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AUGUST 2008

3 quality courses with affordable fees State Park trio in north Georgia all worth the trip

By Mike Blum

or Georgia golfers looking for both quality and value in a daily fee setting, it’s hard to do much better than the courses that come under the State Park umbrella. There are eight State Park courses located around the state, with most of them a bit removed from Georgia’s larger cities, where there are more than enough options for the state’s golfers. The State Park courses consist of five that cover a large expanse of south and south central Georgia and three within a relatively small area in the northeast portion of the state. The three in northeast Georgia include the newest of the State Park courses, the one closest to the Atlanta metro area and one of the more unique layouts you’ll come across in a state with some of the best-known courses in the country. The new kid on the block is Arrowhead Pointe at Lake Richard B. Russell, which opened in 2004 to rave reviews. Like Meadow Links at George T. Bagby in Fort Gaines, the second newest State Park course, Arrowhead Pointe is an exceptional layout in a wonderful (albeit slightly remote) setting, located along Lake Russell on the Georgia/South Carolina border. Arrowhead Pointe is just east of Elberton and within easy driving distance of Athens

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Arrowhead Pointe

design on Lake Oconee that is part of the Reynolds Plantation family of courses. In addition to being one of the state’s most scenic courses, Arrowhead Pointe is also perhaps the strongest of the State Park layouts, but is by no means overly demanding. The course measures 6,861 yards from the gold tees and 6,458 from the blues, with the white and red

LAKE-FINLAY

and Augusta, as well as the Anderson, S.C., area. With almost the entire back nine skirting along the edges of Lake Russell, the course shares some similarities with Great Waters, the standout Jack Nicklaus

tees having a little length at 5,971 and 5,220 respectively. Course designer Bob Walker was presented with some gently rolling terrain in proximity to the lake, and makes terrific use of the water as a backdrop while limiting its impact on play. There are no [ See State Park courses, page 6 ]

Georgia Golf Business

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Georgia Golf Course Owners Association

w w w . g g c o a . c o m

Stewart Cink near top of FedExCup standings

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Margaret Shirley wins Georgia Women’s Open

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Bryant Odom claims Georgia Open victory

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Golfers of every level now have access to the technology, equipment, and in the right direction. Isn’t it time you felt like a pro? pgatoursuperstore.com

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3

Instruction Fore You

Use a weak grip for strong chipping By Jason Coffin PGA Professional The Oaks Course

Forecast

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

On a golfer’s approach shot, he has left the ball just short of the green. He has an uphill chip shot of about 30 feet with plenty of green in between him and the hole. The only trouble is behind the green in the form of a pond. He pulls an 8 iron out of his bag to hit a low running chip shot that he has seen the pros on TV hit a million times. The next thing he knows the ball is zooming over the back of the green and he watches it roll into the pond because he thinned it. The next hole he is faced with the same situation, and he is determined not to make the same mistake. So instead of the ball zooming over the green when he attempts the chip, it advances forward only a foot because the golfer has inserted the club head deep into the turf directly behind the ball. If the previous scenario sounds familiar then reading this will help. A way to avoid predicaments like the above story is to weaken your grip when you hit a chip shot. A grip that is considered weak, for a right handed golfer, is one in which the hands are rotated to the left while holding the club. This means that the grip of the club is located more in the palm of the left hand, and more in the fingers of the right hand. This would obviously be the opposite for a lefty. The reason this grip helps you when chipping, is that it makes it very hard for the clubface to close and encourages a flat left wrist at impact. (Right handed golfers) The main cause of a thinned or flubbed chip is from scooping.

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This is when the wrists break down or uncock before impact and the club head passes the hands, resulting in the butt end of the grip pointing at your belly button. If you can consistently make contact with the ball with a flat left wrist, your chips will come off the club with a "click" and feel very crisp. Your wrists should feel firm through the chip and the butt end of the grip should not point towards your body after the shot. At impact the hands should be slightly ahead of the ball. If you decide to use this method when chipping there are a few things to remember. Because you are gripping the club with a weak grip it makes the club face open through impact. To make sure that the ball goes towards the target you

can aim a little left of the intended line or you can close the clubface before you grip the club. If you choose to close the face, make sure that after you take your grip and look down at the club head, the face is left of the target line. This will feel a little weird at first, so make sure you get the feel for this technique on the practice green before taking it to the course. A second thing to remember is not to let the wrists break down while chipping. If this happens when you are using a weak grip the ball will go right very quickly. Using a weak grip while chipping has been a secret the pros have used for years. Corey Pavin is one of the best chippers ever to play the game and this is exactly the method he used to get there. With some practice and experimentation you can make it work for you, too.

New Ga. license plate to benefit junior golf

The Georgia Junior Golf Foundation (GJGF) is promoting Georgia as a great place to “Tee It Up” with the creation and sale of a specially designed license plate. Proceeds from the sale of the new license plate will benefit the GJGF and support its services and resources provided to the state’s junior golfers. Among those services are the GJGF’s annual magazine, a junior golf clearing house, clinics and workshops, its partnership with the national First Tee program and its web site (www.gjgf.org). The state requires 1,000 commitments before the tag can be produced and distributed. For an application, visit the web site of the Georgia PGA, GSGA or the GJGF.

FedExCup preview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chip shots: State Am wrap-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Georgians on PGA Tour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

AGA Tour still going strong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Georgia PGA Championship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Golf FORE Women. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Georgia Women's Open wrap-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Golf FORE Juniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Odom wins Georgia Open. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Georgia Golf Business: GGCOA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Hull takes new PGA event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Course reviews: Whte Columns, Oaks . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3021 Kalah Place, Marietta, GA 30067 770-933-04GA (Office) 770-953-6638 (Fax) golfforegeorgia.com [email protected] PUBLISHER

Golf Media, Inc. John Barrett EDITOR Mike Blum CONTRIBUTORS

Jason Coffin Jackie Cannizzo, Women’s Golf Editor Lake-Finlay Image Group Joseph Field Steve Dinberg Georgia Golf Course Owners Association Cindy Acree, Executive Director MARKETING & ADVERTISING Eric Atkins, Sales Representative J.R. Ross, Sales Representative Rick Holt, Corporate Sales ART DIRECTOR

Lori Montgomery [email protected] GEORGIA SECTION, PGA OF AMERICA PRESIDENT

Jim Arendt, Chicopee Woods Golf Course VICE-PRESIDENT

Patrick Richardson, Wilmington Island Club SECRETARY

Brian Stubbs, Country Club of Columbus HONORARY PRESIDENT

Danny Elkins, Georgia Golf Center BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Bud Robison, Callaway Gardens Marten Olsson, The Club at River Forest Steve Godley, Jekyll Island Golf Club Bob Elmore, Bacon Park GC Shawn McKinnon, Berkeley Hills CC Richard Hatcher, Ansley GC Jeff Dunovant, First Tee of East Lake Scott Mahr, Barnsley Gardens Resort Clark Spratlin, Blue Ridge Golf & River Club Dan Mullins, Classic Golf Management Josh Williams, Savannah Golf Club Rodger Hogan, Royal Lakes Golf & CC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mike Paull TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR Pat Day JUNIOR GOLF DIRECTOR Scott Gordon OPERATIONS MANAGER Jeff Ashby

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SECTION ASSISTANT Traci Waters

FOREGeorgia is produced by Golf Media, Inc. Copyright ©2008 with all rights reserved. Reproduction or use, without permission, of editorial or graphic content is prohibited. Georgia PGA web site: www.georgiapga.com

AUGUST 2008

Award-Winning Golf Packages in South Georgia

Meadow Links at George T. Bagby

Little Ocmulgee Golf Course

George T. Bagby Lodge

Little Ocmulgee Lodge Room

60-Room Lodges • Cottages • Full Service Restaurants 18-Hole Award-Winning Golf Courses 2008 South GA Lodge Golf Packages Meadow Links & George T. Bagby Lodge Little Ocmulgee Lodge & Golf Course

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Rates are per person, per night, based on double occupancy in lodge room and include a full hot breakfast each morning and golf each day (18 holes with cart at Meadow Links and 36 holes with cart at Little Ocmulgee). Rates do not include taxes or gratuities. Call for cottage golf package rates.

2008 AUGUST

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5

Highland Walk

them, the uphill holes are most definitely uphill. Because of the rolling nature of the terrain, you can expect a larger than usual number of shots from uneven lies. Your ability to deal with that will largely determine whether you can take advantage of the layout’s overall absence of serious length and minimal amount of hazards in play. After the two short, downhill par 4s that make for such a comfortable start, the true nature of Highland Walk kicks in on the third hole, a dogleg left par 4 with a sharply uphill tee shot that will likely result in a blind, lengthy second. While the majority of the par 4s at Highland Walk are on the short and friendly side, there are a few that are not nearly as accommodating, with offtarget tee shots and miss-hit approaches likely to lead to unpleasant numbers on the scorecard, even without the presence of hazards.

State Park courses [ Continued from the cover ]

intimidating forced carries over water, with a few of the tees placed just behind a finger of the lake and not much water in play around the greens. Several slightly elevated tees offer appealing views but do not make the course play appreciably shorter, with the firm fairways reducing the listed yardage a bit. Arrowhead Pointe is reasonably tight, with tree-lined fairways more of a factor than the water. Much of the challenge at Arrowhead Pointe comes from its greens complexes, which require a considerable amount of skill to solve whether chipping or putting. The putting surfaces have a decent amount of size and slope, with many featuring small knobs that can be quite perplexing to figure out depending on the hole location. The par-3 third introduces you to Walker’s use of humps and bumps on the putting surfaces. But even though the par 3s have some of the testiest greens complexes on the course, their absence of length makes them a friendly group. Length is not a serious concern on the par 5s, but the two on the back nine are among the more dangerous holes on the course. A creek that winds along and through the 10th fairway is a serious concern, as is a wetlands area on the 16th that includes some tall reeds that are pleasant to look at but no bargain to deal with if you have to clear them. Walker provides a fairly gentle opening group of holes before the lake makes it first appearance at the long and demanding par4 sixth. The sixth is one of several par 4s that comprise the heart of Arrowhead Pointe’s challenge, but is just one of two that tops 400 yards from the blue tees. The back nine includes several par 4s that are standouts both from an aesthetic and design standpoint, with Walker

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Creek at Hard Labor

keeping the difficulty of them in check while still requiring some solid shotmaking to produce a par. Conditions are excellent, with the course living up to its billing by Golf Digest as one of the country’s top new, affordable courses in its 2005 rankings. Located perhaps an hour away outside Royston, known at Ty Cobb’s birthplace, Highland Walk at Victoria Bryant is also not far from Athens and within easy reach for golfers throughout northeast Georgia. Noted Atlanta area-based golf course architect Denis Griffiths renovated the original nine in 2002 and added nine new holes, and the result is an interesting design with a tremendous variety of holes, many of which feature considerable elevation changes. Highland Walk measures only 6,503 yards from the blue tees and 6,045 from the whites, but don’t be deceived. While there are a number of downhill holes that play shorter than the listed yardage, the inviting opening pair of par 4s among

