjoys the challenge and joy of outdoor cooking.  

Garland got into cooking competition BBQ to help a friend at a contest in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In just their second contest together, they won Grand Champion, sweeping the event by taking first place in all cooking categories. Garland was hooked. 

Nowadays Garland pretty much spends most of his free time oriented around BBQ. You might see him judging a BBQ contest one weekend, Marshalling one the next weekend, helping with a competition cooking team another weekend or cooking under his own team name, Big GQ. OR in the case of a weekend with no contest, you can bet you’ll find him at home in his backyard cooking something, with a big smile on his face.

Garland attended the first Carolina Pit Masters BBQ cooking school and was impressed with the open sharing of tips and techniques as well as the hands on experience brought by the format in which it was presented. To him, the idea of instructing participants in a simulated BBQ contest, including an open judging session, was both fun and educational. He never thought he would be invited to be an instructor one day.

Currently, Garland is a professional certified corporate trainer for one of the largest insurance companies in the world. He specializes in team building, management concepts and leadership development. He brings organizational experience with progressive visions and values to the Carolina Pit Master’s organization. He resides in Columbia, South Carolina with his wife, Rebecca.

Garland’s instructional activities focus on both backyard and competition style cooking. He will demonstrate several different cooking techniques and teach you how to make award-winning BBQ in your own backyard, as well as on the competition circuit, using the small, inexpensive but highly efficient Weber Smokey Mountain bullets smoker and the BBQ Guru Caldera Tallboy.