October 2005

PGA Professional Jim Schmid has been promoted to Director of Golf Operations at Bay Point Resort Golf Club in Bay Point, Fla., where he will manage the operations for the resort golf facility and play an integral role in the development of Bay Point Resort's membership, clubhouse construction and re-design of the new Pate Signature course. Schmid previously served as Head Golf Professional for the World Golf Village's King and Bear and Slammer and Squire golf courses in St. Augustine, Fla.

Christopher Johnston has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer of Royal Precision Inc. Johnston succeeds John Lauchnor, who is leaving to pursue other business interests. ... Greg Morrison has joined Legendary Marketing as a Marketing Success Trainer.

George Toma, best known as the Turf Supervisor for every Super Bowl ever played, has signed on as a Brand Ambassador for Western Pozzolan Corp. and its new Lassenite ATS soil amendment. ... The Golf Warehouse, the world's largest golf e-tailer, has named Steve Tangdall as Director of Corporate Sales.

Golf Course Architect Bill Bergin has been hired to create the new Foxland Golf Course at Nashville's Fairvue Plantation. Bergin also created the original course at the facility. ... DeLaCruz Golf has named Stephen G. Johnson as National Sales Manager.

Longtime Atlanta Journal-Constitution Golf Writer Glenn Sheeley has been selected as the Director of Communications and Business Development at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, Ga. The club is the home of the annual Georgia Cup match and the new Collegiate Masters.

C-Thru Grips has named Terry DeLeo as its Vice President of Sales and Marketing. ... PGA Tour veteran Jay Haas has been selected as the recipient of the 2006 U.S. Golf Association Bob Jones Award. Presented annually since 1955, the USGA's highest honor is given in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf.

Gregory Kebe has been hired as the General Manager of Moore's Mill Club, an 18-hole semi-private club in Auburn, Ala. ... Datrek Miller International has appointed Greg Hood as the Western Director of Business Development and James Havens as Eastern Director of Business Development in its On Course division.

Sports Media Group has published "Pebble Beach: Golf and the Forgotten Men" by Jerry Stewart. ... Megan West has been added to the on-air team at The Golf Channel, where she will anchor Golf Central and handle other assignments.

September 2005

The PGA has selected Bill Eschenbrenner of El Paso, Texas, as its 2005 PGA Golf Professional of the Year. In addition, Peter Krause of Blaine, Minn., was named PGA Teacher of the Year; Warren Bottke of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., was selected as the Horton Smith Award winner; Tom Nieporte of Bayville, N.Y., was named the Bill Strausbaugh Award winner; and Will Reilly of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., was named the Junior Golfer Leader.

Also, the PGA Merchandisers of the Year Award winners are Fabian McIntyre of Orlando, Fla. (Public Facilities), John Buczek of Winston-Salem, N.C. (Private Facilities), and Ronald Dunham of Jackson, Wyo. (Resort Facilities).

John Holmes, a four-time All-american at the University of Kentucky and the 2005 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, has signed a management agreement with SFX Sports Group, which will represent him exclusively in all management and marketing endeavors. ... Susan Allen of Port Republic, N.J.; Lydia Cole of East Canton, Ohio; Ellen-Anne Harboe of Tuxedo, N.C.; and Taryn Kuida of Redondo Beach, Calif., are the 2005 recipients of the annual Ronald McDonald House Charities Youth Golf Scholarship, presented by the LPGA.

Roger Warren, the President of the PGA of America, has been appointed as President of the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina. Warren, who most recently served as Co-acting General Manager and Director of Golf, will oversee The Sanctuary hotel and spa, Kiawah's 600 villa and home rental program, The Ocean Course, Osprey Point Golf Course, Turtle Point Golf Course, Cougar Point Golf Course, Oak Point Golf Course, and all other resort operations.