You won’t find many courses with a greater disparity in the design and challenge of their par 5s, beginning with the fourth, which offers two separate corridors to the green, similar to a hole at the Griffiths’ designed Chestatee. The long and winding 15th is a whole lot of hole at 584 from the whites, and the last 150 yards on the 18th are about as uphill as it gets. Water makes its first serious appearance on the scenic par-3 16th, but is most in play on the par-4 17th, which requires an extremely demanding carry from the tee over a ravine, depending on where the tee markers are placed. A truly scary hole for short hitters unless the tees are up, which they usually are, thankfully. The excellent greens complexes are tame as a group with an exception or two, but with the challenge coming before you reach for your putter, the course doesn’t need putting surfaces with an excess of undulation. Both the quality of the conditions and the unencumbered nature of the layout

exceed the modest greens fees, with the layout one of the more entertaining you’ll play, although it will occasionally bedevil you because of the terrain. The Creek at Hard Labor is celebrating its 40th birthday this year, and the course has long been a favorite of golfers in north central Georgia. The course, which is located just a few miles off I-20 east of Atlanta, features one of the more accessible locations for the State Park courses, and provides one of the most enjoyable golf experiences you’ll find. One warning: You may not find the first hole (or the long 16th) all that friendly, but the other 16 holes more than compensate for the difficulties of those two par 4s. At 6,612 yards from the blue tees and 6,166 from the whites, the Creek is a very playable from a distance standpoint, with the gold (5,348) and red (4,676) tees very accommodating to seniors, women and youngsters. With some exceptions, the Creek at Hard Labor is a relatively tight driving course, with the challenge off the tee beginning with the first hole, a fairly lengthy downhill, dogleg right par-4 with a second shot over water, likely off a hanging lie. Fortunately, other than the opener and the 16th, which has no water but plenty of trees and yards, the par 4s are a mostly gentle group, with four under 350 yards from the back tees. The key is keeping the ball in the fairway, not the easiest of tasks but one made less challenging because several holes are best played with a long iron or fairway metal off the tee. Because of the overall absence of length, there are plenty of potential scoring holes, and with the greens lacking a serious amount of slope, you should have the opportunity to hole a putt or two. Four short par 4s (2, 4, 7 and 10) are very inviting if you avoid trouble off the tee, and several of the par 3s and par 5s offer equally promising scoring opportunities. Water is in play on three of the par 3s, just one seriously, with the picturesque 14th featuring a 90-year-old water wheel that provides the club’s logo. A waterfall behind the green adds to the hole’s scenic appeal, with the natural setting of the course among its strongest assets. After a relatively tame stretch of holes to start the back nine, the Creek offers up a testy finishing stretch beginning at the 16th, with the 18th one of two moderately narrow and lengthy par 5s that are paired with two shorter, more rolling par 5s to provide a nice balance. The front nine also closes with two of its stouter holes, with the trick at the par-4 ninth being to work your second shot around the large tree looming within the right side of the fairway. Like all the State Park courses, the three in the northern half of the state are very accommodating to junior players, with the modest greens fees even lower for youngsters. For information on the State Park courses, visit www.georgiagolf.com.

AUGUST 2008

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GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM

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FedExCup Playoffs begin without Woods Will no Tiger equal more drama this year?

By Mike Blum

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he first year of the FedExCup produced plenty of excitement in the inaugural playoffs series of tournaments. But then Tiger Woods took over, as he frequently does, and drained all the drama from the PGA Tour’s much hyped re-working of its late-season schedule. There will be no Woods this year, which means there will not be nearly as much attention paid to the second year of the FedExCup Playoffs as there would have been. But there will almost certainly be a lot more uncertainty as to who will emerge as the recipient of the $10 million reward for finishing as the leader in the slightly retooled points standings. It also means no one is likely to win the Tour Championship at East Lake by eight strokes, but that’s a topic for the next issue. With Woods sidelined until some time in 2009 after undergoing recent knee surgery, the 2008 FedExCup Playoffs begin this month with no clear favorite and a realistic opportunity for someone not within a few spots of first place going into the playoffs to vault past the current leaders. Going into the World Golf Championships event at Firestone, Woods still held the lead in the points standings despite having played only six PGA Tour events in ‘08. Kenny Perry, the only player with a realistic chance of surpassing Woods’ point total, has made 20 starts and won three of them, but still needed a strong showing in either the WGC event or the PGA Championship to catch Woods, whose six starts included four wins, one runner-up finish and a tie for fifth, just two strokes behind the winner in that tournament. The points will be reset after the final regular season event in Greensboro, with Perry the likely No. 1 seed in Woods’ absence. Phil Mickelson held an outside chance of catching Perry, but given his

undistinguished play since his victory at Colonial in May, his chances appeared slim. Duluth’s Stewart Cink was fourth on the points list going to Firestone, and also had a chance to overtake Perry. Cink is nicely positioned to make a run at the $10 million bonus for winning the FedExCup, but other than former University of Georgia golfer Ryuji Imada, is the only member of the PGA Tour’s Georgia contingent who has locked up a spot in the field at East Lake for next month’s Tour Championship. Imada, who won the already defunct PGA Tour event at TPC Sugarloaf earlier this year, was seventh on the points list at the end of July, with a pair of runner-up finishes early in the season, has been among the points leaders all year. As many as 10 other PGA Tour players with Georgia ties will be in the field for the start of the FedExCup Playoffs, but a number of them will not last long unless they play well in the first two events (See story, page 10). In order to create more week-to-week volatility in the standings, the PGA Tour has tweaked the number of points each player begins the playoffs with, and has also increased the points allocation for all four playoff events. The field in the first of the three playoffs events leading up to the Tour Championship will consist of 144 players, and it is now possible for the player ranked 144th to move all the way into first place with a victory in the Barclays, which has been moved from Westchester CC in the New York suburbs across the New Jersey state line to Ridgewood CC. Some of the PGA Tour players were less than enchanted with the somewhat quirky layout at Westchester, and after 40 years there, the tournament had become almost an afterthought in the crowded New York sports scene, generating next to no local buzz and surprisingly sparse attendance numbers.

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STEVE DINBERG

Phil Mickelson

Woods made a handful of appearances in the tournament when it was sponsored by Buick, but made his disdain for the course clear when he elected to skip the playoffs opener last year. Moving to the highly-regarded A.W. Tillinghast design in the garden spot of Paramus, N.J., is expected to elevate the status of the event. The 7,300-yard, par-71 tournament course is a combination of the three nines at the club, which has hosted a U.S. Amateur, a U.S. Senior Open and Senior PGA Championship, but never a tournament for golf’s top professionals. Ridgewood is one of two new sites among the three courses that will host the playoffs events preceding East Lake. The BMW Championship is moving this year only to Bellerive in St. Louis, as Cog Hill is being renovated, leaving Chicago without a tour event for the first time since the Western Open settled there permanently in 1962. Although the inaugural FedExCup season was notable mostly for some clever commercials and the lack of interest paid to it by everyone not employed by the Golf Channel, it produced plenty of fireworks once the playoffs began. Steve Stricker outdueled K.J. Choi down the stretch at Westchester, finishing birdiebirdie-birdie to win by one after Choi dropped a couple of 50-foot bombs on him earlier on the final nine. Mickelson scored a memorable victory in Boston’s Deutsche Bank Championship, shooting 66 in the final round to take down Woods, who closed with a 67, by two strokes. Mickelson took a pass the next week on Cog Hill, where he had never played well, leaving Woods to provide the final round drama with a 63 to rally past Stricker and Aaron Baddeley. With most of the points leaders dominating the playoffs, there was virtually no change in the standings from week to week, and by the time the playoffs came to East Lake for their conclusion, there was next to no suspense as to who would walk away with the $10 million bonus. Without Woods and with the new re-set points list, things should be significantly different this time around. As the game’s No. 2 ranked player, Mickelson inherits the absent Woods’ status as the game’s most prominent name, and will be at or near the top going into the playoffs. His win last year at TPC Boston and past victory at East Lake should give him some confidence coming into the playoffs, but unless he repairs his formerly chummy relationship with his putter, someone else will benefit the most from the Tiger-less proceedings. With three wins since his playoff loss to Imada at Sugarloaf, Perry has been the tour’s

hottest player, but he is more of a horses for courses player and the playoff venues may not suit his game as comfortably as Colonial, Muirfield Village and Warwick Hills, layouts where he has multiple wins. Perry also tends to perform better when not in the spotlight at a high profile event, and the streaky nature of his play may take his game in a less productive direction at any time. Anthony Kim will be a popular pick of public prognosticators, and his track record this year – wins at Quail Hollow in Charlotte and Congressional in Washington, D.C., and a runner-up finish in the Heritage – speaks well for both his current form and potential in big-time events on classic courses. Almost all the PGA Tour’s top players (other than the wounded Tiger) will be in the field when the FedExCup playoffs begin August 21 with the Barclays. However, there are some formerly prominent names that may not be among the 144 who tee it up in the state made famous by Bruce Springsteen and Tony Soprano. Davis Love was right on the line at 144 on the points list coming into the Canadian Open, and will be outside that number when he plays his final two events before the playoffs field is set. Others outside the top 144 include Jeff Maggert, Chris DiMarco, Rich Beem, Fred Funk, J.J. Henry, Shigeki Maruyama and Shaun Micheel, who joins the likes of Woods, Arron Oberholser and ‘07 Deutsche Bank runner-up Brett Wetterich on the ‘08 injury list. The field of 144 at Ridgewood CC will be trimmed to 120 for the Deutsche Bank, with major champions Tom Lehman, David Toms and Angel Cabrera all outside the top 120. The field will be trimmed again to 70 for the event at Bellerive, with the top 30 on the points list qualifying for East Lake. Unlike 2007, when the playoffs were held over four straight weeks, there will be a break in the schedule this year. In order to accommodate NBC’s Notre Dame football broadcast schedule, the Tour Championship has been bumped back to Sept. 25-28, the week after the Ryder Cup. There will be an off week in between the BMW Championship and the Ryder Cup, enabling the top players to avoid four straight weeks of golf. Woods, Mickelson, Ernie Els, Scott Verplank and two-time British Open champion Padraig Harrington all skipped at least one of the first three playoffs events last year. The Ryder Cup players face a possible five starts in six weeks, so it would not be a surprise to see one or more of them take a tournament off, although the re-set points standings will make it more difficult to shrug off an idle week. AUGUST 2008

