Holden started surfing at San Onofre in the 1950s right after he got out of the Marine Corp after having served in the Korean War. In 1955, while working for Glasspar Boats, he shaped his first board out of Styrofoam, using a foam flotation bun. While it surfed, the foam board broke easily and swelled in the sun. Looking around for a better wave tool, Holden found Dale Velzy who was selling his balsa wood boards for $87. Not wanting to spend that much money, Holden, a lifelong do-it-yourselfer, traded two tires that his father had recapped, for a blank. He shaped it on the beach of his favorite break, Old Man’s, taking suggestions from old timers standing around. After that first encounter, Holden and Velzy, who by the 1960s became one of the world’s most prolific surfboard manufacturers, became life-long friends.

While attending Orange Coast College, Holden set up a board building operation in his dad’s garage in Garden Grove. During the 1960s, he was shaping as many as eight longboards a day at his shop on Beach Boulevard. Many other shapers in the area were bringing their shapes to Holden for glassing.

In the late 1960’s with the insurgence of the shortboard, Holden hung his planer up for a time until longboards became popular again. It was the late 80’s when Holden started shaping again. He continued shaping boards until his passing in 2008.