Timothy Stephens of Las Cruces, N.M., a senior in the Professional Golf Management Program at New Mexico State University, heads the list of 10 recipients of the Paul Runyan Collegiate Golf Management Scholarship. Stephens earned a $5,000 scholarship, while $2,500 scholarships went to Todd Griffin at Ferris State University, Michael Schuette at Florida State University, Scott Reilly at Methodist College and Matthew Hess at Penn State University. Receiving $1,000 scholarships were Kevin DeWolf at New Mexico State, Brian Jerred at Ferris State, Nicholas Ayala at Florida State, Ross Lingenfelder at Methodist and Jonathan Schoenfeld at Penn State.

La Jolla Club Golf Company has hired Les Miller as Vice President of Sales. ... Brian Henderson has been named the first Director of Golf at The Ritz-Carlton Members Golf Club, Sarasota, where he will establish the overall program of luxury golf services for members and guests.

LPGA Tour player Tina Barrett and LPGA Teaching and Club Professional member Dr. Barbara Smith will be inducted into the Longwood University Athletics Hall of Fame during a Nov. 27 ceremony. Barrett was a two-time NGCA national champion and still holds the school record for season scoring average. Smith founded the nationally prominent Longwood women's golf program, and earned 137 career victories and three NGCA Division II national championships during her 26-year tenure.

KZG has appointed Jonathan Abrahams as Director of Public Relations and Marketing. ... Crown Golf Properties has named Garth Walker as General Manager at the Bayou Club in Largo, Fla.

Tracy Smurlo has been named the Corporate Membership Consultant at the Pine Hill Golf Club in Pine Hill, N.J. ... The National Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., has hired Jean McAfee as Membership and Marketing Director.

LPGA T&CP member Kathy Williams of De Kalb, Ill., has been inducted into the University of Minnesota M Club Hall of Fame. Williams broke multiple school records between 1977 and 1981 and still holds records for most career tournament wins with 17 and most titles in a year with six. In addition, LPGA T&CP life member Marge Burns has been inducted into the Guilford Country (N.C.) Sports Hall of Fame. Burns, a 10-time North Carolina State Amateur champion, was named the Carolinas Outstanding Amateur Athlete five times and totaled more than 40 victories.

Outgoing LPGA Commissioner Ty Votaw has received the Patty Berg Award in recognition of his contributions to women's golf. ... Louise Solheim, the wife of the late Karsten Solheim, has been granted honorary membership into the LPGA. In 1990, the Solheim family developed the concept and became the title sponsor of the Solheim Cup, and Louise has attended all nine stagings of the competition.

Nickent Golf has signed John Hoeflich as Senior Vice President. A well-known golf club designer, Hoeflich has designed or help design such clubs as the Tommy Armour 845 irons, Titleist DCI irons and TaylorMade RAC irons and wedges. Nickent Golf also has appointed Jim Grundberg as National Sales Manager. ... Isisport has hired Mindy Fiddler as Vice President of Sales.

Eric Jones of The First Tee of Fort Smith (Ark.) and Sonya Mendez of The First Tee of Metropolitan New York and The First Tee of Connecticut have been selected as the 2005 recipients of the RBS Achievers of the Year Awards, presented by The First Tee and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.

LPGA Tour player Paula Creamer has signed an agreement to join the TaylorMade-adidas Golf Tour Staff. Under the deal, she will play TaylorMade golf equipment and wear adidas Golf footwear and apparel. ... Pat Lange, a LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Master Life member, has been named the recipient of the 2005 Ellen Griffin Rolex Award, which is given annually by the LPGA T&CP membership.

Dick DeLaCruz, the Founder of DeLaCruz Golf, LLC, has been appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer as part of a company reorganization. In addition, Larry Fortier has joined the company as Chief Operations Officer and Stephen Johnson has been named National Sales Manager.

The Special Olympics has presented its inaugural Conrad Rehling Award to PGA Professional Jesse Weeks of Memphis, Tenn., and the Special Olympics Golf Lifetime Achievement Award to Conrad Rehling of Hiawassee, Ga., for their efforts in promoting Special Olympics golf. Rehling helped found the Special Olympics golf program and co-wrote the Special Olympics Golf Sports Skills Program Guide, while Weeks has championed access and developmental programs for Special Olympics players for several years.