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Cink leads Georgians into FedExCup Playoffs W

hen the PGA Tour concludes its FedExCup playoffs with the Tour Championship next month, the 30-player field at East Lake may not have more than two golfers with Georgia ties. Both Stewart Cink and former Georgia Bulldog Ryuji Imada have been fixtures in the top 10 on the points list for much of the season. But other than Heath Slocum and ex-Bulldog Bubba Watson, who were in the low 40s on the points list with three weeks left in the regular season, no Georgian was among the top 70. The top 144 players on the points list after this month’s tournament in Greensboro qualify for the playoffs, and there were a few prominent Georgians who will have to play well the final few weeks just to get into the field in the playoffs opener in New Jersey. Cink, a Duluth resident who enjoyed an outstanding college career at Georgia Tech, is enjoying perhaps his finest season in his 12th year on the PGA Tour. Cink was fourth on both the points and money lists coming into August, and is in excellent position to move up to No. 1 and earn the $10 million bonus for winning the FedExCup. Coming into the World Golf Championships event, Cink had posted five top-3 finishes this season, including his second career win in Hartford, runner-up showings in the Match Play Championship and in Tampa, and ties for third in San Diego and the Masters. He was fifth in scoring and first in the all-around category, with his only negative stats being driving accuracy, a fact of life for Cink, and his final round scoring average, which has not been a serious concern of late. Imada is also having his best season in his fifth year on tour, highlighted by his first win in Atlanta. After three early-season top5 finishes, his win is his only top 10, but he did manage his third top-20 showing in the U.S. Open in the past four years. Slocum qualified for East Lake for the first time in his sixth PGA Tour season in 2007, and is positioned to return this year. Slocum, an Alpharetta resident, has played solidly this season with five top 10s, among them a tie for fifth in Charlotte, for eighth in Atlanta, a fast-finishing T9 in the U.S.

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Open and a fourth in Hartford, where he was one of Cink’s primary challengers. As usual, Slocum’s strength this year has been his accuracy (ninth in fairways hit), and was key in solid showings he enjoyed last year at Westchester and East Lake Watson, who like Slocum grew up in northwest Florida, ranks first in the tour in driving distance (314 yards) but is in the bottom five percent in fairways hit. His biggest problem this season has been his putting, which has negated his top-10 ranking in greens in regulation. Watson posted recent back-to-back top 10s in Hartford and the Buick Open, tying for second in the latter, just one shot behind Kenny Perry. Augusta native Charles Howell and Sea Island resident Jonathan Byrd both qualified for East Lake year, but were outside the top 70 on the points list entering August. After a tie for eighth in the seasonopening Mercedes Championship, Howell’s only top 10 since is a T8 in Atlanta, and his recent results include missed cuts in the first three majors of ‘08. Howell ranks well down the list in both driving accuracy and putting, but he has managed a number of other respectable showings despite his statistical struggles. Byrd has putted well and made a lot of birdies as a result, but is suffering through a mostly unproductive season largely due to some indifferent play on the weekends. Byrd has yet to break 70 in the final round of a tournament, and has turned several strong starts into so-so finishes, with his best showing a fourth place finish in Atlanta, where he led after 36 holes. He shared the lead in the BMW Championship after 36 holes last year before finishing T10, narrowly making the field for East Lake. Ex-Georgia Tech star and Atlanta resident Matt Kuchar is having his best season since his rookie year in 2002, with four top 10s, among them three of the most respected courses on the PGA Tour – Sea Pines, Colonial and Muirfield Village. Kuchar, one of the tour’s shorter drivers, ranks well down the list in birdies, but his steady play has him in the top 40 in scoring average. However, following back-to-back top 10s in the Colonial and Memorial, Kuchar has missed four straight cuts.

Ryuji Imada

Acworth resident Jason Bohn continues to be plagued by injuries, and has been sidelined since the U.S. Open with a bad back. Bohn began the 2008 season on a medical extension after suffering a rib injury last year, regaining his exempt status with a sixth place finish at Hilton Head and a strong third in Charlotte. Bohn ranks among the tour leaders in the ball striking categories, but his putting has kept his season from being even better. Troy Matteson has not had the best season of his young career either on or off the course. Matteson, a recent Georgia Tech standout and Atlanta area resident, had three strong showings early this year, but went more than four months before another decent finish before posting a top 10 in Milwaukee. Matteson’s difficulties include a DUI this spring that made it into print in a few suburban Atlanta weeklies, although they did not know who Matteson was. Augusta’s Vaughn Taylor finished in the top 40 on the money list on both 2005 and ‘06, but is well outside the top 100 and may need a strong finish to retain his exempt status for the ‘09 season. After a tie for eighth in the Bob Hope Classic in his second start of the year, Taylor had been MIA from tour leader boards until a respectable recent showing in the John Deere Classic. Other than greens in regulation, Taylor’s stats are not that bad, but his results have not been very good. With two starts left before the playoffs, Sea Island’s Davis Love was outside the top 144 on the points list, but is coming off his best showing of ‘08, a top 20 finish in the British Open. Love, whose sub-par 2007

STEVE DINBERG

By Mike Blum

LAKE-FINLAY IMAGE GROUP

Only a few others in position to play East Lake Heath Slocum

season was ended by an ankle injury, has not lost any of his power off the tee, but the rest of his stats are awful. The question has to be asked: at the age of 44, how much does he have left as a player? Roswell’s Justin Bolli attracted some attention with his tie for fifth in Atlanta, but that’s been it for the former Georgia walk-on this year, and he has dropped out of the top 144 and is unlikely to make the field for the first playoffs event. Bolli ranks near the bottom of the list in scoring average, as his only respectable stat – greens in regulation – has been more than offset by the other less successful elements of his game. Atlanta resident Billy Andrade is playing as a non-exempt player this year for the first time in his 20 years on tour, and while he’s gotten plenty of starts with the help of sponsor exemptions, his results haven’t been encouraging. A tie for 14th at Hilton Head is his only quality finish in 18 starts, and his stats are simply horrendous, even his once-vaunted putting. A job in broadcasting may be in Andrade’s near future. The Champions Tour is in the immediate future for Larry Mize, who turns 50 next month. The Augusta native and Columbus resident has not been an exempt player since the 2001 season, and ranks near the bottom of the stats in both driving distance and putting. Mize is still one of the more accurate drivers on tour and hits his share of greens, but will be much more comfortable on Champions Tour courses. He did manage a top-10 finish against a Nationwide Tour caliber field in Puerto Rico, but can’t get to the Champions Tour fast enough. Paul Claxton is playing his fourth season on the PGA Tour, and appears headed for an 11th year on the Nationwide Tour in 2009. The Vidalia native and Sea Island resident has made just 6 cuts in his first 14 starts, with a tie for 34th in the John Deere Classic his best showing. Claxton has finished right around 180th on the money list in each of his three PGA Tour seasons, and will have to go some to finish that high this year, ranking outside the top 200 coming into August. After 27 holes in the Canadian Open, Claxton was in second place, but his next 27 holes did not go very well and he was a victim of the tour’s new 54-hole cut rule.

AUGUST 2008

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11

Section Championship back at Seaside Peterson looks to defend ’07 title

By Mike Blum

A

fter a two-year absence, the E-Z-GO Georgia PGA Championship returns to the Seaside Course at Sea Island Golf Club, which will come as welcome news to several of the state’s top players among the club professional ranks. The Georgia PGA Championship has been anchored on St. Simons Island for more than two decades, with Seaside the host throughout most of the 1980s and ‘90s other than when it was being renovated by Tom Fazio in the late 1990s. Since 2003, the tournament has rotated among the three Sea Island GC courses, with Retreat hosting in 2004 and ‘06 and Plantation the site of last year’s championship. Seaside has hosted just once since 2003, with Tim Weinhart scoring a dominating victory in ‘05 during his four-year run as the Georgia PGA’s Player of the Year. Weinhart lost in a playoff at Seaside in 2002 to Chan Reeves, who defended his title the next year, edging Craig Stevens by two strokes. Reeves’ victory in ‘02 turned the tables on Stevens, who won by one stroke over his fellow Atlanta instructor in 2001, preventing Reeves from beginning what could have been a three-year stretch of titles in the top event for Georgia’s PGA professionals. Weinhart, Stevens and Reeves will be among the players to beat in this month’s championship, which will be played August 25-27. The tournament is part of a busy stretch of Georgia PGA tournaments through August, September and October, which began with the recent Georgia Open and concludes with the Section’s qualifier in late October for the 2009 PGA Professional National Championship. There are five significant Section events during that span, including the Match Play Championship in late September and the Griffin Classic in early October. Going into the Georgia Open, three Georgia PGA members who all live in Athens have been hording the Section’s tournament titles for the past three years, with all three claiming Georgia PGA Championship victories since 2004 on Sea Island GC courses other than Seaside. Jeff Hull won by two strokes in ‘04 at Retreat over Greg Lee, who won at Retreat two years later. Matt Peterson was the 2007 Section champion, winning with a strong final round showing at Plantation, the only time that course has hosted the event. Peterson, a former tour player with extensive experience on the Nationwide Tour, went on to win two of the next three

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Georgia PGA events he entered, taking the PNC qualifier and the 2008 Yamaha Atlanta Open, with a runner-up finish to Lee in the Match Play Championship his only non-victory in a four-tournament span. Also relatively new to the Georgia PGA tournament schedule after years as a tour player is Sonny Skinner, who joined Weinhart as a participant in this month’s PGA Championship at Oakland Hills outside Detroit. Skinner finished third at Retreat in 2006, his first full season playing in Georgia PGA events, and claimed Player of the Year honors with the aid of a victory in the Match Play Championship. A back injury kept him out of last year’s Section Championship, but he has enjoyed a strong 2008 season so far. Skinner finished second to Peterson in the Atlanta Open, took second in the PGA Professional National Championship at Reynolds Plantation, and notched a top-20 finish in the Athens Nationwide Tour event, allowing him to play in a number of other Nationwide events this year. Peterson, the head professional at the University course in Athens, trailed by three strokes entering the final round of last year’s tournament, but turned his deficit into a four-stroke victory with a 66. He finished with a 10-under 206 total, four strokes ahead of veteran Georgia PGA members and former Section Championship winners Tommy Brannen and Stephen Keppler. It was the third straight time Keppler has finished second in the championship, including in ‘05 at Seaside. Keppler, the Director of Golf at Marietta Country Club, has reduced his tournament play the past year or two, but has been a consistent top finisher in the Section Championship since winning the event three times between 1990 and ‘96, before the Seaside Course was renovated. Brannen, the head professional at Augusta Country Club, won the Georgia PGA Championship in 1993 and even though he has reached the age of 50, remains one of the most competitive players in the Section. He also has a solid track record on the Seaside layout, losing a playoff to Reeves in 2002 and placing sixth the next year. Since it was renovated, Seaside has yielded some relatively low winning scores, ranging from 7-to-10-under par on the par-70 layout, to 1-under in 2002. With its location along the ocean at St. Simons, the course is exposed to the elements, with wind and rain both potential major factors any time it hosts a tournament.

