I can't believe it has been five weeks since I last updated my blog. The last six weeks have flown by so quickly and have consisted of a lot of traveling...all over the state.
I will update the last month or so another time, but I did want to blog about the last few days. On Tuesday, I left Nashville and flew to Denver to serve as a rules official at the U.S. Senior Open which is being played at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. This place is amazing. If you have never been to The Broadmoor, I strongly encourage you to make a point to visit it sometime. It has 3 magnificent golf courses and the East Course is where we are playing this week.
Due to the State Amateur starting in a few days I am only able to work the first two rounds of the championship. In today's first round I drew Ric Burgess, Matt Seitz and amateur Dave Rasley. We had an enjoyable round and luckily for me I did not have to work hard at all since our group did not have one ruling all day. The hardest part of today was trying to adjust to the heat and humidity out here. I think the high today was around 98 degrees with little humidity and this causes the air to be drier which in turn makes you drink water non-stop. In our round today I drank 10 bottles of water, just about one every other hole.
Tomorrow I will go with the group of Kiyoshi Murota, Lonnie Nielson and Tom Jenkins. We will tee off at 8:15 a.m. MDT. Hopefully it will be another slow day for me and I won't have to make any rulings. These players our so good that they never hit it offline or into trouble.
Until next time...
I will update the last month or so another time, but I did want to blog about the last few days. On Tuesday, I left Nashville and flew to Denver to serve as a rules official at the U.S. Senior Open which is being played at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. This place is amazing. If you have never been to The Broadmoor, I strongly encourage you to make a point to visit it sometime. It has 3 magnificent golf courses and the East Course is where we are playing this week.
Due to the State Amateur starting in a few days I am only able to work the first two rounds of the championship. In today's first round I drew Ric Burgess, Matt Seitz and amateur Dave Rasley. We had an enjoyable round and luckily for me I did not have to work hard at all since our group did not have one ruling all day. The hardest part of today was trying to adjust to the heat and humidity out here. I think the high today was around 98 degrees with little humidity and this causes the air to be drier which in turn makes you drink water non-stop. In our round today I drank 10 bottles of water, just about one every other hole.
Tomorrow I will go with the group of Kiyoshi Murota, Lonnie Nielson and Tom Jenkins. We will tee off at 8:15 a.m. MDT. Hopefully it will be another slow day for me and I won't have to make any rulings. These players our so good that they never hit it offline or into trouble.
Until next time...
Yesterday was a long day. We had the Stroke Play Qualifying Round for our Women's Amateur Championship which is being conducted at The Honors Course in Ooltewah. We had 111 players and 3 alternates competing in the qualifying round to determine what flight they would be in and what seed they would be in their flight. Dawn Woodard, the defending champion is automatically the #1 seed in the Championship Flight and does not have to go through qualifying. The medalist for qualifying was Sara Hunt who shot an impressive one under-par 71 on the difficult Pete Dye layout. The Championship Flight consists of the defending champion and the lowest 31 scorers from the qualifying round. There were five players tied at 80 who went into a playoff for the remaining three spots in Championship Flight.
Tee times for the qualifying round lasted from 7:30 a.m. until 1:40 p.m. We had a strong storm make its way into our area and we had to postpone play at 6:00 p.m. for two hours. We resumed play at 8:00 a.m. and the last group finished play in the dark around 9:30 p.m. Once the flights and groupings were set around 10:30 p.m. we had about an additional hour worth of work to complete before we ended our day at 11:30 p.m... a nice 17 hour day for the TGA staff. Not what we were expecting when we started the day, but we did what we had to do to get the job done.
The match play portion of the tournament begins tomorrow and the tournament will end Friday aftertoon.
Tee times for the qualifying round lasted from 7:30 a.m. until 1:40 p.m. We had a strong storm make its way into our area and we had to postpone play at 6:00 p.m. for two hours. We resumed play at 8:00 a.m. and the last group finished play in the dark around 9:30 p.m. Once the flights and groupings were set around 10:30 p.m. we had about an additional hour worth of work to complete before we ended our day at 11:30 p.m... a nice 17 hour day for the TGA staff. Not what we were expecting when we started the day, but we did what we had to do to get the job done.
The match play portion of the tournament begins tomorrow and the tournament will end Friday aftertoon.
