Update from Rules School

The USGA and PGA of America held one of their annual USGA/PGA Rules of Golf Workshops in Nashville this past weekend. Fifty-eight individuals attended the three-day seminar with most if not all of them coming back on the fourth day to take the difficult three and a half hour, 100-question exam.

Instructors for the Nashville workshop included Wendy Wooley (USGA Staff) and Dean Alexander, PGA who is on the PGA of America Rules Committee along with serving as the Head Golf Professional at Atlanta National Golf Club in Milton, GA. Dean was a familiar face to many of us in the class as he was the Head Golf Professional at Colonial Country Club in Memphis back in the 1990s.

The Tennessee Golf Association had several staff and volunteer officials attend the workshop and take the exam with almost everyone scoring 85 or higher on the exam which the USGA and PGA of America categorize as "advanced status". In addition to this, all TGA staff and TGA Rules of Golf Committee members (6 total) that attempted the lengthy exam scored 92 or higher.

For those that are interested, these workshops cover the entire Rules of Golf, from Definitions, to Rules 1-34 and everything in between. The USGA and PGA of America jointly conduct 15-20 of these workshops on an annual basis and more information on them is available at www.usga.org/rulesworkshops.

USGA Names Mike Davis as Executive Director

The United States Golf Association (USGA) today named Mike Davis as the association’s new executive director. Davis becomes the seventh executive director in the 116-year history of the USGA, after serving as its Senior Director of Rules and Competitions since 2005.

Click here to read the full story from usga.org.

2011 TGA Annual Meeting

We held our 2011 TGA Annual Meeting this past Saturday, February 26th, at Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville. We had approximately 50 member clubs represented. The Annual Meeting included reports from Chris Hartwiger, Lead Agronomist for the Southeast Region of the USGA Green Section and Kathy Gordon, Director of Regional Affairs - Southeast for the USGA.

Additional reports were made by TGA Staff: Lynne Howd (Handicapping), Carter Page (Course Rating) and Matt Vanderpool (Association/Industry Update). The meeting lasted approximately two hours and two new individuals were approved to serve on the TGA Board of Directors. They are Kevin Teeters from Pine Lakes Golf Course and Fred Williams from Cattails at Meadowview.