Matt Peterson

Seaside, which is widely considered to be among the country’s finest layouts, can play as long as 7,000 yards from the tips, but all the back tees are unlikely to be used on the same day, especially if the wind is likely to play a significant role. Although Seaside has only three par 4s longer than 425 yards from the back tees, it is not a short course. Only one par 4 measures under 400 yards, the par 3s average right at 200 yards and the two par 5s can play as long as 565 and 582. While most of Seaside’s fairways have relatively ample width, the presence of marshes, native sand dunes and water hazards will not treat errant tee shots very kindly, with some stiff ocean breezes heightening the necessity for accuracy off the tee. Most of the greens are average size or larger, although the fall-offs around edges make many of them play smaller than their actual size. The Bermuda putting surfaces have ample amounts of slope, with many of them featuring Pinehurst-style chipping areas that provide several options for short game shots. The last time Seaside hosted the event, Weinhart shot 66 and 67 the first two rounds to build a five-stroke lead, and coasted to a seven-shot win with a final round 70. Weinhart, an instructor at St. Marlo and a four-time Georgia PGA Player of the Year from 2002-05, was the only player under par after 54 holes, with Keppler the lone player closer than nine strokes to Weinhart’s winning score. Weinhart, who played part time on the 2007 Nationwide Tour, did not play in last year’s Section Championship. He finished fourth or better four straight times between

2002 and ‘05, making up for two near misses with his impressive win in ‘05. Reeves, the Director of Instruction at Atlanta Athletic Club, has finished between seventh and 12th in each of the last four years in the Section Championship, and is hoping a return to Seaside will return him to the list of contenders. Since his win in ‘01, Stevens has finished no lower than sixth every year, with the Fox Creek instructor the Section’s most consistent tournament contender over the past decade. Other than his win at Retreat in 2004, Hull does not have an especially successful record in the Section Championship, but he comes into the tournament off a win in the recent Georgia PGA event at Chicopee Woods. Hull, an instructor at the University course in Athens, also won the Georgia Open and Griffin Classic last year, and was sixth in the Atlanta Open, where Peterson, Skinner and Weinhart finished 1-2-3. Lee, an assistant at Chicopee Woods, has done well the last two times the championship was played at Retreat, edging Keppler by one stroke in 2006 after finishing second to Hull in ‘04. He tied for fourth with Weinhart at Seaside in ‘03. Sea Island GC will be well represented in the tournament, with at least one of the club’s professionals posting a top-10 finish in each of the last five years. Will Hutter tied for eighth last year, with 1998 champion Mike Cook in the top 10 in both 2005 and ‘06. Victor deSola was a close third at Retreat in ‘04 and was in the top 10 the previous year at Seaside. This month’s tournament will be presented by Ashworth, Callaway Golf and the PGA Tour. AUGUST 2008

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13

Shirley claims second Women’s Open title Rallies past Coble on final 9 at SummerGrove

By Mike Blum

M

argaret Shirley won the Yamaha Georgia Women’s Open for the second time in three years, but there wasn’t much similarity in her two victories. Two years ago, Shirley set a tournament and course record at Canongate-on-White Oak in the opening round, but had to survive a playoff to win, finishing with a 9-under 135 total. Last month, Shirley trailed by three strokes at SummerGrove after a first round score of 72, and was still three off the lead heading to the final nine. In 2006, Shirley had to fend off a determined comeback from Kyu Ri Ban, who played her first 11 holes the final day in 8under to erase a 5-stroke deficit. This time, Shirley got to play the chaser role, and performed it just as well as she did in the front runner’s position in ‘06. With four birdies in a 6-hole stretch, including the last three in succession, Shirley went from three strokes behind to two ahead. A final hole bogey did not prevent her from adding a second Georgia Women’s Open title, but she did get a bit of a scare before becoming the fourth multiple winner in the tournament’s 14-year history. Shirley posted scores of 72 and 71 for a 143 total, eight strokes higher than her winning total at White Oak, which is located just across the street from SummerGrove. She finished one stroke ahead of 2004 tournament winner Laura Coble, who held the lead after an opening 69, the only sub-70 score in the 36-hole event. Also tying for second at even par 144 was Christy Cheek, who claimed low pro honors by four strokes with the aid of backto-back birdies the final day on holes 16 and 17. Kendall Wright was fourth at 147, followed by Jackie Beers Syzmoniak at 148 and two-time champion Krissie Register at 149 along with amateur Anna Rogers. Like the other eight players who began the final round at 73 or better, Shirley plodded through a thoroughly uneventful opening nine, recording seven pars and a pair of bogeys on holes she was hitting a short iron approach into. A pair of deft up and downs for par at the eighth and ninth holes kept Shirley in the hunt, and she continued in scramble mode when she chipped in for par at the 10th. “After that, I started hitting the ball pretty solid,” said Shirley, who began her back nine charge with a birdie at the par-5 11th. She made it four putts in five holes when she got up and down for par at the 12th. Shirley’s adept short game produced a

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Margaret Shirley

short birdie putt at the par-5 14th, and she rolled in consecutive birdie putts from just inside 10 feet on both 15 and 16 to wrest the lead from Coble, who simply could not buy a putt and went the entire round without a birdie. Coming to the final hole, Shirley held a two-stroke lead, but made bogey from the front bunker, leaving some hope for both Coble and Cheek. Coble, the state’s top female amateur for the past decade, hit a beautiful second shot into birdie range on the tough par-4 18th, but in a repeat of the first 17 holes, her putt would not fall. “I had 33 putts today. That’s too many,” said Coble, an Augusta resident who won the Georgia Women’s Open the first time it was played at SummerGrove in 2004. Coble finished with a 139 total that year, two strokes ahead of Diana Ramage, who won the Georgia Women’s Open in 2005 and ‘07. Ramage, a Fayetteville native, is now living full time in Auburn, where she played on the women’s golf team, and was ineligible to defend her title. “I hit the ball well enough to win,” said Coble, who had to settle for a second round 75 mainly due to her struggles on the greens. “I did OK with it yesterday,” she said of her putter. “But I just could not get the ball

in the hole today. At least I gave myself a chance.” Cheek, who turned pro earlier this year, has played in several mini-tour events with a little success, but said, “This is the first time everything came together.” After an opening 72, Cheek was in the final threesome with Coble and Szymoniak, who shot 71 the first day. After six straight pars to start her second round, Cheek made double-bogey on the par-3 seventh and a bogey at the eighth dropped her four strokes off Coble’s lead at the turn. Cheek, an Eastman resident, birdied the 10th to close within three of Coble, but was passed by Shirley’s string of birdies. Cheek holed a pair of putts in the 10-foot range on 16 and 17 to have a chance to tie Shirley on the final hole, but her second shot to the 18th found the back bunker. She almost hit the pin with her sand shot and wound up with a par to tie Coble after a second straight 72. “I played two solid rounds of golf,” Cheek said. “I would have loved to win, but it’s great to take home the first place paycheck from our pros.” Cheek collected $2,600 for finishing as low pro, with Szymoniak earning $1,950 and Register $1,300. A pair of early bogeys and a double-bogey on the treacherous par-4 ninth knocked Szymoniak out of

contention. She had tied for third in both 2005 and ‘06, earning low pro honors in her first professional start two years ago. Szymoniak, who played on the women’s golf team at Georgia, married Canongate instructor Scott Szymoniak earlier this year and is living in Newnan. She plays on the Futures Tour. Register, who won the tournament in 1997 and ‘99 and was either first or second four straight times between ‘97 and 2000, was headed for her best finish since then before closing with back-to-back doublebogeys to take third among the pros. Register, a Roswell resident and former Futures Tour member, is a very infrequent tournament participant, with her main connection to golf at present some instruction work she does at Brookfield Country Club. Wright, one of the state’s top junior players, briefly held a share of the lead when she birdied the par-5 eighth. The top nine players after the first round managed a total of just three birdies on the front nine the final day and Wright had two of them, but her stay at the top didn’t last long. Like Szymoniak, Wright took a doublebogey on the ninth, and despite two more birdies on the back nine, shot 74 to finish fourth outright at 147. Wright, a Duluth resident, has scored a number of victories in junior events this summer, including the Georgia PGA Junior Championship. Shirley has been a significant factor in the Georgia Women’s Open since she was a junior golfer. She placed ninth in the tournament in 2001, and has six straight top-5 finishes in the tournament since 2003. Like Ramage, Shirley played on the women’s golf team at Auburn, graduating in May. Her summer tournament schedule is mostly complete, with her next big event qualifying for the LPGA Tour. “I’m not ready for a real job quite yet,” she said after her victory. “I’m planning to go to qualifying school as an amateur and go from there.” A few weeks before the Georgia Women’s Open, Shirley competed in the Women’s Western Amateur at SummerGrove, and established a pattern she followed in her second tournament at the Canongate course. After a double-bogey at the ninth in the first round, Shirley turned in 3-over 39, but came back with three birdies on the incoming nine for a 33, the same score she shot in the first round of stroke play qualifying in the Women’s Western. “I’ve struggled with my game a little bit lately,” she said. “I’ve been doing a lot of work this summer to get back to where I was. This is really nice to come back and win it again.”