For a lot of us golfers this week had a wide range of emotions. Whether you like Tiger Woods or not, you had to be impressed with his performance this past week at the U.S. Open. Even though he has owned Torrey Pines for the last several years, he pulled off a win for the ages. This U.S. Open is one of those that will forever be imortalized.
I am not sure how much his absence will affect the rest of the year, but there is no doubt the energy and excitement that centers around an event when he is playing will surely be missed.
As for the TGA, we spent the week preparing for our next two championships. Our Women's Amateur begins Monday at The Honors Course which is followed by our Men's Four-Ball Championships at The Country Club, Inc. in Morristown. You can check out a list of who is playing at our website, www.golfhousetennessee.com.
I am not sure how much his absence will affect the rest of the year, but there is no doubt the energy and excitement that centers around an event when he is playing will surely be missed.
As for the TGA, we spent the week preparing for our next two championships. Our Women's Amateur begins Monday at The Honors Course which is followed by our Men's Four-Ball Championships at The Country Club, Inc. in Morristown. You can check out a list of who is playing at our website, www.golfhousetennessee.com.
The last two weeks have gone by extremely quick. Last week began by officiating at the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier at Colonial Country Club in Memphis. We had around 100 vying for 14 spots into our national championship. PGA Tour member John Merrick shot an impressive 65-65-130 at Colonial CC's North and South Courses to claim medalist honors.
On my way back home Tuesday, I stopped in Jackson, TN to meet with leaders of area golf courses to discuss the current status of golf in their area. We had a great discussion and several good ideas came out of our meeting.
The rest of last week was spent in the office preparing for upcoming tournaments.
This week I actually was able to get out and play a little golf for a change. On Monday I was invited by our friends at SunTrust to play in a fundraiser at Hillwood Country Club. We had a blast shooting 58 and tying for third place.
On Tuesday I played in our Society of Tennessee Golfers event at Fairvue Plantation. This was my first visit to Fairvue Plantation and their great facility.
The rest of this week has been spent in the office preparing for upcoming events and working on some new member club benefits we have coming down the road which will be very beneficial to our clubs.
Not sure who is going to win the U.S. Open this weekend but by the looks of Torrey Pines they will have played a magnificent four rounds of golf.
On my way back home Tuesday, I stopped in Jackson, TN to meet with leaders of area golf courses to discuss the current status of golf in their area. We had a great discussion and several good ideas came out of our meeting.
The rest of last week was spent in the office preparing for upcoming tournaments.
This week I actually was able to get out and play a little golf for a change. On Monday I was invited by our friends at SunTrust to play in a fundraiser at Hillwood Country Club. We had a blast shooting 58 and tying for third place.
On Tuesday I played in our Society of Tennessee Golfers event at Fairvue Plantation. This was my first visit to Fairvue Plantation and their great facility.
The rest of this week has been spent in the office preparing for upcoming events and working on some new member club benefits we have coming down the road which will be very beneficial to our clubs.
Not sure who is going to win the U.S. Open this weekend but by the looks of Torrey Pines they will have played a magnificent four rounds of golf.
Well the first event of the year is in the books. The 60th Annual SunTrust State Open Championship presented by Coca-Cola was conducted last week at Gaylord Springs Golf Links in Nashville. Tullahoma's Cody Hale captured the event with an 11-under par total for three rounds. Ooltewah's Josh Coley claimed low professional honors and the $10,000 first place check that accompanies that award.
Overall, last week was very successful. We had perfect weather all week, except for some strong winds a couple of afternoons. The golf course was in perfect condition and we were all very pleased with how the event turned out.
Overall, last week was very successful. We had perfect weather all week, except for some strong winds a couple of afternoons. The golf course was in perfect condition and we were all very pleased with how the event turned out.
This week has been mostly spent in the office. Bill McCarthy, who is our Regional Director for the USGA came in town to conduct a Rules of Golf Workshop for us on Tuesday. We had close to 40 people in attendance and the program consisted of a three-hour visual presentation followed by lunch and a two-hour outdoor presentation. I thought Bill did an excellent job presenting and I hope we can get him back down here in the future.
Not much else interesting to talk about. State Open Qualifying begins next week so the TGA tournament season is officially underway.