The South Florida PGA Section has selected Bobby Pollitt, the PGA Director of Golf at the Club at Admiral's Cove in Jupiter, Fla., as the 2005 Golf Professional of the Year. ... PGA Golf Management has hired Steve North as Director of coaching at the St. Andrews Links Golf Practice Centre in St. Andrews, Scotland, where he will head up the new golf academy that is set to open there next spring.

Ralph Bernhisel has been named the General Manager for the Trilogy Golf Club in La Quinta, Calif. ... The Saddle Creek Resort in Copperopolis, Calif., has named Bill Troyanoski as General Manager. ... DevStudios International Inc. has appointed Glen Bosecke as Director of Sales and Marketing for its Leapfrog Golf software product.

Ahead Headwear has hired Greg Bowser (western Pennsylvania and West Virginia), Mike Herber (Indiana) and Charlie Burgywn (North Carolina) as Sales Executives. ... Pablo Villa has been appointed as Sales and Support Executive for southern Spain for YellowTip Software BV, the exclusive European distributor of Jencess Software and Technologies.

Pine Hill Golf Club in Pine Hill, N.J., has named Tracy Smurlo as Corporate Membership Consultant. ... Golf Course Superintendents Association of America CEO Stephen F. Mona has been selected to continue a three-year term on the board of directors of the American Society of Association Executives.

California Amateur Champion Don DuBois of Newport Beach has been named the inaugural Southern California Golf Association Player of the Year. ... Srixon Sports has announced its regional and Canadian Salesmen of the Year for 2004-2005. They are Roger Boyd (Southern Regional), Eric Mueller (Central Regional), Ken Maly (Western Regional), Mike Cole (Northeastern Regional) and Raymond Alain (Canada).

Josh Payne has been named the Head Professional at Half Moon Bay Golf Links in Half Moon Bay, Calif. ... Chief Operating Officer Per B. Gasseholm has resigned from Ashworth to pursue other opportunities. In addition, Peter S. Case has been appointed as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. He had held that role in an interim capacity.

PGA of America Honorary President M.G. Orender of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., and Craig Harmon, the PGA Head Professional at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y., made up the 2005 Class that was inducted into the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame. They were honored at a Sept. 8 induction ceremony at the PGA Historical Center at PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Marriott Golf has promoted PGA Professional Dustin Irwin to Director of Golf Operations at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. He has previously served in a variety of supervisory capacities at The White Witch in Rose Hall, Jamaica, The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida and The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Grande Lakes. ... Destination Hotels & Resorts has promoted Rich Taylor to Director of Golf Sales and Marketing.

LPGA Tour player Beth Bader and PGA Tour player Zach Johnson, both natives of Iowa, have been amed as Honorary Chairpersons of the 2005 Special Olympics Golf National Invitational Tournament. The event is set for Sept. 16-19 at Ames Golf & Country Club and Coldwater Golf Links in Ames, Iowa.

LPGA Tour player Paula Creamer has joined the Advisory Staff of shaftmaker Aldila, Inc., which makes her now-famous pink NV Graphite shafts. ... "Big Break III" Contestant Liz Uthoff has joined the Professional Staff of Tour Players at SMT Golf. She will play the SMT driver and carry an SMT Staff Bag in all the events she plays.

Christian Newton has been hired as Assistant Men's Golf Coach at the University of Alabama after spending two seasons as Assistant Coach at Georgia Southern. ... Jeremy Noel has been named Project Manager for Clickit Ventures in Fort Mill, S.C., where he will coordinate the company's Web development projects and oversee its public and media relations efforts.

Three PGA Professionals have earned Master Professional status and Specialty Certification in The Rules of Golf. They are Adam Carney, the PGA Head Golf Professional at Big Creek Golf and Country Club in Mountain Home, Ark.; Robert Forward, the General Manager of Lake Wales Country Club in Lake Wales, Fla.; and Michael Raby, the PGA Head Professional at Cleveland Metroparks in Cleveland, Ohio.