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2008 AUGUST

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15

Former Dawg Star Odom roars to Georgia Open win Pulls away in final round for 5-stroke victory

By Mike Blum

hings did not start especially well for Bryant Odom in the recent Your Community PhoneBook Georgia Open. Odom took a double bogey on the relatively tame par-4 second hole at Barnsley Gardens Resort, and after just three holes of the tournament was 3-over par. Nine holes later, however, Odom had made five birdies and was 2-under for his round. Two late bogeys left him with an even par round of 72, which took two days to complete because of an afternoon storm that twice delayed play. From that point, however, Odom did little wrong on Barnsley Gardens’ highly respected layout, playing his final 54 holes in 14-under par. The Cartersville native and former U. of Georgia All-American closed with rounds of 66-67-69 for a 14under 274 total and a 5-stroke margin over recent Georgia Tech standout Roberto Castro, earning him the winner’s check of $10,500. It was Odom’s first victory since he made the decision to take a second shot as a tour player. In his first two seasons as a tour pro, Odom won a tournament on the Hooters Tour in 2003 and finished just one stroke out of a playoff in a 2004 Nationwide Tour event in Greenville, S.C., with former teammate and 2008 AT&T Classic champion Ryuji Imada winning the playoff. But after a rough 2005 on the course, Odom left life on tour to take a job as an assistant at Ocean Forest on Sea Island, and remained there for two years before deciding to return to the tour. Odom, who has settled on St. Simons Island, won the 2007 Georgia PGA Assistants’ Championship shortly before leaving Ocean Forest, and has divided his tournament time this year between the Hooters and Tar Heel Tours. A tie for seventh in a Tar Heel event was his best showing so far in ‘08, with a modest four top-25 finishes in a combined 12 starts. Perhaps Odom’s best effort of the year came in a U.S. Open sectional qualifier at Ansley Golf Club’s Settindown Creek, where he recorded a pair of 68s to tie for fifth. Unfortunately for Odom, there were only three spots available from the qualifier, and they went to three PGA Tour

Bryant Odom

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winners who all shot at least 10-under par. Odom did not have to contend with the likes of Jason Bohn, Matt Kuchar or D.J. Trahan in the Georgia Open, but got plenty of competition from fellow Hooters/Tar Heel Tour players Castro and Jay McLuen for most of the tournament. Castro, who recently scored his second win on the Tar Heel Tour since turning pro just over a year ago, held the first round lead after an opening 67. He followed with a 70 the next day to lead Odom and McLuen by one stroke after 36 holes. Odom shot a 67 in the third round to move two strokes ahead of Castro and three in front of Thomas Baker of Canton, who plays on the Gateway Tour in Texas. McLuen was four back after 54 holes. Baker surged into contention with a tournament best 65 that included 10 birdies, but struggled to a 76 the final day to fall into a tie for seventh at 284. By the time the final threesome made the turn, Odom’s lead was six strokes, and his margin reached nine after he made his fourth straight birdie of the round on the par-5 12th. Three bogeys by Odom and a pair of late birdies by Castro reduced the final margin to five. “You just look at the names of the players who have won this tournament; it’s a who’s who of Georgia professionals,” Odom said after his victory. “You’ve got

major champions and PGA Tour winners. To add my name to the list is a feather in my hat.” Among the more notable names on the list of Georgia Open winners are major champions Tommy Aaron, Larry Nelson and Bob Tway, and PGA Tour winners Hugh Royer, Jr., DeWitt Weaver, Jr., Tim Simpson and Gene Sauers. “Hopefully, I can move on and follow their path,” said Odom, who will be looking for a successful session at Q-school later this year. Odom won the Georgia Open largely through his dominance of Barnsley Gardens’ vulnerable quartet of par 5s. Over the four rounds, Odom notched 13 birdies and three pars on the par 5s, scoring four of his six birdies in the final round on them. “I knew when I made the turn, my plan was to birdie the par 5s and just play smart. The par 3s on the back nine are difficult. I bogeyed them both.” After five holes of the final round, Odom led Baker and Castro by three shots each. Baker bogeyed the next three holes to fall out of the picture, while Castro missed a short par putt at the eighth and hit his second shot in the water at the par5 ninth, missing another short putt for a double-bogey to dash his slim hopes. Odom, meanwhile, birdied 9, 10 and 12

after putting for eagle on all three holes and rolled in a birdie putt on the 11th. With a 9-stroke lead, he could afford a few slips, and three bogeys coming in did nothing other than reduce his winning margin. Because he did not complete his first round Thursday, Odom had little break before beginning his second round, which began on the back nine. He birdied both par 5s to start 2-under after three holes, and began his second nine with four birdies on the first five holes. A birdie at the ninth gave him a 66 and got him within a shot of Castro, who had an upand-down round after opening with a no-bogey 67. McLuen, who also dominated the par 5s, was one back of Castro after 36 holes, but Odom moved ahead of both when he got off to a fast start in the third round. He birdied the first three holes and chipped in for birdie at the seventh. After an errant tee shot on the par-3 eighth led to his lone bogey of the day, Odom birdied 11 and 12 and wound up with a 67 and an 11-under 205 total. Castro shot 70 and was second at 207, followed by Baker at 208 after his 65 and McLuen at 209 with a 71. McLuen, an Athens resident, lost in a playoff to Jared Garrity at Reynolds Landing two years ago, and was a contender until late in the final round last year at Champions Retreat. He notched six birdies the final day, but they were offset by six bogeys. Castro, who had a strong finish in last year’s tournament, could not repeat that at Barnsley Gardens. “I just hit it really poorly on the front nine,” he said. “I did not hit one iron shot remotely close to where I was looking. When I hit it in the lake at nine, that pretty much was the end of the story.” Castro came into the tournament off a strong stretch of play that included a 4stroke victory in a Tar Heel event and a tie for 12th on the Hooters Tour highlighted by a final round 62. “I feel good about my game,” the Alpharetta resident said. “This was my fourth week in a row, and I struggled to stay focused.” Earning low amateur honors was Alpharetta’s Derek Chang, who was fourth overall at 282. Chang, who will begin his college career this fall at Minnesota, has also played well of late, tying for second in the Southeastern Amateur in Columbus and posting top 20 finishes in the Dogwood Invitational and Rolex Tournament of Champions, his final event in junior golf. Chang was in second place alone late in the final round after playing an 8-hole stretch in 6-under par. An eagle on the par4 16th, which played just under 300 yards the final day, got him to 5-under on the [ See Georgia Open, page 18 ]

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17

Hull takes new Georgia PGA event in playoff Edges Davis on first extra hole at Chicopee Woods

By Mike Blum

T

he Georgia PGA unveiled its newest tournament recently with a slightly different format, but the result produced a familiar winner. Jeff Hull, the 2007 Georgia PGA Player of the Year, captured the inaugural TaylorMade-adidas Golf Chicopee Woods Players Championship, winning on the first playoff hole against Russ Davis. The tournament, which was presented by Club Car, was played over two days, but consisted of 54 holes, as all three nines at

Jeff Hull

Chicopee Woods were used both days. That produced some odd looking scores, as Hull shot 99 the first day (the only player to break 100) and came back with a 104 for a 13-under 203 total. Davis was tied for second at 101 going to the final round and his 102 score the second day pulled him even after 54 holes. Hull, who won the Georgia Open and Griffin Classic last year and was low pro in the Atlanta Open, had a chance to win the tournament on the final hole of regulation. He and Davis were tied going to the par-5 ninth hole on the School nine, the 27th hole of the day.

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Both players layed up short of the pond fronting the 566-yard hole, with Hull’s second shot trickling over a hill at the end of the favored landing area and rolling within a few yards of the water. After Davis barely got his third shot over the water, leaving it on the bank between the green and the pond, Hulls stuck his short third within about four feet of the hole. Davis saved par with a nice pitch and a putt from just outside where Hull was in three, and Hull missed his birdie attempt that would have ended the tournament in regulation. The two players returned to the School’s ninth hole for the playoff, which essentially ended when Davis dumped his third shot into the pond. Hull played safely to the back of the green for a two-putt par and the tournament title. “Except for one 20-footer on the Mill nine, I did not putt very well today,” said Hull, who managed just one birdie each on his first and last nines of the day. “I missed six or seven putts inside six feet, and I had about a 3-footer at the last hole to win and just missed it.” Hull, an instructor at the University of Georgia course in Athens, continued the string of victories by Athens residents in Georgia PGA events. Of the seven events between last year’s Griffin Classic and the Chicopee Woods tournament, Hull and Matt Peterson, the head professional at the University course, won three each, and Greg Lee, an assistant at Chicopee Woods who lives in Athens, won the other. “We all live within five miles of each other,” said Hull, who will need to overtake Peterson if he hopes to win Player of the Year honors for the second straight time. Hull took the first day lead with a nearflawless 27 holes, suffering only one slip-up, with that coming on one of the easiest holes on the entire course. Hull shot 4-under 32 on the Village nine with no bogeys, had one eagle and eight pars on the School nine, and recorded five birdies on the Mill nine. But a double bogey on Mill’s short, par-4 seventh spoiled an otherwise mistake-free day of golf, leaving him at 9-under 99, two strokes in front of Davis and Kyle Owen. Hull matched par of 36 on the Village nine to start the final round, but reclaimed control of the tournament with a 33 on Mill, notching four birdies, included one on the pesky seventh, where he holed his most substantial putt of the day. Going to the final nine, Hull led playing partner Davis by two strokes, with former

Players of the Year Sonny Skinner and Tim Weinhart both making moves in the two groups immediately ahead of Hull. Skinner, the head professional at River Pointe in Albany and a current member of the Nationwide Tour, got to 11-under par when he birdied his 19th hole of the day, but parred in from there. Skinner, the 2006 Georgia PGA Player of the Year, played his final 27 holes with five birdies and no bogeys, and had just two bogeys for the tournament, but was unable to convert many of his birdie opportunities. He finished fourth at 205 after totals of 102 and 103. Weinhart, an instructor at St. Marlo and a 2007 Nationwide Tour member, was 5under the first day with 11 birdies, and trailed Hull by four with 27 holes to play. He shot 66 on his first 18 the final day to close within one stroke of the lead, but was never able to pull even with Hull. He was third at 204, with his 101 score the lowest the second day. Davis, the Director of Instruction at Cherokee Country Club, has come close to a Georgia PGA win on several occasions, but is still looking for his first Section title. He had 10 birdies the first day and finished at 7-under for 27 holes, and made his move on Hull the final day with five birdies in a 7-hole stretch spanning the Mill and School nines. That pulled Davis within one stroke of the lead with six to play, and he let a chance to tie Hull elude him when he missed a short birdie putt on the School’s par-5 fifth while Hull saved par with a deft bunker shot. Davis pulled even with two holes to play when he birdied the par-4 seventh on School from close range while Hull missed, with Hull missing again at the ninth to send the tournament to a 55th hole. “I played really well today,” Hull said. “My only two bogeys were three-putts. “Going to the playoff, I felt Russ had the advantage, because he got a pretty good break at nine when his ball didn’t go in the water. As for me, you’ve got to make a three-footer to win. I’m like, ‘I can’t believe I’m in a playoff ’.” Tying for fifth at 207 were Jennings Mill assistant Seth McCain and Atlanta area instructor Bill Spannuth, one of the state’s top senior players. McCain, who was 5-under the first day with a pair of eagles, shot 68 his first 18 the next day, but played his final nine holes in even par to finish at 9-under. Spannuth closed with a birdie on his final hole to match McCain with scores of 103 and 104.

Owen, an assistant at Capital City Club and former Hooters Tour player, was in the final group with Hull and Davis, and was 4-under for the day and 11-under for the tournament after 17 holes. But four bogeys on his next five holes knocked him out of contention, and he finished seventh at 208. David Potts, an assistant at Country Club of the South, was eighth at 209, with Peterson ninth at 210. Peterson looked like he was poised to make a move with three straight birdies early in his final round, but managed just two more birdies over his final 24 holes. Playing on his home course, Lee was four off the lead after the first day, with his 5-under total including eight birdies and an eagle. A double bogey on the Village’s par-5 ninth damaged his cause, but he played his way back into contention with three straight birdies to start the Mill nine. Lee did not make another birdie the rest of the day and tied for 10th at 212 with Legacy instructor Brian Dixon.