Not much else interesting to talk about. State Open Qualifying begins next week so the TGA tournament season is officially underway.
Most of this week was spent in Knoxville. On Tuesday I spent the day assisting Tina Sanders with course marking and setup for the Women's SEC Championship at Tennessee National. I spent the day in the office on Wednesday as it was our first entry deadline day for the year, the State Open. Overall entries were down 8% from last year (423 down to 389). This was going to be our first test of how the economy and rising travel costs would impact our championships. Most of our decline in entries was from the Knoxville area, but Memphis, Chattanooga and Tri-Cities also declined.
On Thursday, I drove back to Knoxville and took a tour of a new Pete Dye/P.B. Dye-designed golf course north of Knoxville called Rarity Mountain. From my first tour all I can say is WOW! The golf is built on top of the mountain in Jellico, TN and it is spectacular. They are still moving dirt and sculpting the land but it is easy to see that this will be one of the top courses in the state once it is completed. Here are a few pictures I took while I was there.
You can see more information on this property at http://www.mountain.raritycommunities.c
To end the week, I officiated at the Women's SEC Championship on Friday-Sunday. A treat for me was that I had Stacy Lewis in my groups for the first two rounds. It doesn't take long to watch her play and understand why she is one of the top female amateurs in the country. She captured the individual title finishing at two under par for the three rounds and Florida captured the team time by an impressive seventeen strokes. I am looking forward to returning to Tennessee National in a couple of months for our Match Play Championships. The Greg Norman design features stacked turf faced bunkers and water comes into play on several holes. I will be interested to see what our top players shoot there in July.
On Thursday, I drove back to Knoxville and took a tour of a new Pete Dye/P.B. Dye-designed golf course north of Knoxville called Rarity Mountain. From my first tour all I can say is WOW! The golf is built on top of the mountain in Jellico, TN and it is spectacular. They are still moving dirt and sculpting the land but it is easy to see that this will be one of the top courses in the state once it is completed. Here are a few pictures I took while I was there.
You can see more information on this property at http://www.mountain.raritycommunities.c
To end the week, I officiated at the Women's SEC Championship on Friday-Sunday. A treat for me was that I had Stacy Lewis in my groups for the first two rounds. It doesn't take long to watch her play and understand why she is one of the top female amateurs in the country. She captured the individual title finishing at two under par for the three rounds and Florida captured the team time by an impressive seventeen strokes. I am looking forward to returning to Tennessee National in a couple of months for our Match Play Championships. The Greg Norman design features stacked turf faced bunkers and water comes into play on several holes. I will be interested to see what our top players shoot there in July.
This week began with a meeting and site visit at Gaylord Springs Golf Links for this year's State Open. Everything is in good order and we expect to have another great championship this year. SunTrust is back again this year as our title sponsor and Coca-Cola will serve as the presenting sponsor for the 26th consecutive year. The entry deadline for the State Open is this coming Wednesday, April 16th at 5:00 p.m. CDT. Last year we had around 425 entries and only time will tell how many we get this year.
On Monday afternoon I had a conference call with the USGA to get an update on their new online entry process for amateur reinstatement. Persons applying for amateur reinstatement will now apply online and the entire process will be electronic.
On Tuesday, Carter, Lauren and myself rated Signal Mountain Country Club as it was time for their mandatory 10-year re-rate. We followed up the rating by stopping by Lookout Mountain Golf Club to do some prep work for our Championship Series event there on April 14-15.
The rest of the week was spent preparing for the upcoming tournament season. We also sent out a mailer to all of our member clubs promoting our new partnership with GreenFix Golf. This partnership will include the promotion of the GreenFix Ball Mark Elimination System through posters and other marketing pieces. In addition, all contestants in our championships this year will also receive a complimentary GreenFix tool. Several golf course including The Honors Course, Chattanooga Golf & Country Club, Black Creek Club, Lookout Mountain Golf Club, The Club at Fairvue Plantation, The Golf Club of Tennessee and TPC Southwind are already using the GreenFix system to reduce the effect of ball marks at their courses. More information on GreenFix Golf can be found at http://www.greenfixgolf.com. You can also view GreenFix's press release on their partnership with the TGA by logging on to http://www.golfbusinesswire.com/release
Finally, Tennessee's Brandt Snedeker is currently one shot back after two rounds at The Masters. We'll all be watching intentally and pulling for our man. Best of luck this weekend Brandt.
