Watts Cookin'
by Joe Watts
Joe Watts is the executive director of the Utah Golf Association

WInter - March - 06
Happy New Year
2006 will be great for Utah!

Mike Harmon, director of computer operations at the UGA, has done yeoman work in keeping our old DOS operating system jury-rigged and in leading us from the past to the future. Our future is a handicap processing partnership with EZ Links that will result in a major upgrade for the UGA. Mike’s technical skill and knowledge led us to the decision to join with EZ Links.

The software also contains a tournament package that is directly linked to the UGA data base and will make tournament management easier for golf professionals and local club officers. This computer software and hardware upgrade, which includes a printer, comes with no charge to the member clubs.

By the time you read this column the system will be up and running in the St. George area, and will be operating at all other golf courses no later than the end of March.

It’s a major investment by the Utah Golf Association and will be accomplished without an increase in dues for the members. Membership remains at $25 per person. The $2 refund that has been given to the local clubs will be suspended. Clubs will get their refund check this year, but not next year.

This upgrade of equipment will also be supported with more active supervision of the handicap system. All clubs will be licensed and must have an active handicap committee. The UGA has established a Liaison Committee, a group of volunteers with specific course assignments, to be of assistance to local club officials. One of their duties will be to assure that each club is properly supervising the handicaps of its members.

2 The Utah Section of the PGA, in cooperation with the Utah Golf Association, is instituting an additional junior golf program to be known as the Junior Golf Connection. The purpose of this program is to encourage greater access to golf for juniors at the grass roots level.

The Utah Junior Golf Association, in existence for the past 20 years, has done a remarkable job in developing outstanding players, including three national champions in the past decade. The Utah Junior Golf Association has an enviable record of producing outstanding golfers. That state-wide program of excellence will continue with the full support of the UGA and the PGA. The four Utah players participating in both the Boys and Girls Junior Americas Cup teams will come from the Utah Junior Golf Association as determined by its year-long point system.

The new Junior Golf Connection will fill the need of providing a broader grass roots program at the local level, an objective that was beyond scope and purpose of the Utah Junior Golf Association. Each golf professional will be involved in developing junior golf programs. The clinics and tournaments will be held on a regional basis. This program will be based solely on local and regional activities and will be a complement, not a competitor, of the Utah Junior Golf Association. The two organizations together, with clearly separate goals and objectives, will strengthen junior golf in Utah.

Our hats are off to the PGA for its willingness to get more actively involved in junior golf at the grass roots and for all the volunteers and staffers that help make both of these programs happen.

3 The 100th Utah State Women’s Amateur will be held at The Country Club, July 31, and August 1st and 2nd. The tournament has a long and glorious history and it gives us a chance to showcase women’s golf in Utah. The Utah State Women’s Golf Association is taking advantage of this historic time to compile a written history of the event, a project that is sorely needed and will be of great future benefit. Susan Simkins, President of the USWGA, has formed a tournament committee that will make this an event to remember. Patti Brimley, the champion in 1991, and a member of the board of directors at The Country Club, and Margaret Nay are the tournament co-chairs.

Who will be the 100th champion? For sure, the top women players will be honing their game for this special event.

4 The Boys Junior Americas Cup tournament, a gathering of 17 golf associations from Canada, Mexico, and the western United States, will be hosted at Ogden Golf and Country Club July 24-27. The 17 golf associations rotate the responsibility of hosting the event and this year is Utah’s turn. It has become traditional for the Ogden Golf and Country Club to step forward and host the event whenever it is Utah’s turn. The club began hosting the event in 1976 and has hosted both the boys and girls events whenever they have been held in Utah.

Ogden has already formed its committees and there is an unbounded enthusiasm for the tournament by the members of the club. One of the responsibilities of the host club is to house the junior players from all the states. Keith Hanchett, committee chairman, reports that there is an abundance of offers to house the players.

5 The 108th Utah State Am will be the largest ever as for the first time the 36-hole qualifying test will be held on the two golf courses at Soldier Hollow. Instead of the normal 150 players to survive the grueling regional qualifying tests there will be 280 advance to Soldier Hollow.

6 The unscheduled highlight? Who knows? But there will certainly be some other surprise that will spark the season. Last year Clay Ogden won the USGA Public Links championship and gained national attention by defeating Michelle Wie in the quarterfinals. Mike Reid won the PGA Senior Championship. What will the surprise achievement be this year?

Savor the birdies!