Georgia Open (Continued from Page 16)

round and 9-under for the tournament, but he made a triple-bogey on the 17th to finish the day with a 70. Pros D.J. Fiese of Smyrna and Troy Bartkowicz of Sharpsburg tied for fifth at 283, with Fiese closing with a 66, the low score of the final round. Bill Murchison, an assistant at Towne Lake Hills, was low among the Georgia PGA contingent, tying for seventh at 284 with Baker and Marietta’s Drew Nelson. Don Wright of Douglasville was 10th at 285.

Other scores of note:

Former Georgia Open champion Matt Peterson tied for 11th at 286 along with former Georgia Amateur champion David Noll and young tour player Stuart Moore. Defending champion Jeff Hull tied for 15th at 285, as did amateur Mark Strickland. Champions Tour player Tim Conley, the 2005 Georgia Open champion, shot 69 the final day and was 18th at 288. The Georgia PGA has held several top events at Barnsley Gardens, but it was the first time the northwest Georgia resort has hosted the Georgia Open. The facility was very well received by players and tournament officials, and is a strong contender to be a future Georgia Open site. AUGUST 2008

2008 AUGUST

GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM

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15 years later, AGA Tour still going strong By Mike Blum

S

ince 1993, Atlanta area amateur golfers of wide-ranging ability have had the opportunity to compete in a yearly series of tournaments that have provided them with similar conditions to those enjoyed by the state’s top players. The Amateur Golfers Association (AGA) Tour made its debut in Atlanta 1993 and has been the only one of many amateur tours in the metro area that has stood the test of time. A sizeable number of competitors have come and gone in the 15-plus years since the AGA Tour played its first event, but the first tour of its type is still the best, having smoothly transitioned through a change in ownership several years ago. Tyler Refling took over the operation of the tour from Atlanta AGA Tour founder Rick Bettis, and has maintained the standards Bettis set during his tenure, while updating some aspects of the tour.

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“I think we’re better than ever,” says Refling, who assumed operation of the tour in 2004 and has led it through economic times that have not exactly been conducive to the golf industry. The numbers of members and tournament participants are down from their peaks in the late 1990s, but those numbers have stabilized in recent years, despite the arrival of some high-profile competition in the area. Refling has added a few more trips outside the state each year, including ones to Robert Trent Jones Trail courses in Alabama, as well as the highlyregarded Whistling Straits facility, and the AGA Tour’s top players can compete in a national event involving tours from all over the country. But the emphasis remains on the tour’s annual schedule of tournaments in and just beyond the metro area, which always includes a mix of the best private and daily fee courses in the northern half of the state.

This year’s schedule is an apt example of the variety and quality of courses the AGA Tour visits annually. Private clubs on the 2008 schedule include Reynolds Landing and Reynolds National, the River Club, the Standard Club, Governors Towne Club, Settindown Creek, the Farm, White Columns, TPC Sugarloaf, the Manor, St. Ives, Laurel Springs, the Georgia Tech Club, and Waterfall CC. Daily fee courses on the schedule include Royal Lakes, Cobblestone, St. Marlo, the Frog, Heritage Club, Bear’s Best, Barnsley Gardens, Reunion, Achasta and Stone Mountain. Most of the tournaments at the daily fee courses are played on Saturdays, with those at the private clubs on Mondays or Tuesdays. Golfers wishing to participate in AGA Tour events pay an annual membership fee, and pay for each individual event they compete in. The AGA Tour’s longevity in a business in which that attribute is rare, “says a lot about how we’re doing it and why we’re doing it,” Refling says. “We’re in it for the members. “Our goal is to work hard and diligently to provide top-level opportunities for our members.” Refling says the AGA Tour’s membership consists primarily of two groups. “There are some who just want quality events with quality people. And we have some who want to be able to play private clubs they otherwise wouldn’t be able to play.” One thing Refling is considering for next year is adding a few “lower cost events” at daily fee courses. In the past, Refling says the higher cost tournaments at high profile private clubs have drawn larger fields than the Saturday events at daily fee facilities. “But this year, the trend has been relatively equal. The economy has brought back the balance. People don’t have the discretionary income they used to.” A number of the courses on this year’s schedule are regular stops on the AGA Tour, with Refling pointing out, “We listen to what the players tell us about the courses they want to play. We try to rotate and get new courses in so we don’t have too much repetition. We might change the time of year you play a course.” The AGA Tour consists of 23-25 events per year, with 22 local tournaments and a pre-season trip to a warm-weather site. The season typically begins in early March and concludes in early November, spanning about eight months. The AGA Tour events are preflighted by handicaps, with most events

WARREN GRANT

Quality competition for Atlanta area amateurs

The Frog

having six flights. The top three finishers in each flight earn merchandise awards. The championship flight consists of players with handicap indexes of 3.9 and below. The tour has a player or two with a plus handicap, but there is not a dominant individual who wins on a regular basis. A few prominent Atlanta area amateurs, most notably Billy Mitchell, have played on the AGA Tour in the recent past, but Mitchell has moved up to state and national events, leaving the championship flight consistently competitive. In order to accommodate more competition in the lowest flight, those players compete with their handicaps, unlike the other flights in which players of comparable ability compete straight up. The AGA Tour has a small number of female members, most of whom enjoy competing against the men. However, Refling says other women have been intimidated by the prospect of playing against the men, which has kept the tour’s female membership from growing. Refling is also looking to make the tour more appealing to seniors, who typically play from a shorter set of tees than those which are used for players in the first five flights. Higher handicap seniors compete from shorter tees in the net flight, but seniors with lower indexes still have to compete at longer distances against their younger competitors. Golfers wishing to join for the remainder of the 2008 season can pay a reduced membership fee, with some outstanding courses remaining on the schedule. For information on the AGA Tour, call 770-935-6864 or visit www.agatour.com.

AUGUST 2008

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2008 AUGUST

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21

Chip Shots Henley latest Bulldog to win Ga. Amateur For the third time in four years, a member of the University of Georgia golf team has taken home the trophy from the Georgia Amateur. Russell Henley joined teammates Harris English and Brian Harman, taking the 2008 GSGA Championship on his home course – Macon’s Idle Hour Club. Henley edged English by one stroke, with former Georgia Amateur champion David Noll of Dalton third, two strokes behind the winner. Henley, who along with English will be a sophomore in Athens this Fall, finished with a 10-under 270 total on the par-70 Idle Hour layout, posting four scores in the 60s, including a final round 69. English, who won last year’s Georgia Amateur at Ansley Golf Club’s Settindown Creek, was second at 271, matching par in the fourth round. Like Henley, Noll recorded four scores in the 60s, also shooting 69 the final day. No other player finished better than 1under for the tournament, with Henley, English and Noll playing together in the final threesome. English, a Thomasville resident, and Henley began the final round at 9-under, with Noll in third at 7under. English jumped out to a 3-stroke lead on the front nine and was still in control of the tournament early on the back nine, even after Henley drilled three birdie Russell Henley

putts in a span of four holes to close within two of the lead. Henley reduced his deficit to one when English took bogey on the short par-4 13th after hitting his tee shot just over the green. English’s lead was still one when he hit his second shot out of bounds on the long, par-5 15th. The horn suspending play sounded just after English hit the most decisive shot of the tournament, and after play resumed, he made double bogey to lose the lead to Henley, who missed a short birdie putt that would have put him two ahead. With three holes to play, Henley led English by one and Noll by two, and the three players parred in from there. Augusta’s Jeff Knox, coming off a win in the GSGA Mid-Amateur Championship, took the first round lead with a 64, with English tied for second at 66 and Henley fifth at 67. Knox remained in the lead after 36 holes after a second round 70, with Henley shooting 68 and English 69 to share second at 135. With seven birdies on his first 12 holes Saturday, Henley built a 5-stroke lead over English, but English responded with four birdies over the final six holes, with both players ending the day with a 66 to share the lead going to the final round. After his opening 64, Knox did not break par the rest of the tournament and wound up tied for fourth at 279 with Augusta State golf coach Josh Gregory. Former U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Dave Womack of McDonough shot 65 the second round to move into contention, but was 4-over on the weekend and tied for sixth at 280 with Jay Moseley of Bainbridge, who closed with a 65. Henley, the 2006 GSGA Junior champion, became the first golfer to win the Georgia Amateur on his home course since Randy Strozier, Jr., won at Augusta Country Club in 1969.

GSGA

Hammock, Kim go deep in USGA events

Casey Hammock and Stacey Kim, both of Columbus, advanced deep into USGA events this Summer, with Kim winning matches in two championships. Hammock, a Columbus native on who plays on the Columbus State golf team, reached the semifinals of the U.S. Public Links Championship in Aurora, Col., coming up one match short of having the opportunity to play for a berth in the 2009 Masters. Kim, also a Columbus resident, reached the quarterfinals of the Women’s Public Links Championship in Wisconsin, and advanced to the third round of the Girls

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Junior in Hartford, Conn. Hammock, who shared medalist honors in a qualifier in Montgomery, tied for 26th in stroke qualifying, shooting 74-69—143. He won his first four matches, including a 2-up win in the quarterfinals, when he trailed 1-down after 14 holes before recording birdies on three of the last four. In the semifinals, Hammock rallied from a 4-down deficit after 12 holes, winning his next three holes before losing 16 and 17. Jack Newman of Des Moines, Iowa, who beat Hammock in the semis, won 5&3 in the finals to earn an invitation to next year’s Masters. Lion An, who led Northview to the 2007 GHSA AAAAA state championship, also reached match play, but lost in the first round.

Kim wins 5 matches in PubLinks, Girls

In her first appearance in the U.S. Women’s Public Links Championship, Stacey Kim advanced to the quarterfinals, and came back the next month to reach the third round in the Girls Junior. Kim, 17, qualified for both the U.S. Women’s Open and Women’s Amateur in 2006. She tied for ninth in stroke play qualifying in the PubLinks, and won her first three matches, two by decisive margins, before losing 3&2 in the quarterfinals. She was 5-down after 12 holes before winning holes 13 and 14, but 3-down was as close as she got. Louisa Yang of Suwanee and Lauren Darnell of Gainesville also qualified for the PubLinks, but failed to reach match play. In the Girls Junior, Kim won her first match easily, but had to go 20 holes in the second round. She rallied from a 2-down deficit after 14 holes in the third round to take the match to extra holes, but lost on the 19th to Karen Chung of New Jersey, who advanced to the finals. Also reaching the third round was Riverdale’s Mariah Stackhouse, who has won multiple junior and amateur events in the state in recent months. After winning her first two matches, Stackhouse was all square after 12 holes in the third round, but lost three of the next four holes and dropped a 3&2 decision. Stackhouse shot 69 to win a sectional qualifier at Braelinn in Peachtree City. Emilie Burger of Hoschton also qualified for match play and won her opening match 2&1 before losing 1-up in the second round. Anna Keith of Moultrie and Amelia Hill of St. Simons also qualified for the Girls Junior, but narrowly failed to make the match play cut.