Former MacGregor Golf President David Gibbons has joined TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company as Senior Vice President and General Manager, and all the company's sales and service departments from every region of the world, will report to him. In addition, former Spalding National Sales Manager Doug Holt will serve as TMaG's Vice President and General Manager of U.S. Sales and Service, while Kevin Ross, formerly with adidas America, has been named TMaG's Director of Strategic Account Sales for the United States.

Richard C. Helmstetter, who designed the original Big Bertha driver, has been named as a Consultant to Callaway Golf Chief Executive Officer George Fellows. Helmstetter, who joined the company in 1986, was best known as Chief of New Products at the popular equipment company.

PGA Tour player Stewart Cink, a three-time All-American, has been selected as one of eight 2005 inductees in the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame. Along with the others, Cink, who is ranked No. 21 in the world, will be inducted in a Nov. 4 ceremony. ... Former Women's Golf Coach Nancy Porter is among the 2005 inductees in the UNC-Greensboro Athletics Hall of Fame. Porter, who coached the 1973 women's golf team to the university's first national championship in any sport, and the others will be inducted Sept. 24.

LPGA Tour player Charlotta Sorenstam was selected as the Captain of the European team for the 2005 Ping Junior Solheim Cup Matches, while Marta Figueras-Dotti served as Vice-Captain for the Sept. 6-7 event that preceded the 2005 Solheim Cup. ... LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame member Carol Mann has been named Assistant Women's Golf Coach at Towson University, a suburban Baltimore school that is starting its women's golf program this fall.

Rich Parker, the General Manager at Carter Golf Course in New Hampshire, has been named Interim Men's Golf Coach at Dartmouth College. ... Former Ohio State All-American Cheryl Stacy has been hired as Assistant Women's Golf Coach at the University of Michigan. Stacy recently served as LPGA Teaching Professional at The Country Club in Pepper Pike, Ohio, and has run junior golf programs across the Midwest.

Joseph Duich, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Turfgrass Science at Penn State University, hasd been named the recipient of Golf Course Superintendent Association of America's 2006 Old Tom Morris Award for his work in turning Penn State into one of the most successful turfgrass programs in the country.

Sports Media Group has published "Sam: the One and Only Sam Snead," a biography by renowned author and golf historian Al Barkow, the recipient of the 2005 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. ... Author Stephen Mitchell has published his latest golf novel, "The Morris Men."

Randall Tuttle has been named Chief Executive Officer at AccuSport International Inc., while Don Thorup has been hired as Director of Marketing and Communications. In addition, the company has formed a business technology development group that will be led by President David Rankin. ... Legendary Holdings has promoted Jim Vincent Jr. to Sales and Department Manager for the Headwear Division.

PGA Professional Bob Coman has been appointed as Director of Golf at the five-course PGA National Golf Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Coman was Director of Golf at the Boca Raton Resort & Club from 1995-2005. ... Fairway & Greene has added Jeff DiBona and Molly Sellers as Sales Representatives for New England.

Robert Jeffrey has been named Executive Director of the PGA Tour's Booz Allen Classic in Potomac, Md. Jeffrey previously served as Tournament Director for the 85th PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club, and Manager of Operations for the 62nd Senior PGA Championship at Ridgewood Country Club and the 82nd PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Love Golf Design, founded and directed by PGA Tour player Davis Love III, has signed four new golf course design projects. They are Ricefields, near Savannah, Ga.; the Falls at Greyson, a resort course in Harrisburg, N.C.; Golden Ocala Country Club in Ocala, Fla.; and River Hall at Hawk's Haven in Ft. Myers, Fla.

Jack Van Ess, 78, has been inducted into the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame in Michigan. Among his achievements is that he won the 1996 Michigan Senior Open at the age of 69. ... DeFeet Golf, a division of Global Tour Golf, has added Sales Representatives John Bambach (New Jersey), Dan Hosch (Kentucky) Ron Palmer (Georgia) and Bryan Giffith (North Carolina and South Carolina).

Golf Course Architect and Restoration Specialist Kris Spence has been selected to restore the Donald Ross-designed golf course at Cape Fear Country Club in Wilmington, N.C. ... Rosen's Shingle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Fla., has named Annette Udziela as its new Golf Sales Manager.