On Monday afternoon I had a conference call with the USGA to get an update on their new online entry process for amateur reinstatement. Persons applying for amateur reinstatement will now apply online and the entire process will be electronic.
On Tuesday, Carter, Lauren and myself rated Signal Mountain Country Club as it was time for their mandatory 10-year re-rate. We followed up the rating by stopping by Lookout Mountain Golf Club to do some prep work for our Championship Series event there on April 14-15.
The rest of the week was spent preparing for the upcoming tournament season. We also sent out a mailer to all of our member clubs promoting our new partnership with GreenFix Golf. This partnership will include the promotion of the GreenFix Ball Mark Elimination System through posters and other marketing pieces. In addition, all contestants in our championships this year will also receive a complimentary GreenFix tool. Several golf course including The Honors Course, Chattanooga Golf & Country Club, Black Creek Club, Lookout Mountain Golf Club, The Club at Fairvue Plantation, The Golf Club of Tennessee and TPC Southwind are already using the GreenFix system to reduce the effect of ball marks at their courses. More information on GreenFix Golf can be found at http://www.greenfixgolf.com. You can also view GreenFix's press release on their partnership with the TGA by logging on to http://www.golfbusinesswire.com/release
Finally, Tennessee's Brandt Snedeker is currently one shot back after two rounds at The Masters. We'll all be watching intentally and pulling for our man. Best of luck this weekend Brandt.
I missed a few days of work this week as my wife had surgery on Thursday, April 3. All indications are that the surgery went well. We will be meeting with her surgeon on Tuesday to get a full report. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us during this difficult time.
Things at the TGA office are starting to get busy. The week of The Masters usually signals the beginning of the golf season and hopefully things will pick up soon. We have already started to notice a slight drop in participation from previous years and we hope that this is not the trend for the entire year. A couple of our women's events are or are close to being full so that is promising, but our State Open entry deadline is coming up on April 16 and that will be a great measuring stick for us on what the rest of the year is likely to look like.
Interest in our Rules of Golf Workshops has been okay with an average of 25 entrants at each workshop. We still have 4 more workshops to go. Feel free to log onto our website at www.golfhousetennessee.com to sign up. The cost is only $25 and includes lunch.
This upcoming week we will be releasing our marketing campaign with GreenFix to announce a new ball mark awareness campaign. These new repair tools are catching on fast and the TGA is ahead of the curve in promoting these tools to our member clubs. We have secured a discount for TGA member clubs who sign up for the service which is already in use at several clubs in Tennessee like The Honors Course, Black Creek Club, Chattanooga Golf & Country Club, The Club at Fairvue Plantation and The Golf Club of Tennessee.
I am looking forward to The Masters this week. Unfortunately this is the first time in three years that I will not be attending the practice rounds. Augusta National is a magnificent place and all golfers should attend this great event at least once. May the best player win...
Things at the TGA office are starting to get busy. The week of The Masters usually signals the beginning of the golf season and hopefully things will pick up soon. We have already started to notice a slight drop in participation from previous years and we hope that this is not the trend for the entire year. A couple of our women's events are or are close to being full so that is promising, but our State Open entry deadline is coming up on April 16 and that will be a great measuring stick for us on what the rest of the year is likely to look like.
Interest in our Rules of Golf Workshops has been okay with an average of 25 entrants at each workshop. We still have 4 more workshops to go. Feel free to log onto our website at www.golfhousetennessee.com to sign up. The cost is only $25 and includes lunch.
This upcoming week we will be releasing our marketing campaign with GreenFix to announce a new ball mark awareness campaign. These new repair tools are catching on fast and the TGA is ahead of the curve in promoting these tools to our member clubs. We have secured a discount for TGA member clubs who sign up for the service which is already in use at several clubs in Tennessee like The Honors Course, Black Creek Club, Chattanooga Golf & Country Club, The Club at Fairvue Plantation and The Golf Club of Tennessee.
I am looking forward to The Masters this week. Unfortunately this is the first time in three years that I will not be attending the practice rounds. Augusta National is a magnificent place and all golfers should attend this great event at least once. May the best player win...