3 juniors fall in first round In the U.S. Junior Championship at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, three Georgians qualified for match play but lost in the first round. Seth Reeves of Duluth, Patrick Reed of Augusta and Blaine Woodruff of Acworth were among 64 golfers to reach match play, but none made it past their opening match. Reeves, who shot 68 in the first round of stroke play qualifying, ended up tied for 24th but lost his opening match to a lower seeded opponent. Reed, who won the sectional qualifier at the University course in Athens by four strokes over Reeves, also lost his first match decisively. Woodruff took his match to the 18th hole before losing 1-up. Brian Carter of Augusta, Franco Castro of Alpharetta and Benjamin Greene of Duluth all qualified for the championship and missed the cut by small margins.

Costa, Detmer score Senior Division wins

Amateur Rocky Costa and Orchard Hills head professional Wyatt Detmer scored victories in recent Georgia PGA Senior Division tournaments. Costa, an Alpharetta resident who won the 2007 Georgia Senior Open, won the Senior Players Championship ay Hawks Ridge with a 137 total. Cherokee CC instructor Russ Davis was second at 138 with Lonnie Reece of Spring Lakes GC third at 140. West Pines head professional Mike Schlueter was fourth at 141, followed by amateurs Phil Pavoni (142), Don Marsh and Phil Hand (143) and Spencer Sappington (144). Detmer won the Senior Division Championship at Jekyll Island, shooting 138 to edge Reece by two strokes. Bill Johnstone of Atlanta CC was third at 141, followed by Ted Brasile of Southbridge at 142. Schlueter and Steve Barfoot of Arrowhead Pointe tied for fifth at 144, with Craig Hartle of the Georgia Tech Club seventh at 145. East Chapter Championship: Wilmington Island head professional Patrick Richardson won the Georgia PGA East Chapter Championship on his home course, posting a 140 total to edge John Williams of Savannah GC by one stroke. Will Hutter of Sea Island GC was third at 142, with John Phillips of The Landings low among the seniors and fourth overall at 143.

AUGUST 2008

From the course, retail store and driving range to the Internet, check out the new features of www.golfforegeorgia.com. It’s incredible!

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2008 AUGUST

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23

Golf FORE Women

Stockbridge Community Hoping for LPGA Return The LPGA wants to come back, Eagle’s Landing wants the LPGA back, the Atlanta golfing community wants the LPGA back in town and the charities that received over 7.7 million dollars from the tournament for sure want it back. So as of this writing there seems to be a push to find a way to have the best players in the world back on Georgia clay. The LPGA Charity Championship, formerly the Chick-Fil-A Charity championship, was a part of the Georgia golf scene until it lost its title sponsorship after the 2005 season and then had one more year being sponsored by Florida’s Natural. There had been talk of moving the event closer to town (Atlanta), but the community of

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Stockbridge fought to keep it in their back yard. Golfing legend Nancy Lopez was a major part of the event’s success and she became the host of the event in 2000. Lopez is very committed to helping find a sponsor to bring the tournament back. According to Eagle’s Landing member and tournament committee member Ron Lanio, “We had a meeting and put an action plan together to find sponsorship for this event with Nancy being fully involved.” Lanio knows that with the PGA Tour having vacated Atlanta in the Spring with the exit of the AT&T Classic, “The LPGA is appealing as it’s more affordable than the PGA. It has been our goal since 2006 to find a title sponsor. We love hosting these women” The Stockbridge community has been a driving force behind the event’s 15 year history. It was a favorite stop on the LPGA Tour, with most of the top players supporting the

event throughout its tenure, players that include Annika Sorenstam, who won here twice. One of the highlights for many players was the warm welcome from the Eagle’s Landing and Stockbridge community. They hosted more LPGA players in private housing than any other event, opening up their homes to players. Although the event is listed as being officially an Atlanta tour stop, it was really the small town feeling that the community offered the players. Former LPGA tour player and now Georgia State women’s golf coach Cathy Mant would love the tour back for several reasons. One is to offer an exemption to the winner of Georgia State’s home event to the tournament. Mant believes that she could create a spectacular college event if she could offer that to a player and a team. Before the event ended in 2006, Mant was close to making that happen until the event moved its dates and there was a conflict with NCAA regions. GSGA

By Jackie Cannizzo Women’s Editor PGA Professional Country Club of Roswell

The LPGA playing golf in state of Georgia is a natural fit; the tour offers inspiration for all golfers, especially young female golfers. If we in the industry are to continue to grow the game, we need to showcase the best players in the world in our part of the world. If you have any interest or know of a [ See Golf FORE women, page 26 ]

Upcoming Events GSGA Senior’s Championship August 19-20 Arrowhead Pointe Rosie Jones Golf Getaway September 12-15 Brasstown Valley Resort AWGA Championship September 16-18 Country Club of the South

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Golf FORE Juniors

Paul Bruckner’s first-round 68 was too much for the rest of the field to overcome, as the Alpharetta resident won the Georgia PGA’s Barnsley Gardens Junior Classic. Bruckner finished with a 1-under 143 and beat Jon Weiss of Villa Rica by four strokes. Gus Wagoner of Duluth placed third at 148. In the girls division, Kimberly Graff of Lilburn shot an 11-over 155 to win by 17 strokes. Other division winners were: Wyatt Larkin of Morganton (boys 12-13), Jon Weiss (boys 14-15) and Taylor Blair of Roswell (girls 12-14). At the Georgia PGA’s Junior Piney Woods played at Glen Arven in Thomasville, Jessica Welch of Lavonia won the girls division at 163, five shots ahead of Dona Kioseff of Valdosta. Robbie Van Ripper of Tallahassee finished 4-under and won by eight shots. Taylor Wynn of Rome was the top Georgian in third. Other division winners were: Joshua Crews of Albany (boys 12-13), who had a final-round 73, Brandon Collins of Tallahassee (boys 14-15) and Jodi Henley of Thomasville (girls 12-14).

Georgia sweeps Challenge Matches

Neither of the Junior Challenge Matches against South Carolina proved very challenging for the Georgia teams. The boys won 11 1/2 - 4 1/2 at Hawks Ridge and the girls won 17 1/2 to 6 1/2 at Sea Island’s Retreat Course. Georgia’s boys led by a point going into the final round and did not lose the last day. Clark Palmer, Lee Knox and Dykes Harbin of Augusta, Grant Cagle of Gainesville, Cameron Simmons of Acworth and Blake Soni of Bogart all won their matches. Chase Parker of Augusta and Trey McQuaig of Valdosta earned halves, as Georgia netted seven of the eight possible points on the final day. Georgia now leads the annual series 21-12. Georgia’s girls swept all four matches and won 10 of 12 points on the final day. Anna Keith of Moultrie was dominant, nabbing all six points from her two matches. Lacey Fears of Bonaire scored five points. Each match was worth three points: one for the first nine, one for the second nine and one for the overall match. Georgia now leads the series 2-1. Atlanta Junior Golf winners: The Atlanta Junior Golf Association completed another outstanding season of play by crowning champions in its Nine-Hole Divisions. At the Club Championship played at

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City Club Marietta, Michael Sheahan of Marietta won the boys 12-and-under division by shooting a 37. That gave him an impressive seven-shot victory over Mitchell Rostowsky of Kennesaw and Vraj Patel of Rome; Rostowsky won the playoff for second place. Jack Banda of Grayson, who won four times during the regular season, also shot a 37 to win the 13-and-over division, beating Nicholas Marin of Kennesaw, Jake Forbes of Woodstock and Nick Gainey of Carrollton by three. Gainey won second place in a playoff. Melanie Talbott of Woodstock won the girls division, her first victory of the season, by one shot over Sydney Needham of Villa Rica. At the Classic Championship at Ansley Golf Club in Atlanta, Benjamin Shipp won the 12-and-under title with a two-day 77. James Bernhardt won the 13-and-over division with a 77, nipping Matthew Anderson by two. Stephanie Vandiver won the girls division with an 83. In the Beginner Open played at the Hawks Ridge executive course, Jack Dusch shot 34 to win the 10-and-under division, Grant Powell shot 34 to win the 11-andover division, and Peyton Propst shot 45 to

Golf FORE Women (Continued from page 24)

potential sponsor to bring the LPGA back to Atlanta and the state of Georgia, please contact [email protected]. We will continue to follow the progress and hope to have the LPGA back in the next year!

Shirley captures Ga. Women’s Open

Margaret Shirley’s goal this year has been to see how good she can get at the game that loves so much. She felt like she needed to add some length on her drives and improve her short game to lower her scores. She has been working with Marietta Country Club’s Todd Peterson on her game and feels like things are starting to work for her, as seen in this year’s Yamaha Georgia Women’s Open at SummerGrove Golf Club. The recent Auburn grad and Roswell resident needed only 10 putts on the back nine of the second round to claim her second victory in this event. She played steady with rounds of 72 and 71 to beat out Georgia’s best amateur Laura Coble. Coble had the first round lead and gave way to Shirley on the back nine as she birdied three consecutive holes. Coble had a chance to tie on the last hole with a birdie attempt that narrowly missed.

Kimberly Graff

win the boys division. Hurricane Tour: Will Jones of Rome and Emerson Newsome of Dacula won the boys divisions of the Hurricane Golf Tour’s Cobblestone Junior Open in Acworth. Jones tied with Jun Hardart of Bermuda in the 16-18 division, but won in a playoff. Jones began the day five shots behind, but posted a 69 to catch Hardart, the firstround leader. Newsome took the 12-15 division with a 152, giving him a one-shot victory. Maggie Siddons of Acworth finished second in the girls division. Savannah juniors: Phillip Kennedy shot a 77 to win the boys 17-18 division of the Savannah Junior Golf’s tournament at Deer Creek. He also leads the points race in the

Paul Bruckner

upper division. Other division winners are Deer Creek: Ryan Vogel (boys 10-12), William Grotto (boys 13-14), Joe Lewis (boys 15-16) and Victoria Bennett (girls). U.S. Kids Golf: Georgia qualifiers for the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship, based on their performance at The Standard Club qualifier, are: Jenny Bae of Maysville (girls 7-and-under), Danielle Cameron of Newnan (girls 8), Heather Kipniss of Alpharetta (girls 9), Breann Laney of Savannah (girls 11), Colin Herbert of Gainesville (girls 12), Connery Meyer of Kennesaw (boys 6 and under), Tyler Lipscomb of Carrollton (boys 7), Jordan Baker of Cumming (boys 9) and Benjamin Shipp of Duluth (boys 11).

Shirley recently graduated from Auburn with a degree in communications. She helped lead the Lady Tigers in the SEC championship as she finished 4th. The team qualified for the NCAA Championship. where Shirley finished 63rd individually. The event marked the 13th consecutive year that Yamaha has sponsored the event. The winner of is awarded the coveted W.A. Roguemore Trophy that honors the founder of the Canongate company and his commitment to women’s golf. In year’s past the winner was also given a sponsor’s exemption into the LPGA Tour event at Eagle’s Landing.

Stackhouse claims GWGA state title

Riverdale’s teen sensation, Mariah Stackhouse won the GWGA State Amateur at Stonebridge CC in Albany on July 29th – 31st in a playoff with 5-time champion Laura Coble. The two battled all week with Stackhouse taking a three stroke lead into the final round.

GSGA Top 60

Leigh Crosby fired rounds of 69 and 77 to nip Kendall Wright by one shot in the Georgia State Golf Association’s 19th Annual Top 60 championship at Achasta Golf Club in Dahlonega. This event was

Mariah Stackhouse

GSGA

Bruckner takes first in GPGA Jr. event

started with the top 40 women amateurs in the state and expanded to 60 in 2003. Crosby, who is from Athens, will be attending the University of Georgia this fall as she transfers as a junior. Crosby, last year’s runner-up, was very excited to steady herself on the back nine to take this coveted title. “This victory is one I will cherish for awhile, and I look forward to defending my title next year.”

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Golf Business GGCOA annual outing set for Windermere No doubt, everyone is feeling the pinch from energy costs and other household expenses. Golf courses are no different. On Tuesday, August 26th at Canongate’s Windermere Golf Club in Cumming, our GGCOA/Club Car Owners and Suppliers Golf Outing and Field Day will include an educational session on helping to reduce and control natural gas expenses ~ this could mean four-figure savings for GGCOA member clubs. And, the savings don’t stop there. The GGCOA has formed an agreement with Catalyst Natural Gas to speak at the event, and offer special natural gas rates to GGCOA member clubs, their employees, their members, and their community residents. Attendees of our Annual Outing are encouraged to bring a copy of their gas bill (their own and their club’s) and have it analyzed for savings while we are playing in our golf outing! Our Annual Outing is a great opportunity to network, learn, play golf, and have fun with other golf industry professionals. Join us for the day, play golf, and save $$!

Presented by

To register for the event or for more information, please visit the GGCOA website.

Nomination time for Course of Year

It is that time of year for nomination and selection of a GGCOA member club as GGCOA Course of the Year. A member club may nominate itself for selection, and are encouraged to do so. Criteria include: 1. Quality of the course, 2. Quality of management, 3. Significant contribution to the game of golf, 4. Significant contribution to its community, and 5. Member of the GGCOA. The GGCOA Board selects the winner, and then the Georgia Chapter winner may submit a formal application to the NGCOA for National Course of the Year. Reynolds Plantation was our GGCOA Course of the Year last year, and went on to earn the National Award. Award winners are recognized at the NGCOA Annual Conference during the winter.

“Pink” Club Car Golf Car Raffle The GGCOA and FORE Georgia are raffling off a“Pink”Club Car Golf Car to benefit October Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Leading up to and through October, we will be selling raffle tickets, for only a $20 donation. Our Grand Prize winner wins the Pink Golf Car, or available color of choice, or a $5,000 Shopping Spree at PGA TOUR Superstore! The raffle will include drawings for other valuable golf prizes, too. The PINK Club Car Golf Car will be on display at PGA TOUR Superstores from August through our drawing date of Sunday, October 26 at 4:30 pm at the PGA TOUR Superstore Roswell location. Come out and join us, even though you do not need to be present to win any of the prizes. Raffle tickets packages are available for $20 each, 3 for $50, or 7 for $100 for this great cause. To purchase tax deductible raffle tickets online via credit card, please visit the GGCOA Homepage at www.ggcoa.com and follow the link. Donate now!

2009 British Open Golf Trip Raffle The GGCOA continues to work with VisitScotland, the Official Tourism Bureau of Scotland, to promote golf trips to the home of golf. We just saw an exciting British Open, now get your chance to win a trip to the 2009 British Open at Turnberry. You can win this golf trip for two, which includes: airfare for two, accommodations, 2 rounds of golf for both of you for 2 days, and 2 days at the British Open for each of you. There are only 400 raffle tickets available for this trip. So, your odds are pretty good! Donation is only $50 for a raffle chance. Tickets will be available at some of our GGCOA member clubs. Or, once again, visit us at ggcoa.com to get your chance. Raffle tickets are available now through time they are sold out. The drawing will be held this December.

Inside PGA Tour Superstore the

August 9

August 18

August 21

August 26

Duluth: Bobby Jones Demo Day, 12-4 p.m.

Roswell: Callaway Vendor Night, 6-9 p.m.

Buckhead: Callaway Vendor Night, 6-9 p.m.

Kennesaw: Wilson Vendor Night, 6-9 p.m.

August 15 Roswell: Bobby Jones Demo Day, 12-4 p.m.

August 16 Duluth: Mizuno Demo Day, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

August 19 Kennesaw: Callaway Vendor Night, 6-9 p.m.

August 20 Duluth: Callaway Vendor Night, 6-9 p.m.

August 23

August 27

Buckhead: Mizuno Demo Day, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Duluth: Wilson Vendor Night, 6-9 p.m.

August 28

August 25 Roswell: Wilson Vendor Night, 6-9 p.m.

Buckhead: Wilson Vendor Night, 6-9 p.m.

*DEMO DAYS BY STORES

PGA TOUR Superstore has four great Atlanta locations:

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GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM

515 Garson Dr., NE

1005 Holcomb Woods Pkwy.

2911 George Busbee Pkwy.

4000 Venture Dr.

Atlanta, GA 30324

Roswell, GA 30076

Kennesaw, GA 30144

Duluth, GA 30096

404-364-6900

770-640-0933

770-422-4949

770-495-7100

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Save Everytime YouPlay! Only $40! $35 for groups of 8 or more

Course Reviews The Oaks Course (Semi-Private) 11240 Browns Bridge Rd., Covington; 770-786-3801; www.golfoaks.com STAFF: Dick Schulz is the Director of Golf; Andy Bowman is the Golf Professional. PAR/YARDAGE: The Oaks is a par 71 with four sets of tees – Black (6,577 yards); Blue (6,265); White (5,833) and Gold (4,799). COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 70.6/129 (Black); 69.2/126 (Blue); 67.3/118 (White); 66.2/110 (Gold). ABOUT THE COURSE: One of the metro Atlanta area’s friendliest courses, both from a playing and staff standpoint, The Oaks has long been a favorite of golfers looking for an enjoyable round of golf at a modest cost. The course may not be quite as friendly as it was a year ago, as a new back tee on the ninth hole has transformed it from a moderately difficult par 4 into a par 5 that offers a better scoring opportunity providing you can thread your tee shot through a chute that is not very accommodating to those who play a draw. The short hike to the new elevated tee is about the only one of consequence on the course, which may be the most walker-friendly in all of Atlanta thanks to its compact nature and gentle terrain. The ninth is one of just a handful of holes that requires much accuracy off the tee, as The Oaks provides ample room to drive the ball with an exception or two. Some yardage has been added in recent years, and other than the two opening holes and the par4 18th, The Oaks is not an overly short course, although there is just one hole with significant length – the par-3 fourth. The fourth, a stout 217 from the back tees and 195 from the blues, and the scenic but perilous 11th are two of the metro area’s best and most demanding over-water par 3s. Only a handful of other holes have water seriously in play, beginning with the short but testy opening hole that necessitates a little thought and precision to avoid an unpleasant start. In addition to the two dangerous par 3s, The Oaks has several stout par 4s, most notably the dogleg left 12th, with one of the toughest greens to hit you’ll encounter, and the 17th, which has a little length as well as a creek that can impact play. The new Champions Bermuda putting surfaces are excellent and with some mostly gentle slopes offer the chance to hole some putts and post a score that will bring a smile to your face.

White Columns Country Club (Private) 300 Clubhouse Drive, Alpharetta; 770-343-9025; www.whitecolumnscountryclub.com

• 365 day membership from the time that you join! • Discounted rates at over 120 facilities in the state • Numerous facilities offering 50% off initial weekday round and half-price lessons by PGA Professionals

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590 W. Crossville Rd. #204 • Roswell, GA 30075 4 miles west of GA 400 N, Exit 7B 30

GOLFFOREGEORGIA.COM

STAFF: Bryan Nelson is the Golf Professional; Cody Barden is the Golf Instructor. PAR/YARDAGE: White Columns is a par 72 with four sets of tees – Gold (7,053 yards); Blue (6,517); White (6,015) and Red (5,087). COURSE RATING/SLOPE: 74.0/140 (Gold); 71.5/132 (Blue); 68.8/125 (White); 70.4/124 (Red). ABOUT THE COURSE: Considered metro Atlanta’s premier daily fee course before the course converting to private status, it holds its own against the wealth of outstanding private clubs in the golf rich suburbs of north Fulton. The Tom Fazio-designed course opened in the early 1990s, and the quality of layout and the superb conditioning have held steady since. Like The Frog, a Fazio design in the metro area that has remained a daily fee facility, White Columns is a big course. Ample fairways. A healthy number of expansive bunkers. And some large, rolling greens that will test the putting ability of the finest practitioners with the flat stick from both long and short range. With a handful of exceptions, White Columns is not an especially lengthy layout by modern standards, with the greens complexes providing much of the challenge and making it more of a second shot course. The main concern off the tee is the frequent presence of some penal fairway bunkers, with the tree lines relatively well removed from play on most holes. Much of the water on the course is more seen than seriously felt, although the excellent stretch of finishing holes offers four chances to get wet on the last five holes. Fazio’s layout includes a number of standout holes, including a pair of visually striking downhill par 3s, one short and one long. The diverse group of par 5s is balanced between short and long, inviting and demanding, with the two on the back nine featuring one of the more gorgeous backdrops you’ll encounter, as well as a humongous triple tier green that exemplifies the challenge once you pull the putter from your bag. The par 4s also include a nice mix of holes, with two memorable short par 4s, one with water, one without. Built as a daily fee course, White Columns’ conditioning and variety make it equally worthy in a private setting, with the layout holding up over repeated rounds. AUGUST 2008

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