The Tennessee golf community lost a great friend this week when longtime Tennessee Tech golf coach, Bobby Nichols, passed away on Sunday, March 16th at the age of 66. Bobby had been battling cancer for the past several months. Bobby was not only a great champion in golf, but a greater champion in life. He was one of those people who made you his friend, even though you had just met him for the first time. He always had a smile on his face and you couldn't help but be drawn to his personality. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to know Bobby for a long time, but I had the opportunity to get to know him over the last few years. Bobby had the incredible distinction to have played his way onto the Professional Team of our Challenge Cup Matches from the inception of the matches in 1968 through 2006. At this past year's matches, Bobby was chosen to captain the Professional Team and it was only fitting that they won. At the Players Banquet we honored him and his legacy in the Cup Matches by creating the Bobby Nichols Most Valuable Player Award. Bobby was completely caught off guard and said it was the greatest honor of his career, and what a career it was. About two weeks after the Cup Matches, I received a personal letter from Bobby expressing how much the MVP award and how much the Cup Matches meant to him. That is what kind of person Bobby was, even though he was in the fight of his life, he took the time to personally write the note and make sure I knew how much he appreciated our staff's involvement with the Cup Matches. Looking back, I am so glad we were able to honor Bobby and now his name will forever be associated with the Cup Matches.
Bobby Nichols (left) with Randy Helton, who received the inaugural Bobby Nichols MVP Award.
We will miss you Bobby.
Click here to read an article on Bobby that was printed in the Cookeville Herald-Citizen.
The 2008 TGA Board Meetings will be held this weekend. We had our Women's Competitions Committee Meeting this morning. The major topic for discussion involved some changes that will take place at our Women's Senior Amateur Championship. The committee approved three significant changes to the event,
1) The yardage will be shortened to the following: Championship Division will have a minimum yardage of 5,300 and maximum course rating of 73.0 while the Flighted Division will have a minimum yardage of 5,000 and maximum course rating of 72.0. These changes will help ensure that the relative difficulty of our sites will remain consistent from year to year while the overall yardage may change from one site to the next.
2) An 18-hole qualifying round has been instituted whereby all players will qualify from the same set of tees and based on their score will be flighted into the Championship or Flighted Division (four flights). Players who do not qualify for championship flight will have the option to opt into the championship flight by notifying the TGA within 30 minutes after the last score is posted. After the qualifying round, the Flighted Division will move up to a shorter set of tees.
3) We will award a Super Senior Award to the player aged 65 or older that has the lowest 54-hole gross score. An award will be given in both the Championship and Flighted Divisions. These awards will be named in honor of longtime WTGA and TGA Director, Jean St. Charles.
Our TGA Executive Committee Meeting, Member Club Annual Meeting and Board of Directors Annual Meeting will take place tonight and tomorrow.
Next week I will be attending the Annual Meeting of the Tennessee Section PGA, conducting a site visit at Ridgeway Country Club, site of this year's State Amateur and will be traveling to Tellico Village in Loudon to re-rate the newly redesigned Toqua Golf Club.
1) The yardage will be shortened to the following: Championship Division will have a minimum yardage of 5,300 and maximum course rating of 73.0 while the Flighted Division will have a minimum yardage of 5,000 and maximum course rating of 72.0. These changes will help ensure that the relative difficulty of our sites will remain consistent from year to year while the overall yardage may change from one site to the next.
2) An 18-hole qualifying round has been instituted whereby all players will qualify from the same set of tees and based on their score will be flighted into the Championship or Flighted Division (four flights). Players who do not qualify for championship flight will have the option to opt into the championship flight by notifying the TGA within 30 minutes after the last score is posted. After the qualifying round, the Flighted Division will move up to a shorter set of tees.
3) We will award a Super Senior Award to the player aged 65 or older that has the lowest 54-hole gross score. An award will be given in both the Championship and Flighted Divisions. These awards will be named in honor of longtime WTGA and TGA Director, Jean St. Charles.
Our TGA Executive Committee Meeting, Member Club Annual Meeting and Board of Directors Annual Meeting will take place tonight and tomorrow.
Next week I will be attending the Annual Meeting of the Tennessee Section PGA, conducting a site visit at Ridgeway Country Club, site of this year's State Amateur and will be traveling to Tellico Village in Loudon to re-rate the newly redesigned Toqua Golf Club.
I recently returned from the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando where I met with several of our sponsors and also got a look at some of the latest equipment coming out on the market. For those of you that have never been...it is quite intimidating. There are hundreds of booths with everything from the latest golf carts to teaching aids, equipment, apparel, you name it...it's there. While I did not see anything that just changed my world, there were a lot of interesting things coming out this year. One of the main things I wanted to see was how club manufacturers were going to use the USGA's new Rule change that allows clubs to have interchangable shafts. There wasn't much hype with this as there was with the square headed drivers last year.
We are currently working on finalizing our tournament schedule for this year and updating our website for the new year. We also finalized plans for our first ever ladies only travel trip. This year we are going to Pine Needles in late April. For more information on this event, log onto www.golfhousetennessee.com.
I am leaving tomorrow for our Foundation Board Meeting and Retreat. We will be discussing the current status of our foundation and where we are headed in the future. Next week I will also be finalizing the dates and sites for our 2008 Rules of Golf Workshops which will be held across the state. With 2008 being a Rule change year, we will be reviewing these Rule changes along with other common Rules instances.
We are currently working on finalizing our tournament schedule for this year and updating our website for the new year. We also finalized plans for our first ever ladies only travel trip. This year we are going to Pine Needles in late April. For more information on this event, log onto www.golfhousetennessee.com.
I am leaving tomorrow for our Foundation Board Meeting and Retreat. We will be discussing the current status of our foundation and where we are headed in the future. Next week I will also be finalizing the dates and sites for our 2008 Rules of Golf Workshops which will be held across the state. With 2008 being a Rule change year, we will be reviewing these Rule changes along with other common Rules instances.
This past Sunday and Monday, I, along with two other staff members, attended a USGA Course Rating Calibration Seminar in Port St. Lucie, FL. This seminar was very informative for our staff and gave us an indication of how close our course ratings rate against the USGA's. This seminar consisted of education presentations, individual and team examinations, and we even rated four holes and compared our results against other associations and the USGA.
The TGA typically annually rates 25-30 golf courses across the state. For more information on course rating click here.
I will be attending the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando over the next few days. I will report back on new and interesing products seen at the show.
The TGA typically annually rates 25-30 golf courses across the state. For more information on course rating click here.
I will be attending the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando over the next few days. I will report back on new and interesing products seen at the show.
Poll #1119286
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4
How many majors do you think Tiger will win in 2008?
0 (0.0%)This is the first posting to my blog. My goals with starting this blog are 1) to give our members and the general public a "behind the scenes" look at the Tennessee Golf Association, 2) create another form of communication to our members regarding the activities of the TGA, and 3) to promote the services the TGA provides to its membership.
In addition to my blog several other staff members are creating blogs to give readers an insight into their own respective jobs. Please visit my Friends section to view other staff blogs.
Most of today was spent finalizing preparations to go live with our 2008 TPGA Junior Golf Academy online registration. Our Academy is an overnight summer camp at Golf House Tennessee for juniors age 11-17. For more information, including registering online click here.
Our tentative Schedule of Competitions for this year is available online at www.golfhousetennessee.com. Online registration will start March 1 for some events with other following on March 15 and May 1. Please check our website soon for online registration information.
There has been a lot of discussion since Tiger Woods's recent comments on his chances of capturing all four majors. Tell me what you think by using my poll.
In addition to my blog several other staff members are creating blogs to give readers an insight into their own respective jobs. Please visit my Friends section to view other staff blogs.
Most of today was spent finalizing preparations to go live with our 2008 TPGA Junior Golf Academy online registration. Our Academy is an overnight summer camp at Golf House Tennessee for juniors age 11-17. For more information, including registering online click here.
Our tentative Schedule of Competitions for this year is available online at www.golfhousetennessee.com. Online registration will start March 1 for some events with other following on March 15 and May 1. Please check our website soon for online registration information.
There has been a lot of discussion since Tiger Woods's recent comments on his chances of capturing all four majors. Tell me what you think by using my poll.
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mvanderpool- Matt Vanderpool
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